Two recent government announcements have shed new light on timescales for the development of major transport routes in the Oxford-Cambridge Corridor.

The first was a commitment in the Autumn Budget announcement of £20 million of funding to develop a strategic business plan for the central section of East West Rail.

On the same day, the government’s response to the National Infrastructure Committee’s report on the Cambridge-Milton Keynes-Oxford Arc was published. This sets out the next steps in the government’s plans to position the Arc as the top innovative economy in the world.

We look at what these announcements mean for the development of the Oxford-Cambridge Corridor and the next steps in the process.

Developing the Oxford-Cambridge Corridor

The Oxford-Cambridge Arc spans the counties of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire. The area already contains several hubs of investment in science and innovation, and the government aims to connect and develop these hubs to create a science and technology powerhouse.

If realised, this ambition will mean major changes in the region over the next thirty years, including three major infrastructure projects:

• A new East West Rail line connecting Oxford with Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge
• An Oxford-Cambridge Expressway
• An ambitious programme to build one million new homes in the Arc by 2050

East West Rail Plans

East West Rail will use existing and new sections of railway to establish a strategic rail line across the country from East Anglia to Oxford.

The western and eastern parts of the route will upgrade existing railways that are currently disused or used for freight.

The central section, between Bedford and Cambridge, will follow a new route to replace the former railway, which was closed in the 1960s. The £20 million of funding announced in the recent autumn budget is to develop plans for this section of East West Rail and explore which routes will best deliver the government’s housing ambitions.

A consultation on route options for the central section is expected in 2019.

The Oxford-Cambridge Expressway

The Autumn Budget also announced the £25.3 billion Roads Investment Strategy 2, which is intended to progress major road projects including the Oxford-Cambridge Expressway.

While the East West Rail proposals have been widely welcomed, the proposed Expressway is more controversial. Environmental groups have raised concerns about the impact the new road could have on nature reserves and other key sites.

In September 2018, an indicative corridor for the Expressway was announced. The proposed route is broadly aligned with the East West Rail route, though it’s yet to be decided whether the road will pass to the west or south-east of Oxford.

A full public consultation on the route is expected in late 2019.

One million new homes by 2050

Of all the proposals for the Cambridge-Milton Keynes-Oxford Arc, the government’s goal to build a million new homes by 2050 raised the most eyebrows.

It’s an ambitious target, especially when you consider that the entire county of Oxfordshire currently has a total of 285,000 homes.

Of course, the big question is where are all these homes going to go? This may become clearer during the development of the pan-Arc spatial vision – the mechanism for coordinating investment in housing and infrastructure, while ensuring growth is environmentally sustainable.

In the shorter term, the Oxfordshire Housing & Growth Deal secured £215 million of government funding earlier this year to help address the severe housing shortage in the county. The Deal aims to deliver 100,000 homes by 2031.

What comes next?

We’ll be reviewing the government plans as they progress and assessing what they mean for housing development and property values in the region.