Communities along East West Rail line fear they’ll ‘get all the misery but none of the benefits’

Residents living near the proposed route of East West Rail (EWR) say they will face “all of the misery” of the new £5bn railway line with “none of the benefits”.

Hundreds turned out for drop-in events this week to raise issues over the environment, the visual impact, the route choice and the lack of information from the East West Railway Company (EWR Co).

A protest organised by campaign group Cambridge Approaches at Harston Village Hall on Monday (June 26) was attended by more than 60 people.

“We don’t want East West Rail,” they chanted, followed by “They can’t answer questions, they don’t have a clue” and “None of the benefits, all of the misery”.

Motorists passing the venue beeped their horns in support.

East West Rail aims to restore a direct railway link between Oxford and Cambridge to boost economic growth across the region between the two university cities.

While some of the western sections of the route use existing lines, a new section of track must be built between Bedford and Cambridge.

A preferred route for the new section was announced by EWR Co at the start of June, which will include new stations at Tempsford in Bedfordshire and at Cambourne, and features a southern approach to Cambridge.

Brian Sewell, who lives in Haslingfield, built a house in the village seven years ago that looks out on Chapel Hill through which East West Rail will pass.

He said: “I’m trying to be philosophical about it but my wife, it’s getting her down.”

“One of the attractions was looking out at the hill where I grew up - and East West Rail are just going to carve it in two. It’s unbelievable.”

He continued: “They say they’ll give a 10 per cent increase in ecology, but no way. They’ll never replace what’s there now.”

EWR Co has committed to a 10 per cent net biodiversity gain target across the whole project, and has created 20 ecological compensation sites across the first connection stage from Bicester to Bletchley.

Mr Sewell hit out at the inconsistency of the responses he had received from EWR Co: “I heard three answers to the same question.”

He continued: “You can’t pull the wool over people’s eyes on something like this and that’s what they’re trying to do.”

Campaigner Anna Todd spoke to the assembled crowd of protesters: “They can’t answer our questions and I don’t know about you, but as a resident that’s really affected by this, I want answers.

“I want to know what their plans are. Why have they picked the most expensive route? That’s crazy. Why have they picked the route that’s most environmentally destructive? That’s crazy.”

“We care about our communities, our history and our environment, about our people, about our children and where they grow up,” she said. “This route is so damaging. They could have gone a different route.”

The preferred route will see the line leave a station at Cambourne and continue south-east, passing to the south of Haslingfield and Harston villages, at which point it would merge with the Shepreth branch line via a grade-separated junction at Hauxton, and then join the West Anglia Mainline.

Between Little Shelford and Hauxton, services would stop at the new Cambridge South station - due to be built beside the Cambridge Biomedical Campus by 2025 - and then proceed north to Cambridge station.

A report published by EWR Co stated: “Our high-level investigations since the 2021 consultation indicate that a northern approach may potentially be cheaper to build and quicker to construct, and have less potential environmental impact, but it wouldn’t be an alternative to a southern approach in terms of economic growth.”

A proposed 12-metre high flyover will land just 200 metres from Lorna Sorrentino’s home in Harston, from which she can currently see as far as Foxton, Chapel Hill and Bassingbourn.

She told the Cambridge Independent: “I own the bit of land where the flyover is going to land and two years ago this landed on my lap - a nice map with a huge red drawing across it. I’m going to be 200 metres from this two-mile, 12-metre high embankment and it’s going to be noisy.”

Lorna said EWR Co “don’t really say anything when you speak to them” and they haven’t been able to answer her questions on where the materials will come from to build the embankment nor how they will be transported to the site.

“It’s a nightmare,” she said. “They have no answers. They have a total disregard for wildlife and the countryside - and we can’t get that back.”

Lorna fears further land will be taken up as part of the construction process.

“What upsets me is the poor animals, the countryside, the pipistrelle bats, the muntjac deer, all the insects, destroyed for what?” she said,

“I’ve lost so much sleep over the animals, I’ve cried so much. If they start this digging, where are they going to go? They don’t understand. And we’re not going to get that countryside back.”

Monday’s event was so busy that the venue was forced to operate a one-in, one-out policy to comply with fire regulations.

Residents heard from EWR Co representatives that the plans were at stage four of six stages. This means EWR expects to hold a statutory consultation on the preferred route in the “first half of 2024”.

“The information from this consultation will be used to finalise our proposals for the railway. We will also seek the next stage of funding and approval from government,” EWR Co said.

The following stage will be to submitted the proposals to the secretary of state for a development consent order.

The concerns were echoed at an event in Great Eversden on Thursday, where Stephen Mallinson, who said he had concerns that there would be viaducts built near the village, spoke to EWR Co representatives.

He said these would be an “eyesore” and he wanted to know more about how this would be mitigated.

Mr Mallinson said: “I am concerned that East West Rail has chosen a route that is less environmentally friendly, more expensive and will take longer to build than the alternative.”

Residents at the event also questioned why the northern route into the Cambridge had not been chosen and whether the line could be used for more freight to take lorries off the A14.

The environmental impact of the scheme was raised by those at the event, and whether it would improve public transport for those not living near one of the new or existing stations.

Willam Armes and Rupert Pearce-Gould both said they would like to see more of a “balance” in the plans between passengers and freight trains.

They suggested thousands of lorries could be taken off the A14, which would impact the cost benefit ratio of the scheme, but said they did not believe it was a successful hybrid between the two at the moment.

Catherine Hills said she did not think the railway should be built and said it was “unnecessary”.

She said: “It should be electrified and they should have considered the northern route more seriously.

“There is going to be enormous damage created by this and I am not convinced by anyone that the economic advantages outweigh the environmental damage.”

An EWR Co spokesperson said approaching Cambridge from the south “reduces congestion” and gives access to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, home to Addenbrooke's, the Rosie and Royal Papworth hospitals, along with research institutes and companies including AstraZeneca and Abcam.

The spokesperson said EWR Co had been “looking really hard” at ways to reduce the number of viaducts and embankments on the line and that it was working to reduce “the impact on local communities and local roads as much as possible”.

Regarding freight, the spokesperson said EWR would be a “predominantly” passenger railway, but there would be two new freight paths per day in either direction along the route.

The spokesperson added: “With better public transport, new connections and interchanges, less time spent in traffic and less carbon emitted from congestion, EWR will improve the quality of life for people living between Cambourne and Cambridge.

“East West Rail is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to connect communities between Oxford and Cambridge with jobs, education and opportunities. Local authorities have been calling for a railway connecting Cambridge and Oxford since the 1990s and it’s supported by local communities and employers; more than 70 per cent of local residents surveyed support a transport connection between Oxford and Cambridge and the top 50 employers in Cambridge have written to the government to make the case for EWR.

“East West Rail’s remit is to make journeys easier and create new opportunities for local people by building fast, reliable and sustainable public transport: not to build homes. Any new housing will ultimately be up to local decision makers – including local authorities – who will confirm and approve development plans.”

The spokesperson added: “The new railway brings people living between Cambourne and Cambridge closer to new interchanges with the West Coast Main Line, Midland Main Line and East Coast Main Line, opening up new connections and opportunities to visit friends and relatives around the country without the need to make multiple changes via London. It also provides new options for people to get around the local area, particularly those who rely on public transport because they don’t own a car.

“We know that congestion on local roads in the area is a problem – and our forecasts show that the modal shift from car journeys to rail from areas west of Cambourne will result in fewer cars on the roads between Cambourne and Cambridge, reducing congestion, cutting emissions and improving the quality of life for local people.”