Minutes of the meeting Brill Parish Oxford-Cambridge Arc and Expressway

Brill Memorial Hall, 24th June 2019, 7.30pm

With over 300 members of the public the meeting commenced at 7.30pm.

19:30 Introduction Mark Dickinson, Chair, Brill Parish Council welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced himself. Having run through some safety issues he pointed out that south today were taking some pictures and video but were not recording the meeting and those who didn’t want to be photographed or recorded should let the reporter know.

Cllr Dickinson then introduced the panel of speakers:

Cllr Barry Wood, Leader of Cherwell District Council and Chair of the Arc Leaders Group which represents local authority leaders and Chairs of the Local Enterprise Partnerships across the Arc Cllr Martin Tett, Leader, Bucks County Council Cllr Angela Macpherson, Leader, Vale District Council Cllr Cameron Branston, AVDC Grendon Underwood and Brill Ward David Rogers, Professor of Ecology (Retired), Department of Zoology, Oxford University

This is an opportunity for Brill Parish Council and the Cllrs that represent us to get the views and feedback of all in attendance. There will be a question and answer session at the end of the meeting.

19:40 The “Arc Leaders” View – Cllr Barry Wood The economic case for investment in housing and the expressway across the Arc. Cllr Wood advised that the audience would gain more from asking questions, however it was important that everyone was advised what the Oxford – Cambridge Expressway Arc is. He will also go on to explain the role of the Arc Leaders Group of which he is the Chair.

He then asked by way of a show of hands who lives in Brill an it was clear to see that the meeting was attended by a Brill majority. He felt this was important to know as he could go on to contextualise his speech accordingly.

The Oxford to Cambridge Arc is a definite entity and represents an area of the country that goes from Oxford to Cambridge via Milton Keynes, covering , , Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. It has been designated as an area of economic growth by Central Government. The area will grow organically anyway but it is necessary to plan for future growth on a sub regional basis.

It is the responsibility of the Arc Leaders Group to seek out key advantages and key mitigations. The coalition of the group is made up of willing volunteers that can exit at any time. Their aim is to work positively together to seek all benefits and here are 2 of the many objectives:

1. A better environment including a biodiversity net gain with water and air quality improvements. This will be achieved by planning the social infrastructure ahead of building homes. 2. To build communities not dormitories. There is a housing crisis in this country and an increased requirement to build more quality and affordable homes. It is not adequate to say that we are against growth.

The new Bucks Unitary Council will inlay their own development plans within the system we seek to generate. Environmental improvement needs to be built in to everything we do with sound sub regional planning.

Up to a million houses will be built in the arc by 2050. The count realistically started in 2018 and there has been 100,000 new homes. Coupled with projected numbers in the arc the projections are on target to deliver. We need to ensure total employment and that the properties don’t stand empty. The amount of affordable housing is not enough. The hierarchy plans in the arc will be coupled with local plans depicting the growth areas within Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire. The vision is to pull all of this together supporting existing planning legislation. The Expressway is a Highways project and will be subject to legal challenge. The route is subject to a statutory process, the details of which will be published in Autumn this year. The timeframe, however, may however slip to December. The plans are obviously subject to changes within central government with a new Prime minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer on the horizon. As with the HS2 there will no doubt be a full review looking at the purpose, programme and concept. That piece of work marshalled by Central Government as yet to take place. A lot of you will remember the M40 build which was not over popular particularly in Otmoor. The bend from High Wycombe to Banbury was as a result of strict campaigning. Let’s go back to the declaration of ambition for the arc: We value the Natural Environment We need to meet the economic and housing obligations. We need to create better places to live that are beautiful, biodiverse and inspiring and to this end we support the 25yr plan to create this. The new developments need to create and support habitats and improve access to all for a better way of living. As with the East/West rail we need to support the ambitions of all in an integrated way. There will be a joint public engagement exercise in 2019 and all will be invited to take part.

Mark Dickinson advised the audience that Highways England had been invited, with great help from Angela Macpherson, but declined to attend.

20.10 View from Our Councillors The county council’s understanding and view of the Oxford-Cambridge Arc development and its role in the definition and planning of the route and the housing developments Cllr Martin Tett, Leader, Bucks County Council Cllr Tett would like to approach this initiative from a different perspective. His involvement goes back 4 years and involves the leaders of Oxfordshire and focuses on growth with appropriate infrastructure, making the changes are tolerable for all existing and new. Drs surgeries, schools, broadband and roads need to be in place to support the growth. The highest growth regions in the country are South Bucks as far south as Pinewood and we need to support redistribution around the country with transport links fit for purpose. The 3 hour journey from Oxford to Cambridge is not acceptable. Cllr Tett is in support of the East/West rail opening on the old varsity line. It is greener and sustainable and opens skilled opportunities for Buckinghamshire people. I also recognise that when we look at the road structure, growth to this extent will create a 40% increase in traffic, HGV’s and parcel vans to be included in that number. The A34 and A43 roads are already really congested and require massive improvement. Here we see the solution in the expressway, a dual carriage way linking some existing roads from Cambridgeshire to Milton Keynes which is the fastest growing area. One of the three main corridors North Bucks, bypassing Aylesbury and the M40 was examined to meet the need The Government went for a central new road. Cllr Tett wrote to the government suggesting they improve the existing roads, this was not met with favour. He does however feel there is a necessity to lobby them again especially with a new Prime Minister and transport secretary who will imminently be in post. Cllr Tett stated that we need to support a solution to improve the network and enable the infrastructure for the necessary growth. He is also supportive to improvements to East/West rail.

Aylesbury Vale District Council perspective including the alignment with the emerging local plan. Cllr Angela Macpherson, Leader, District Council and County Council for this area. Cllr Macpherson appreciates the concern and represents all the villages that could be affected. She echoes Cllr Tett’s need of trying to find new solutions but has major concerns over insufficient information and very little detail. There is little evidence that it is beneficial to the existing residents nor the environment. HS2 has blighted the north of Cllr Macpherson’s ward and she has seen the environment and wildlife being destroyed. This project cannot result in the same. She fears the expressway is a trojan horse for new housing. We currently have a local plan proposing 30100 new homes by 2033. This is extremely ambitious and will be aligned to a new Unitary authority which will undoubtedly have new targets. Cllr Macpherson is concerned that we will concrete over the beautiful landscape. She is also supportive to improvements to East/West rail. We need the right type of housing but there is a huge lack of information. She encouraged all to have their say and allow the representing Cllrs to take it forward to government.

The Brill Ward view and involvement Cllr Cameron Branston, AVDC Grendon Underwood and Brill Ward Cllr Branson is very concerned about his beautiful countryside being paved over. He has already taken massive commitment at village meetings with existing plans. Developers should not be allowed to take the lead. The transport issue means our relationship with the car needs to change and we need to sustain this. Improved public transport and cycling routes are required. I use the car to get from to Haddenham because it is too dangerous to cycle. In summary he advised that he lives in this area too and did not choose to live next to an expressway.

20:25 Local Environmental Concern Thoughts on the route options within the preferred corridors and their potential impact on the local and national environment David Rogers, Professor of Ecology (Retired), Department of Zoology, Oxford University Albert Einstein was noted for saying we can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. We cannot create dormant houses for weekly commuters or overseas owners.

Building more roads increases more cars as seen in the Swindon – Felixstowe route. We need to apply a different sort of thinking – Shows an example of people driving into iced water while using a sat nav – with an explanation that the people concerned failed to apply common sense to the situation.

The route options considered included B1 – Kidlington South – Bicester - East West rail M40 to 8a Arncott – Piddington, the issue here being MOD own the land to be utilised and won’t let it go. The routes use the M40 and don’t necessarily unlock land for development with the exception of the route from Wheatly running up to Oakley and Brill. The fact of the matter is that even without the expressway Buckinghamshire will grow. as per the Aylesbury Vale local plan with an increase of 30100 by 2033 representing an increase of 38% when the rest of the country only has to grow by 16%. David then showed a pie chart with three section representing houses in the plan, houses on catch up to predictions and the additional Ox-Cam housing.

The collective amount will give 82000 increase which represents an 87% increase by 2050 with the rest of the country still only required to deliver 16%.

In order to achieve this the options are to build a new town, a string city made up of multiple areas or a new city.

The total number of 154600 people to include the young, retired and unemployed would need to create jobs for 47000 workers using the junction east of Oakley and 35000 south of Bicester. 82000 workers in total for the area. David went on to confirm that that scale of development just doesn’t make sense at all. The area would be blighted by traffic to include 1.3 million HGV’s along the route per an, 1/5 of what currently travels around the M25. Where is the common sense approach here?!

Common sense approach required by all to include 1. Public transport not private transport 2. Social housing not commercial/affordable housing 3. Jobs to the north of the country and not to the south 4. Freight by rail and not by road 5. Engage with the affected population 6. If you double a population in 30 years it will be difficult to create ‘a sense of place of place’ for the newcomers without destroying ‘a sense of place’ for the old 7. Highways England need to consult with the public and not just the Stakeholders The stakeholders include many utility companies as well as Councils, BBOWT and inland waterways. Councillors are stakeholders, they must consult.

Tactics The Future Campaign 1. Gather more information on the steps ahead 2. Spread the information across the network of Express villages 3. Submit Environmental, Heritage, Wildlife and other information to Highways England (anyone can do this, not just registered stakeholders) 4. Urge people to involve Parish, Local and District Councillors in Expressway plans (Highways England must produce a statement of community consultation SoCC) 5. Write to Councillors, MPs and influential people in your neighbourhood 6. Work to cancel the expressway before it’s too late (promote East –west rail as an alternative. 7. Take part in the Highways England (HE) consultations (autumn 2019 and 2020) and the ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) engagement (Summer 2019) 8. Raise funds and recruit experts to help with the formal Planning inspectorate process (autumn 2020 onwards) 9. When the time comes, register as interested parties for the Planning Inspectorate hearing – the last opportunity to make your feelings known

20:40 Question and Answer Session - Chaired by Mark Dickinson

Q. David Rogers – Can you make the information available?

A. All slides in David’s presentation are available on the noexpressway.org website

Q Growth is used so many times but where are we addressing sustainability? All electric cars by 2030 with an electric grid that doesn’t keep up and by the way the generators required here have their own environmental impact. If we take Bristol with a population size of 182000 – here alone 300 deaths are attributed to air pollution.

Who will provide an environmental impact assessment for the Ox- Cam expressway? Can we balance North and South? The Government seem pushed to press local councils based on current levels of employment.

A There are strong backers of the East/west rail project with links to National Rail as well. They say East/West rail alone won’t deal with the demand, therefore there is no option to do nothing. Cllr Tett has told Highways England to talk to the public. Cllr Barry Wood reiterated that we should have sustainable growth and doesn’t agree with no growth. I suppose a further question could be can it be sustained in this area? Q Have Oxfordshire done an health impact assessment to encompass all aspects including mental health and general wellbeing ?

A No

Q Bucks need to do it?

A No plans to carry out such an assessment.

Q We are all stakeholders, how were the original stakeholders added to the list?

A They were invited by Highways England

Q We are all stake holders but written requests were sent to Highways England only.

A Voice your views via email on the Highways England website

The Expressway Action Group advised everyone at this point that they had submitted a legal case. Highways England are servants to central government and we need to lobby politicians.

Q The Expressway will undoubtedly increase traffic on all of the feeder roads.

A The panel reminded everyone that they had pleaded with Highways England to engage with the public.

Q Highways England are clearly operating as agents of Central Government but not in our interests. Do you confirm that?

A Cllr Tett reiterated the need to supply a positive option so we agreed to participate, we did, however refuse to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Q When will Highways England engage?

A Cllr Barry Wood advised that this was not in their format to do so.

Q What about our canals and rivers for fright transportation?

A No answer given, question dismissed.

Final comments included a representative from Bicester who had experienced a great deal of environmental loss subject to recent developments – This will also be a climate emergency with a biodiversity loss! What infrastructure?

Cllr and Chair Dickinson thanked everyone for attending and the meeting closed at 9.28 pm.