COMMENT www.businessmk.co.uk www.businessinbedfordshire.co.uk www.business-northants.co.uk April 2019 17 READERS of this column will recall entire route between Oxford and that I have written previously about Theo Chalmers Cambridge. So when it comes to government plans to develop the investing in our road network, we Theo Chalmers is already-funded East-West rail link, managing director of www.urbaneden.org www.vervepr.co.uk need to ensure that it complements, restoring the old Varsity Line between Verve Public Relations and e:
[email protected] rather than competes with, our Oxford and Cambridge via Bletchley, chair of Urban Eden. Tel: 01908 275271 investment in rail and digital and to build a new East West connectivity. Expressway linking the cities by a “We urgently need to invest in our fast, new, road designed for longer road network to look after our existing distance journeys, as opposed to hop- Doubts are growing over roads better and to invest in support of on, hop-off local traffics. planned growth. And we need to On balance, these have seemed a invest in improved connections good thing. However a recent column to/from the East West Rail services. in New Civil Engineer , based partly East-West connectivity What we need is an integrated and co- upon the government’s National ordinated approach to identifying Infrastructure Commission’s Annual transport investment priorities, one Monitoring Report 2019 and its necessary consents. On September 12 Meanwhile the National of propriety and respect for all that that connects people and places with perhaps more revealing annex, 2018, the government announced that Infrastructure Commission appears to makes Milton Keynes different by opportunities and services.” appears to add some very serious it had selected Corridor B - the central want to blame the government before proceeding with its Plan:MK and He does not mention that the East doubts to the already niggling doubts corridor following the route of East the whole scheme goes badly wrong.