Oxford to Cambridge Expressway

Transport Polices and Plans

Growth Corridor Vision for 2050

Update from Ickford Parish Council

Rt Hon Grant Shapps

House of Commons

London

SW1A 0AA

Dear Grant Shapps

I am writing to you to ask you to make time to meet with the No Expressway Group as a matter of urgency.

I am incredibly concerned about the proposed Oxford to Cambridge Expressway and its associated over-inflated target for one million new houses across the Ox-Cam Arc.  

This scheme would be devastating to the environment, wildlife and communities all across the Arc.

During the election campaign you said you would conduct an Oxford to Cambridge Expressway review, should the Conservative Party be re-elected to Government.   So far, we have heard nothing more about this.  When will this happen?  How long will it take?  Who will be involved?  How will the review be conducted?  What will be done to make sure any such review is transparent to all?  

Given that you yourself said before the elections that the review was a priority, I am disappointed to hear that you have now indicated that you are too busy to meet with the No Expressway Group.  In announcing the review, you said that the expressway scheme would go ahead only if it has “local support”.  How do you propose to measure such local support, given that no effort has been made by any Local Authority across the entire Arc to engage with any of the affected communities?  The No Expressway Group has now talked with or given presentations to more than 35 communities from Oxford in the West to Woburn Sands in the East, and so is in a much better position than any other group to inform you of the public opinion about the expressway proposals across a very wide area.  

I therefore ask that you agree to meet with the No Expressway Group as soon as possible and look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely

Tracey Skates 

Chair , Worminghall Parish Council