PRESS RELEASE: Campaigners go to Downing Street and Parliament to demand cancellation of Ox-Cam Expressway
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
On February 26th the No Expressway Group (NEG) will hold two events in Westminster to demand the government cancels the Oxford to Cambridge Expressway and over-inflated target of one million houses.
NEG, the biggest anti-expressway campaign group, will walk from Old Palace Yard opposite the Houses of Parliament to deliver petitions of more than 15,000 signatures to 10 Downing Street demanding that the government scraps its expressway plans. NEG will also be holding a drop-in event in Parliament for MPs and Peers, both supporters of the Ox-Cam Expressway and those against it, to hear and learn more about NEG’s concerns and to have a genuine discussion about the proposed scheme.
NEG’s Parliamentary event is co-sponsored by Layla Moran (Lib Dem, Oxford West & Abingdon), Greg Smith (Conservative, Buckingham) and Daniel Zeichner (Labour, Cambridge). This cross-party, cross-Arc sponsorship shows that this campaign is not about party politics and that it concerns everyone across the entire region.
Whilst local controversy and community opposition continues to grow, the Oxford to Cambridge Expressway has become a hot topic in Parliament, with questions being asked by Layla Moran, Greg Smith, Daniel Zeichner, Anneliese Dodds and John Howell about the ‘priority review’ pledged by Grant Shapps during the pre-election period; whether NEG will be involved; if a debate can be scheduled and whether the Prime Minister will announce a cancellation of the scheme.
NEG spokesperson Olivia Field said ‘We are delighted to have cross-party and cross-Arc support both for our campaign and for this exciting event in Westminster. We are looking forward to meeting MPs and Peers from across the Arc and from different regions of the UK to discuss our campaign’s and others’ perspectives. This is a national issue, not just a local one, with questions about the sustainability of our transport systems and the management of our environment, which is a critical national asset. There needs to be a ‘levelling up’ of how we invest in infrastructure across different regions of our country.’
Ms Field continues ‘NEG has talked with communities from West of Oxford to Cambridge. All are stunned by the scale of the proposals and the implications for them, their family’s health, the environment and wildlife. The communities are deeply concerned and frustrated at the lack of transparency, consultation and genuine debate about this scheme so far. Our events in London on the 26th February are a fantastic opportunity for our leaders and decision-takers to hear from the people who would be directly affected by these unjustified plans. Let’s hope they’re listening!’
NEG Woburn Sands spokesperson Alex Poppleton said ‘the established town of Woburn Sands and surrounding villages in South Milton Keynes are directly threatened by plans to cut through houses and thriving communities with a new road. These plans have been kept under wraps for two years without involving local people and without consideration of the devastation that this “community severance” would have. We are delighted that we can bring this to the attention of those in Westminster and hope they listen and scrap the Ox-Cam Expressway, once and for all’
NEG is continuing to urge people not to see as ‘game over’ the Government’s announcement during the election campaign, to “review as a priority” the Ox-Cam Expressway. It is not. It’s vital that as many local people as possible make their voices heard by supporting NEG at www.noexpressway.org where they can sign a petition to demand that the Government abandons plans for the Ox-Can Expressway and the unjustified and unsupportable housing targets.
Attached below: a schedule for NEG’s 26th February events; an updated map of NO Expressway Communities; a photograph of some of the children making rare bird lanterns ready for our petition walk
Ends
For further information please contact the press office on
Melissa Wright
07811 167190
NOTES TO THE EDITOR
NEG Westminster Event Schedule
1 - MP / Peers drop-in event - 26th February
2-4pm Thatcher Room, Portcullis House
Hosted by Layla Moran MP (Oxford West & Abingdon), Greg Smith MP (Buckingham), Daniel Zeichner MP (Cambridge)
Drop-in event for MPs & Peers to find out more about the Oxford to Cambridge Expressway and housing targets for the Arc, and their potentially destructive impact on our environment, wildlife, health and communities
Members of NEG and experts from organisations including CPRE, Need not Greed, FoE
Banners with key messages, Maps, pledge letter & take away information will be available
2 - Petition Walk - 26th February,
Gathering 2.15pm; Walk 2.45-3.15pm; Hand in petition 3.15pm at 10 Downing Street; Followed by reconvening in Old Palace Yard with team from drop-in event for photo opportunity approx. 4.15pm
Prior to the walk, there will be an opportunity to take photos and images of large pavement Map of the Ox-Cam Arc & Expressway corridor with all NO Expressway communities marked
Walk from Old Palace Yard (Westminster Abbey side of the road) to 10 Downing Street to deliver petitions to Cancel Ox-Cam Expressway to Downing Street
Members of NEG, MPs & some NEG supporters - including some children
Carrying a banner, some signs and lanterns with images of birds at risk of extinction, made by some of the children on the walk.
The Oxford to Cambridge Expressway scheme is based on the idea of opening-up the countryside for development, including an aspirational target of one million new houses across the Ox-Cam Arc by 2050. The National Infrastructure Commission’s 5th Studio Report shows a split by both region and type of housing across the Arc. The target includes ‘unlocked’ homes enabled by the Expressway, London commuter homes and those already in Local Authority plans. We agree more housing is needed, but not increases in housing stock for Oxfordshire >100% by 2050, affected parts of Buckinghamshire by 66%, of Northamptonshire by 74% and of Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Huntingdonshire by 81%. These growth rates are vastly greater than the Office of National Statistics predicted average 16% population increase in England by 2050. The impact of this on our environment, pollution and infrastructure should not be underestimated! All those homes need infrastructure: schools, clinics, hospitals, water and electricity supplies, waste and sewage disposal etc. For example, one form entry primary school is required for every 800 new houses. That’s 1,250 such schools across the Arc for those one million new houses by 2050. Developers make only minimal contributions to the real cost of infrastructure, which is ultimately borne by the Government, i.e. by tax- and rate-payers.
England has destroyed 97% of its wildflower meadows since the 1930s and more ancient woodlands in the forty years after WWII than in the previous 400 years. How much more destruction can our environment take without catastrophic declines in our life support systems?
The impact of “community severance” of roads through existing communities under threat has been a huge omission in the analysis by Highways England (HE) of the Ox-Cam Expressway. HE identified that any route in the preferred corridor in the Woburn Sands area “would likely result in significant adverse effects caused by community severance and loss of amenity for local communities.” Its own assessment criteria recognises that ‘severance’ is in the most significant category of constraint that has an impact on decision making, while admitting that the guidance behind the criteria, from 1993, is “somewhat dated”. HE should update its approach to calculating the impact of “community severance” to include up-to-date, best-practice research such as that conducted by University College London.
About:
The No Expressway Group (NEG) was established to raise awareness of the Oxford-Cambridge Expressway across the Arc. We are not affiliated with any political party and are run on a not-for-profit basis. We receive donations from our individual supporters but no funds from any group with commercial or other interests in the Arc proposals. In the last 12 months NEG has given talks and made presentations to villages across the Arc, from Sunningwell, West of Oxford, to Cambridge. We have not found a single community in favour of the Arc proposals.
The NO EXPRESSWAY GROUP believes that there is NO need for an Oxford-Cambridge Expressway, nor the over-inflated housing targets associated with it, and we will actively campaign against it and support the many other organisations with the same objectives.
Our environment is a national asset which should be protected for all us, our health and well-being. This is a national and not just a local issue and we will continue to strive to educate people about the threats to our countryside posed by the planned Expressway and its associated housing and development. We will fight to protect our countryside and its wildlife for the health and enjoyment of all future generations.
