CPRE starts National Campaign against scale of development proposals

Loss of countryside across the “Corridor” equivalent to a city the size of Birmingham with widespread environmental and landscape destruction.

Supporting East/West Rail (electrified) - but seeing it primarily as a means of reducing congestion on major road networks, reducing air pollution and carbon footprint not as a means of creating a massive new conurbation stretching from Oxford to Cambridge

Housing development should be “based on local need” with high level of “affordable homes” not encouraging large population movement from elsewhere in the country

CPRE says there should be a “National Industrial and Housing Strategy” which seeks to encourage a more equitable spread of development across the country

Huge Democratic Deficit – there has been no formal consultation on the proposals with the people across the “Corridor”

CPRE calls for Full Parliamentary Enquiry into the proposals

All Wildlife Trusts across the “Corridor” join together to take legal action against the Government citing Highways England’s decision making process in determining the route of the new “Expressway” road.

No Strategic Environmental Assessment undertaken to determine the impact on hugely important wildlife, AONB and SSSI sites across the “Corridor”

The Wildlife Trusts voiced their serious concerns over the massive scale of the development proposals

George Monbiot - highly regarded political commentator and author joins the debate

Pointing out that the entire county of Oxfordshire currently has 285,000 homes and that it took 1,000 years to develop the range of hard and soft infrastructure, public services etc. necessary to support them

Asks how water will be provided for another 1 million homes in a region where demand already exceeds supply

A million new homes amounts, in effect, to an Oxford-Cambridge conurbation

Read more, including the link to the George Monbiot's article here.