‘East West Rail puts 200 million meals at risk,’ warn farmers

Farmers warn the £6bn East West Rail puts almost 200 million meals every year at risk as it disrupts thousands of acres of productive farmland.

More than 6,200 acres of farmland will be impacted between Bedford and Cambridge, which produces enough food to feed up to 200,000 people continuously.

The route cuts through regenerative arable farmland known as Westfield at Lark Rise Farm, run by the Countryside Regeneration Trust, which it says will be devastating.

The CRT promotes nature-friendly farming to help reverse the biodiversity decline and combat climate change.

It argues that at a time when the government is demanding farmers do more to protect and restore the countryside to meet its environmental pledges, destroying farmland that is already achieving so much for the countryside is a huge mistake.

Vince Lea, the trust’s conservation officer, told the Cambridge Independent: “The route will be disastrous for the Cambridgeshire countryside. It is the most expensive of the options previously suggested. It has the greatest impact on biodiversity and on residents of south Cambridgeshire.

“EWR will take out a vast area of productive farmland, not just under the footprint of the railway line itself but all the surrounding land used during the construction or converted into ‘mitigation’ features.”

The proposed route in the Comberton to Shelford section runs through nature-rich farmland at Lark Rise Farm, which is a haven for endangered species.

The land at Westfield was purchased by the CRT in 2000. At that time, it was one large field, but it was decided to segment the field into four smaller parcels of land to introduce new wildlife habitat.

These environmental boundaries include mixed hedgerows, now mature and sizeable consisting of hawthorn, blackthorn, wild rose, hazel, dogwood, privet, wayfaring tree, a few maples, and some oak, and slightly raised areas of soil created to form beetle banks.

Other habitats added or improved during this process included flower-rich grass margins, the crop fields themselves for specialist farmland wildlife, and the nearby Bourn Brook.

The area of land available to nature is now bigger and better than it was when the CRT took it on and through partnerships with other landowners and conservation organisations, it is more joined up.

The proposed route of East West Rail through this land will reduce, degrade and divide the area for wildlife.

Tim Scott, the tenant farmer at Lark Rise Farm for 30 years, said: “We have numerous Red List Species at Lark Rise and we are in the top one per cent of our county for these species and most, if not all of these, will be lost because of the railway.

“I question whether this folly is needed at all, but all common sense would suggest the northern route is the more appropriate one.”

The four fields have been variously used for winter and spring sown wheat, barley, and oats, as well as triticale, spring and winter beans, mustard, and oilseed rape.

The method of farming developed over the past 20 years is unique, being a low-intensity variation on conventional farming. It does not fall into a recognised category of conventional or organic farming but has been designed to maximise benefit for wildlife.

Small fields and diverse crop rotations, with no two adjacent fields carrying the same crop, means that opportunities for wildlife to thrive are maximised.

The work at Westfield contributes to the landscape scale nature recovery that is being attempted by many landowners as the West Cambridgeshire Hundreds farm cluster.

This group of farms has been working together to improve habitat and connectedness for wildlife in the area. A train line cutting through the Bourn Brook valley and through the farmland is doing the opposite of what it has been trying to achieve, by dividing habitat into smaller chunks.

The old Victorian Oxford to Cambridge line once passed through Westfield and was discontinued in the 1960s under the Beeching Review.

The CRT says the remains and effects of that are still seen, including sections of the brook that were deepened, straightened, and badly damaged to provide bridge access, and lines of concrete and wire fencing left behind.

The route of the railway threatens about one-quarter of the area of Westfield farm, which will immediately reduce the population size of the species on site by removing their habitat.

However, the impact will be larger than one-quarter reduction. Some species are present at low levels, requiring a large area of suitable habitat, grey partridge, and corn bunting, for example. Reducing the population from two-three pairs to one or two pairs will limit the chance of these species maintaining viable long-term populations and increase the chance of them going locally extinct.

The disturbance caused by the high-speed trains – noise, physical impact, and the infrastructure – will have an impact beyond the confines of the line itself. Noise pollution is a particular concern for songbirds such as skylarks.

The route of the line would cut through the path of the CRT’s Butterfly Transect, which means that the survey would have to end after a run of over 20 years of contributing data to an important national scheme.

Mike and Sarah Tebbit own and farm two blocks of land, one where they live and the other between Comberton and Toft. This block, together with land they farm in different ownership south of Hardwick, stand to be destroyed. It is prime agricultural land which will take multiple decades to bring back to its current productive state after construction works.

Sarah said: “If we could see that the route was logical and economic, we would accept that it’s tough luck for our business. The fact that neither is true, and that East West Rail’s own published research backs this up, makes it a bitter pill to swallow.

“The route runs close to 13 villages as opposed to two, causes way more environmental destruction, is more expensive, and will take longer and be more disruptive to the area during the build process.

“It will negatively impact the lives of many thousands. East West Rail have attempted to settle the route

without enough proper explanation or consultation, and it isn’t acceptable to us, the environment, the public or taxpayer as a whole.

“The government seems to be charging full steam ahead with East West Rail at any cost and regardless of these issues.

“Does getting the result they want really justify the damage and destruction proposed?”

Dr Philip Rayner, of Glebe Farm Foods and Penn Farm at Chapel Hill, Haslingfield, calculated that the agricultural land lost to East West Rail will take away the equivalent of grain that would feed at least 200,000 people for a year. He based this on typical yields and the amount of grain that will feed people in a year.

He has calculated that the total area of land taken by East West Rail appears to be around 2,000 acres in the 7.5km before Chapel Hill, which provides food for 60,000 people.

Extrapolating that to the 50km run of the line, suggests this will take away the food production for at least 200,000 people.

An EWR Co spokesperson said: “We remain committed to working hand-in-hand with the local communities that East West Rail will serve.

“Constructive and frequent dialogue with the council and other stakeholders is central to this process, and we truly value any feedback that we will receive. We will carefully review all consultation responses in detail as we move forward with this vital project.

“East West Rail is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for this region. It has the potential to boost the Oxford-Cambridge economy by £6.7billion per year by 2050.

“The new line will support Cambridgeshire’s thriving life science cluster, enable new housing developments along the route and support up to 28,000 jobs in Cambridge alone.”