UPDATE: February 2021
The expressway is still ‘paused’, but expect a Framework for the Arc Spatial Plan very soon.
The Ox-Cam expressway has been officially paused since March 2020. A question in Parliament on 28th January 2021 from Layla Moran MP (Lib-Dem, Oxford West and Abingdon) to the Secretary of State for Transport on “What plans his Department has for the paused Oxford-Cambridge expressway project?” was answered by Rachel Maclean, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, with “The project is paused and no work is being done on it. We are considering how other transport interventions can best support growth and jobs in the Oxford to Cambridge arc.” Layla Moran asked a follow-up question based on a recent article in a local paper claiming the expressway is being planned ‘by stealth’. “Residents in Oxfordshire, who are strongly opposed to the Oxford to Cambridge expressway, are worried that while the expressway is officially paused, it seems that parts of the road project are going ahead, but in smaller chunks. One expressed it as “expressway by stealth”. Can the Minister tell us how many subsections of the expressway project are in their planning stages, and does “pause” mean that “go” is still an option?” Rachel Maclean replied as follows: “I can assure the hon. Lady that the Government have announced plans to develop with local partners a long-term spatial framework, and that it is along the lines of the 25-year environment plan to build beautiful and sustainable places in her community and in the whole region. Consultation with local residents and herself is central to achieving this vision."
This briefing note contains surprise news about a possible delay in releasing the Arc Spatial Plan (see Section 5.d)
We’ll leave it up to you to decide whether or not Rachel Maclean actually answered the MP’s question about an ‘expressway by stealth’.
And what of that bigger picture, the ‘long-term spatial framework’ to which Under Secretary of State referred? We had been advised by those working on the Ox-Cam Arc within the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Goovernment to expect to see a Spatial Plan for the Arc ‘early in 2021’.
But a briefing paper prepared for a Milton Keynes Council meeting, also on the 28th January, suggests that the full details of the spatial plan have also now been delayed. The briefing paper states "It is understood that MHCLG are working with stakeholders in the Arc on progressing a Spatial Framework, however this has been delayed and the latest indication is that this won’t reach an advanced stage, when there would be certainty over proposals, until early 2024."
What is going on here? The Arc Spatial Plan is vital for all Local Authorities across the Arc, because each is trying to accommodate the Arc’s ambition within its own Local Plans for housing and infrastructure. Without the Arc Spatial Plan how can Local Authorities meet binding deadlines for Local Plan submission? Major companies such as AECOM have been working on the Arc Spatial Plan ever since a first Report in 2017. Surely the Plan should be near completion by now? We understand now that it is the full plan that is delayed and that a Framework for the Spatial Plan will be announced very shortly. Full details will then be developed over the next few years.
We ask the Government to have second thoughts on the whole Ox-Cam Arc scheme. ‘Levelling up’ is best done by investing elsewhere in the country.
And as for Rachel Maclean’s promise of “Consultation with local residents and herself is central to achieving this vision."? We can’t wait for this to happen. The Ox-Cam Arc documents are littered with promises to ‘consult with local communities’ about Ox-Cam Arc plans. Yet not a single open public meeting on any aspect of the Arc has been held anywhere across the Arc to date. The only public feedback offered on any Arc-related plan was by England’s Economic Heartland on its Outline and Draft Transport Strategies in 2019 and 2020, covering a region slightly greater than that of the Ox-Cam Arc. And that was only about roads, not houses.