Latest news with #transportInfrastructure
BBC News
16-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Buckinghamshire Council leader calls for Aylesbury EW rail link
A council leader has said the government was "really short-sighted" for not approving a link to connect the East West Rail route with Steven Broadbent from Buckinghamshire Council said they had "refused to give us that connection" despite £2.5bn being allocated to the project in the latest Spending Natalie Wheble, from EW Rail, said the link was "not in scope at the moment" but added it was "making sure the design does not prevent it" if the business case Department for Transport said they were "committed to delivering transport infrastructure that will boost growth across the country" but that "all schemes must maximise value for money". The first part of the line, between Oxford and Milton Keynes, was due to open later this year. It will eventually reach is the latest in a line of politicians who called for Aylesbury to be linked via the newly built Winslow 2021, the town's former Conservative MP, Rob Butler, secured an Adjournment debate to discuss the spur. Last November, the Labour MP for Aylesbury, Laura Kyrke-Smith, confirmed she had raised the issue with the Transport Secretary. She said the spur "would bring great economic and social benefit to Aylesbury, to the region and beyond". Now Broadbent told the BBC that £15bn of transport-related money had been "literally been carved for the Midlands and the North" in the government's review, while "we are sitting here in Aylesbury and other towns which were heavily congested".He urged the government to give the county "some of that funding in order for our infrastructure to be upgraded".He added that "at the moment you have to jump in the car or take a bus" if you want to travel from Aylesbury to Winslow. Natalie Wheble, director of communications at East West Rail, spoke with Andy Collins on the BBC Three Counties Radio breakfast said the government set out where they wanted the rail line to go based on a business case and "at the moment, the Aylesbury spur is not in there".She added that "we understand the appetite [for the spur] and what we are doing is making sure we are not preventing it from happening" if the business case also said that the £2.5bn allocated to the project by the government would enable them "to operate on a daily basis during the spending review period, so it is not extra money". Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
08-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Will long-awaited Nottinghamshire road upgrades finally happen?
Take a drive through north Nottinghamshire, and there's a good chance you'll find yourself stuck at Ollerton the point where several major routes meet, it often acts as a bottleneck for traffic from six different to upgrade both the roundabout itself and the surrounding roads have been in the works for summer Nottinghamshire County Council was supposedly "a matter of days" from getting the final confirmation - and crucially, the funding - to start the confident was the then-Conservative administration that they even put signs up saying improvements were "coming soon".Then along came the general the change of government, the project's future suddenly became with the cash taps seemingly being turned back on this week, are spades finally about to go into the ground? Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced on Wednesday billions of pounds of investment in transport infrastructure in England. "It's very difficult to get capital funding out of central government."So says the Conservative councillor for Muskham and Farnsfield, Bruce A614 runs through his council division, and he says he's been lobbying for improvements for more than 15 years."It is essential for the north-south traffic through Nottinghamshire, and therefore [improving it] will have a major effect on the financial viability and the growth of this particular area," he said.A big chunk of the cash for the project was originally due to come directly from the Department for a year of political upheaval, however, it looked like the burden would be shifted to the East Midlands Combined County the Conservatives were in charge in central government, they promised the regional mayor would have £1.5bn to spend on improving connectivity – money saved from the cancellation of HS2 beyond Birmingham. Speaking before the budget in the autumn, though, the Labour mayor Claire Ward said she was unsure if the money would forward to this week, and not only was it confirmed, but the figure was higher than before."When Labour came into office, there were a huge number of schemes the Tories had promised funding for, and the money simply wasn't there," she said."After a year, we've been engaging with government, and I'm really pleased we've been allocated £2billion." When the announcement was made by Reeves on Wednesday, however, the focus for the East Midlands was instead on a new mass transit system connecting Nottingham and the Treasury press release didn't even mention the A614 project. Speaking to the BBC the same day, Ward said she wanted things to move "as quickly as possible", but appeared to stop short of giving any guarantees."There's still some outstanding bits of detail that we need to talk to our partners at Nottinghamshire County Council about," she said."We were going to make a contribution, and part of this money will help us to be able to have that money set aside ready for that contribution." Nonetheless, the new leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, Reform UK's Mick Barton, welcomed the news."It'll have a massive impact; it needed doing years and years ago," he said."It's only got worse regarding the flow of traffic and the volume of traffic, so it will benefit everybody, whether it be the economy, the residents, the work people."All the signs are the project will get the green light, and while everyone I've spoken to this week seems to be supportive of it, there is also a sense of frustration that it's taken so all, the council's former leader previously warned the plans were "already four or five months" behind schedule - that was eight months ago.
