East West Railway Company (EWR Co) joined key infrastructure providers this week to discuss with Government how the new Planning and Infrastructure Act will help deliver critical infrastructure more quickly and improve public engagement during the planning process.
The new Act became law just before Christmas and aims to streamline the planning system, accelerating the construction of new railways, roads, homes, and other pieces of major infrastructure.
East West Rail is set to deliver new rail infrastructure between Oxford and Cambridge, improving connectivity through Milton Keynes and Bedford, and creating a regional corridor aimed to be at the centre of UK economic growth.
Joining EWR Co in the meeting with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and the Housing Secretary, were Water UK, National Grid and Renewable UK amongst others.
For East West Rail, the new Act will mean that the economic and social benefits of the new railway will be felt by communities sooner due to the more streamlined planning system. Crucially, the new legislation will also improve the way major projects such as East West Rail engage with the public during the planning process – enabling EWR Co to deliver more localised targeted engagement with communities and key stakeholders as the designs for the railway develop.
As a result, East West Rail is launching a series of Design Update Sessions which begin this week, where specific proposals are being discussed with communities in a more targeted, localised approach.
The new legislation also removes the requirement for a Statutory Consultation requirement before submitting an application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) to build the railway. However, EWR Co will still carry out a full route-wide consultation this Spring as planned, but this will now be a non-statutory consultation informed by the changes in the new Act.
Will Gallagher, chief strategy officer at EWR Co who attended the meeting, said: “We had a really productive discussion about how we implement the new Planning and Infrastructure Act to maximise its benefits – both to speed up the opening of EWR by making the planning process simpler and quicker, and also to make sure local communities get high quality ongoing engagement rather than just a single statutory consultation.
“As EWR is one of the first projects to operate under the new legislation, ministers were keen to hear about our progress.”
David Hughes, CEO, EWR Co, said: “By streamlining processes while strengthening early, locally focused consultation, the planning reforms will help ensure that people’s voices shape the railway as it develops. This more responsive framework supports better decision-making, builds trust, and ultimately helps deliver the benefits of East West Rail more effectively.”
Image credit: EWR
