Layla Moran, Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, has circulated a petition calling for the government to scrap the planned Oxford-Cambridge expressway.
The petition, created by the Oxford Liberal Democrats, voices concerns that the expressway would be an eyesore and harmful to the local environment.
It reads: “The disastrous Oxford-Cambridge Expressway, proposed by the Conservatives, will blight our landscape, threaten our environment and harm biodiversity. We need to invest in sustainable transport, not build massive motorways. The Conservatives have realised just how unpopular their Expressway plans are, and have promised a ‘review’. Layla Moran and the Liberal Democrats want to stop the Expressway altogether. We don’t need a pointless Government review, and if the Tories continue with the plans a proper public consultation is needed, with the option to scrap the scheme.”
The expressway would form a new road link between the M40 at Oxford and the M1 at Milton Keynes. It would be at a minimum a dual-carriageway road and possibly a three-lane motorway, linking the two cities, passing through the Oxford green belt.
The current most direct route connecting Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge runs from the M4 to the M11. The project coordinators, Highways England, argue that this route is of a poor standard, affecting journey times, reliability and safety. They argue that a new expressway would reduce journey times between Abingdon and Milton Keynes by up to 40 minutes, helping the community access more potential jobs and services as well as promoting economic growth in the area.
The exact route the expressway would take is currently unknown. In 2018, the Secretary of State selected a preferred corridor for the road link but doubts remain over the specifics. Highways England is said to be looking at over a hundred possible options within the preferred corridor and the expressway could go outside of the corridor boundaries altogether.
If approved, the construction of the expressway will begin in 2025, scheduled for completion by 2030.
The project has been widely criticised by a variety of local groups including environmentalists, who question whether the development of car-based transport links is sustainable. They point out that the Oxford to Bedford section of the East West railway is due for completion by 2023, which will enable faster train travel between Oxford and Cambridge than would be achievable by driving along the proposed route, negating the need for expressway two years before its construction is scheduled to begin.
As a result, the construction of the expressway has been seen by some as an excuse to facilitate further urban development: a total of one million new homes and at least two new towns could be constructed along the route. Over 300,000 of these houses are planned for Oxford, doubling the county’s current housing stock of 280,000. This has been the main focal point for objections for campaigning groups such as No Expressway.
Chair of the No Expressway Group, Olivia Field said: “The scale of development from the proposed expressway and aspiration for one million new homes along the Ox-Cam Arc would be devastating for our environment, our health and our communities for generations to come.”
In response to the widespread concerns raised about the project, the Conservative party had promised to conduct a ‘priority review’ into the expressway if they won re-election. This review is yet to take place.
The only comment the Government has made about the Expressway in 2020 was by George Freeman MP, Minister for Transport, who said, “We will provide an update on whether the project should continue in due course.”
The expressway’s fate may be indicated in the upcoming Spring 2020 budget.
