CPRE reacts to the proposed route of the Oxford-Milton Keynes-Cambridge expressway and to the Arc

The government have selected corridor B as its preferred route for the proposed expressway between Oxford and Cambridge.

The expressway is part of plans by the government’s National Infrastructure Commission (NIC). It recommends that 1 million new homes and 1.1 million new jobs should be created in the area between Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge by 2050. Nationally, CPRE have issued a policy statement on the Oxford-Milton Keynes-Cambridge Arc project.

CPRE reaction to the expressway route

CPRE is critical of the government’s plans for an expressway. CPRE Oxfordshire issued its initial reaction to the preferred route of the expressway:

The route through Cambridgeshire

The preferred route of the expressway through Cambridgeshire is yet to be announced. CPRE Cambridgeshire and Peterborough are working with its neighbouring branches and nationally to ensure that the threat of the wholesale destruction of countryside, including many nationally important wildlife sites, posed by this project is reduced. Above all, we fully support CPRE’s national policy statement.

Statement from our national office

CPRE’s national office have set out a series of principles that it feels the government should follow in planning the area, known as the ‘Arc’, over the coming decades.

The basic principles are:

• We should aim to protect and enhance the countryside, landscape and heritage assets.
• There are other parts of England, particularly in the Midlands and northern regions, that need regeneration and merit investment more than the area of the Arc.
• In housing, the main priority should be providing the affordable housing needed by existing residents supported by sustainable public transport.
• Sustainable transport at all levels, including East-West Rail, should be supported and prioritised over new road-building.
• There needs to be wide-scale public engagement and consultation both on the overall growth proposals and on the expressway proposal.

You can download the full policy statement below.

CPRE’s policy on the Cambridge-Milton Keynes-Oxford Arc