Cambridgeshire MPs debate the OxCamArc in Parliament – Part 2

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Cambridgeshire MPs debate transport infrastructure and the future growth plans for Cambridge and County

This follows on from Part 1 here.

TL/DR? Have a listen to what each MP said:

The Minister for Housing’s response

You can listen to what Matthew Pennycook MP said here

At the start of his closing speech, Mr Zeichner also suggested that this debate on the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor should be something that is an annual debate in Parliament, to which MPs agreed.

Before I got distracted by the Minister for Local Transport’s response on Ely Junction…

Daniel Zeichner MP

  • Raised the challenge of the ‘stop-start’ nature of the past decade – and called on the Minister to ensure consistency of policy over the long term.
  • Raised the question of what East West Rail was for.
    • Linking Oxford to Cambridge?
    • A way of getting people into and out of those two university cities?
    • Opening up land for new housing developments, mindful of avoiding the examples of Cambourne (where housing was built before transport infrastructure) and Northstowe (where housing was built before everything!)
  • Noting the significant advances of battery technology re: powering of locomotives (diesel vs electrified)
  • Asked about details on Land Value Capture as a mechanism for paying for the new infrastructure
  • Raises concerns about the governance issues when dealing with so many local institutions – such as the 22 local council organisations.
  • Raises the need for sustained engagement with local residents, plus concerns raised by Cambridge City Council councillors
    • Skills investment for young people
    • Investment in social housing
    • Doubling nature target & environmental sustainability
  • Cambridge Ahead raised the issues of
    • Intra-city regional transport connectivity
    • Water supplies
    • Sewage capacity
    • Electricity capacity
  • Closed with asking about the timetable of what will happen and when.

Pippa Heylings MP

  • Said the constituency population had increased by over 21% since 2011
  • Noted that South Cambridgeshire Constituency has changed
  • Infrastructure has not kept pace with growth
    • Addenbrooke’s operates with a deficit of 162 acute beds
    • Addenbrooke’s A&E has the capacity of only 1/4 of the patients it has to deal with when it was last extended in 2001
    • Still awaitng a decision
  • The appalling public transport options and commuting gridlock diminishes the quality of life for residents
  • East West Rail’s community engagement has been really poor, and the programme offers nothing to the communities it passes through (hence why I think it should be 4-tracked to enable suburban and light rail services to pass through it)
  • Cambridge East Station will also be in South Cambridgeshire constituency
  • Keep Water and Nature at the heart.

Alex Mayer MP Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard (Formerly MEP for E-England and local resident)

  • Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor is a horrible name
    • Growth scares people
    • Corridor is a way to get from A-2-B, and connotions of being stuck in a ‘hospital corridor’
  • Not clear to large investors who is the person / public office holder to get in touch with over potential investment.
  • Devolution needs to ensure mayors have genuine powers. Co-operation assumptions can break down (as CPCA has showing!)
  • Need to be clear about what the ‘story’ is – and what links us all.
    • Suggests the Universal Studios
    • Suggests the Ox-Cam Forest

Ian Sollom MP

  • Must learn from history of woeful decisions
  • Notes Tempsford Newtown sits at the confluence of multiple local authorities and county boundaries
  • Concerns about GP/Dentists/Schools, concerns about water supply and flooding
  • Northstowe will have 10,000 homes in 2040 yet the first residents moved in eight years ago Despite this, there is still no permanent GP surgery. Why does the health infrastructure lag behind?
  • Needs genuine cross-Whitehall working – no one department can do it alone

Charlotte Cane MP

  • Calls for the existing East-West-Rail central section to terminate at least to Newmarket, east of Cambridge – allowing more regular services
  • Calls for the establishment of a metro-style transport network based on the new and existing nearby railway stations incl Waterbeach and Waterbeach North
  • Calls for a land use framework – can’t plan for housing and transport without it
  • Growth without infrastructure risks leaving communities behind.
  • Local communities must have a genuine voice in infrastructure that shows the benefit of EWR. Connecting people to each other is vital
  • Needs to be investment in:
    • water supply, and that waste water is managed
    • GP services, schools, shops etc need space to grow as communities grow
    • Electricity capacity
    • Active travel and public transport options
    • All of EWR should be electrified
    • Rail is the key to growth – calls for the Ely Junction upgrade

The Minister for Housing and Planning Matthew Pennycook

He couldn’t respond to individual requests for funding but said he would raise the individual issues with ministerial colleagues (or rather his civil servants would get in touch with their departmental counterparts to get formal responses).

Want to talk more about transport infrastructure?

Rail Future East meets on Saturday afternoon.

Above – Rail Future East’s annual meeting in Cambridge (which always clashes with the Mill Road Winter Fair!) – do come along and talk trains, trams, light rail, and integrated public transport and active travel!

If you are interested in the longer term future of Cambridge, and on what happens at the local democracy meetings where decisions are made, feel free to: