Dear Editor
A few days ago, Beth West, the CEO of East West Rail, issued a statement following the Chancellor’s announcement in respect of supporting major projects currently underway in this country including East West Rail.
She stated that “71 per cent of local residents support a new transport link between Oxford and Cambridge”.
What she failed to explain is that this was 71% of just 1000 people selected by an agency who were briefed to ask a very generic question, to give the spurious result that she has now quoted. Her statement alludes to the fact that this 71% has a direct link with the current Chancellor’s statement, when in fact it relates to a survey carried out by Savanta, an independent research firm on behalf of East West Rail, in February 2022.
I am sure that many people, including myself, would like an improved link between the two cities, but not at the expense of demolishing people’s homes, laying waste to countless acres of beautiful countryside and farmland and
destroying livelihoods across northern Bedfordshire.
I think it is disgraceful that East West Rail continues to pedal a continuous stream of misleading publicity based on lack of local knowledge or manipulated data.
East West Rail is in effect a Government body and their performance of not treating the public with integrity and respect, is disgraceful.
It would now seem that the cost will rise even more as they have discovered that much of the soil around northern Bedford is unsuitable to use for “cut and fill” so it will have to be carted away by lorry and new material brought in, laying waste to our local road for years to come.
When are they going to do their job properly and find a route that is shorter, flatter, more beneficial and far more economical than the current Route E through Bedford Station and across northern Bedfordshire’s green and pleasant land?
A very concerned Bedford resident
Renhold
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