Total of 18 new towns proposed along East West Rail route, says Reeves

The government has received 18 submissions for “sizeable new developments” across the route of the new East West Rail line, according to the chancellor.

In a major speech aimed at stimulating economic growth, Rachel Reeves today revived plans to support a “growth corridor” between Cambridge and Oxford, confirming funding for the rail project.

“At the moment it takes two and a half hours to travel between Oxford and Cambridge by train [….] and there is a lack of affordable housing across the region,” she said.

“The demand is there, but there are far to many supply side constraints on economic growth here”

Reeves said that new transport infrastructure could “act as a catalyst for new housing” and revealed that the government had “already received proposals for new towns along the new railway, with 18 submissions for sizeable new developments”.

At Tempsford, a village sitting at the nexus of the East Coast Main Line, A1 and East West Rail, Reeves said the government would “move quicker to deliver a mainline station, meaning journey times to London of under an hour and to Cambridge in under 30 minutes when East-West Rail is operational”.

Tempsford has been mooted by some experts as a promising site for a new town development. 

>> See also: A vision for 150,000 homes but no water to supply them. Does Gove’s Cambridge 2040 plan stand a chance? 

>>See also: ’This is a growth story’… How Network Rail plans to become one of the UK’s biggest housebuilders

>>See also:  Government targets new homes around commuter hubs

The chancellor also revealed that, after interventions to address water scarcity issues, the Environment Agency had lifted objections to new developments in Cambridge, meaning 4,500 additional homes can now be built. 

Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser during Covid, will be made champion for the Oxford-Cambridge Growth corridor, she announced. 

He will work with local leaders and with the housing and planning minister and with Peter Freeman, chair of the Cambridge Growth Company, as well as a new growth commission for Oxford. 

The Treasury and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) earlier this week said they will ensure that when developers submit an application for “acceptable” types of schemes in key areas, such as areas of high housing potential near transport hubs, the default answer to development is “yes.”