“While there is some positive news, this was a missed opportunity to provide our communities and businesses with confidence that economic growth will be supported by appropriate levels of infrastructure."
Responding to the Department for Transport's announcement on its spending plans for the course of the current Spending Review period, Chair of England's Economic Heartland, Cllr Liz Leffman, said: “While there is some positive news, this was a missed opportunity to provide our communities and businesses with confidence that economic growth will be supported by appropriate levels of infrastructure.
"Government’s expectations are for this region to deliver higher levels of economic growth for the benefit of the whole of the UK: this simply is not possible if we don’t have the infrastructure to enable it.
“Despite their strong business cases, we are very concerned that Ely and Haughley rail junction upgrades – which have already been talked about for decades and are a major regional priority – could now fall onto Government’s forthcoming infrastructure pipeline as a ‘longer-term’ aspiration beyond the current Spending Review period. We are working to get urgent clarity on this.
“Equally, it is disappointing that the upgrading of the A47 Wansford to Sutton has been cancelled. The Major Road Network schemes in the EEH area are ‘under review’ and we will support our local partners during this process over the coming months.“Government’s continued commitment to complete projects such as East West Rail, Cambridge South and Oxford Station capacity is positive. We also strongly welcome the protection of the option to connect the Chiltern Line to Old Oak Common, which could be so important to delivering the Northampton-Milton Keynes-Aylesbury-Old Oak Common rail corridor, including the Aylesbury link to East West Rail.”
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