Councillors have accused the East West Railway Company of being “economical with the truth” and ignoring the communities impacted by its plans.
The company (EWR Co) has been described as issuing a lot of words with “hardly any real information” – and forcing councillors to “drag out the facts”.
East West Rail consultation event, Comberton Village Hall. Picture: Keith Heppell
The accusations came as South Cambridgeshire District Council’s cabinet considered its draft response to the latest consultation on plans to build the £6billion East West Rail line from Oxford to Cambridge, including new stations at Tempsford in Bedfordshire and at Cambourne.
Cllr Dr Tumi Hawkins (Lib Dem, Caldecote) told the meeting on Tuesday (14 January): “Unfortunately, East West Rail, in my view, has been frugal with the truth. Their dealings with local communities leave a lot to be desired.”
In the response, council officers said that there has been a lack of “meaningful engagement” with EWR Co, particularly ahead of the consultation, which closes on 24 January. The authority has also received concerns from communities that EWR Co is not meaningfully engaging with them, with long waiting times for responses to queries.
“The scale and complexity of the proposed railway scheme make it difficult to provide detailed feedback due to the limited available information,” a report said.
There are also fears about the impact on the health and wellbeing of the district’s population, with some communities cut in two and others disrupted as the line heads through villages to the new Cambridge South station, with a tunnel under the A428.
Other concerns raised include the impact of the EWR proposals on the new Bourn Airfield development and the Cambourne to Cambridge busway.
Cllr Hawkins’ comments were echoed by Cllr John Williams, lead cabinet member for resources, who took the opportunity to criticise the way EWR Co had conducted itself during the consultation.
“It’s one thing to have meetings and briefings and plans in public meetings, but actually it’s what you say in those meetings that’s important. Unfortunately, EWR has been very economical with the truth, and we have had to drag out of EWR the facts,” said Cllr Williams (Lib Dem, Fen Ditton and Fulbourn).
He pointed to the impact the proposals would have on Fulbourn despite a lack of information about it in the consultation. He said there was “no indication why local residents in Fulbourn have been sent letters by EWR”.
The Croxton to Toft section
“If you look at the consultation, you think, well, the turnaround siding stops in the city, it stops to the west of Cherry Hinton High Street, but actually, if you look at the plans, it goes beyond that,” he said. “I am frustrated by the secrecy and the lack of transparency by EWR as to exactly what they are proposing to do.
“I’m very pleased that we are going to ask the chief executive to look at the way that they’ve been conducting themselves, because it is just not satisfactory.
“They are very economical with the truth. They’re not very transparent and OK, this is informal consultation. Well, I hope they greatly improve their performance when they actually get around to the formal consultation, because at the moment, it is just not acceptable what they are doing.”
Cllr Hawkins, the council’s lead cabinet member for planning, continued: “There is a big concern that the idea of the route that goes and connects with Bar Hill and Northstowe and then comes down through to Cambridge North has not seriously been considered, was not properly considered, and this has been made worse, especially with the in-person events that have happened for this non-statutory consultation where East West Rail staff have admitted to community members that that route will be better, will be cheaper, but they cannot consider it now because of all the work that they have done to take alignment one to this stage.”
She said that “says a lot” and requested that EWR Co chief executive David Hughes takes the matter “very seriously”.
“There are many villages being affected negatively, very badly, who are not near enough, have no connections to each other, let alone to the proposed north of Cambourne new station, and yet, the documentation we’ve seen for this consultation, doesn’t have anything on that. What’s going on?
“It’s the same thing with the harm to the communities. I have asked several times, how are you going to mitigate the harm? What are the benefits that you’re going to provide to these communities?”
Cllr Hawkins says EWR Co continues to say it is working on it.
“How many years have they had to work on it? Nothing is coming out, I’m afraid. This just can’t carry on as it is. They need to be more upfront with us. They need to actually talk properly and do the things we are asking them to do, rather than ignoring our communities who have been affected,” she stormed.
Deputy leader Cllr Brian Milnes (Lib Dem, Sawston) told the meeting that he recognised much of what Cllr Hawkins was saying.
“Unfortunately, there is a mix of misinformation. And I’ve got to say, the performance of East West Rail at the community events has been variable at best. I’ve been unhappy with some of the responses that I’ve heard.
“However, it’s currently an informal consultation phase. We are going to take all those negative comments as well as more positive aspects of this, and we’re going to present those two through that consultation process.”
Stephen Kelly, joint director for the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service, added: “I think, as officers, we probably share some of the frustrations communities and members have felt in terms of the flow and the quantum of information and the level of detail at times that’s been provided to allow us to assess on your behalf what we think the key issues are.”
The report noted: “Residents have raised concerns regarding community severance between Newton and Harston, the closure of the level crossing and the resultant difficulties accessing GP and school onward journeys/trip chains need to be considered.”
The council has also hit out at EWR Co for there being no mention of the land interest questionnaires in the consultation despite thousands being sent to homes, landowners and businesses across the district.
“Residents advise of difficulties accessing information on whether their properties are likely to be affected or not and request that this information is provided as soon as possible.
East West Rail consultation event, Comberton Village Hall. Picture: Keith Heppell
“EWR Co should prioritise engagement with residents that have previously received land interest questionnaires as to the current status/risks to their property,” the report stated.
Cllr Richard Williams (Con, Whittlesford) called on the authority’s leadership to “take a much stronger line” on East West Rail.
“We’ve heard contributions from cabinet members setting out very clearly the problems with this proposal and the unacceptable engagement that we’ve had from East West Rail, the refusal to look properly at the northern route being key amongst them, as Cllr Hawkins has just said. But this report that’s before the cabinet only asks the cabinet to note very technical submissions to East West Rail,” he said.
He added: “I think it up is the council to show leadership and say no, this is not an acceptable proposal. This council does not accept it.”
Cllr Milnes responded: “We have taken a very strong position with East West Rail over various aspects of this proposal, including, for example, the electrification, which for a long time was not guaranteed in the proposal, and which now has been restored.
“There has been a lot of representation from this council to East West Rail over the months and now years that this process has been ongoing. We’ve already suggested that we accept that there are deficiencies on the part of the East West Rail Company in terms of their proposal the but it is a nationally significant infrastructure project.
“We are only consultees, but we have made strong representations all the way along the line to try and minimise the impact of this development on our residents.”
Council leader Cllr Bridget Smith (Lib Dem, Gamlingay) concluded: “We continue to challenge them on net gain, which still absolutely lacks ambition.
“People have been living under the uncertainty of East West Rail for 10 years. It is imperative that it cracks on and happens, because living with uncertainty is is not good for anybody.”
Responding to the comments made in the meeting, an EWR spokesperson said: “We remain committed to working hand-in-hand with the local communities that East West Rail will serve. Constructive and frequent dialogue with the council and other stakeholders is central to this process, and we truly value any feedback that we will receive.
“We always strive to be open and honest about our plans and we have had some very positive feedback about our engagement from key stakeholders and members of the public who have visited the 16 events and webinars we have held so far .”
“We will continue to maintain open channels of communication with the council and other stakeholders and we invite people to take part in the current consultation by attending the remaining events so that their feedback can be used to help shape our plans. “
The line is due to connect Oxford, Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge.
The updated proposals, which are out for consultation, contain revised infrastructure and design plans for a new stretch of railway between Bedford and Cambridge, including tunnels beneath the A428, plus essential railway improvement works to upgrade the existing railway between Oxford and Bedford.
The updates follow feedback to previous non-statutory consultation and further technical design work.
The government committed to delivering East West Rail in full in the 2024 Autumn Budget.
The main consultation document can be viewed at https://eastwestrail.co.uk/consultation2024 where a feedback form can also be completed and supporting documents seen.