Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced plans to develop the area between Oxford and Cambridge into what she said could become “Europe’s Silicon Valley.” She described the plan as building a “growth corridor” aiming to better harness economic and research opportunities. In a speech at Siemens Healthineers in Oxfordshire, Reeves outlined several major investments, including proposals to expand transport links and housing between the two university cities.
The project would see increased funding for East–West Rail, which already links Oxford and Milton Keynes, accelerating its continuation on to Cambridge. It also proposes 18 new towns along the rail line in the hopes of attracting and accommodating “world-class talent” to the “world-class companies” which operate in and around the cities. Oxford University’s vice chancellor Professor Irene Tracey expressed support for the plans, referring to the Oxford–Cambridge region as a “powerhouse of innovation and an economic crown jewel.”
The initiative has also been backed by Susan Brown, the leader of Oxford City Council, who commended its potential to create “well–paid jobs for our children and grandchildren”, while local Liberal Democrat MPs including Layla Moran said in a joint statement that they were “pleased to see the government’s commitment to East West Rail”, but that there is still “much further to go”.
The chancellor also announced a new Growth Commission for Oxford, similar to one already set up in Cambridge, and appointed Sir Patrick Vallance as its “Oxford–Cambridge Growth Corridor champion.” Vallance has said that he is in a hurry “to get things done” and has called the initiative “a crucial development”.
He also offered assurances that the plans would not “overturn the things that we need to do for biodiversity”, emphasising the corridor’s potential to advance “green technologies”. Since first being proposed in 2017, the project has been condemned by environmental groups such as the RSPB and Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. The director of CPRE Oxfordshire Lisa Warne expressed “grave concerns” about Labour’s growth agenda, stating that the plans could not come “at the expense of the countryside”.
