Are East West Rail Bedford maps a cause for concern?

The town drawings are in addition to those already obtained through FOI for the area from Clapham to Tempsford BFARe (Bedford For a Re Consultation) published.

The maps – from 2022 – provide further information and pieces of the EWR construction process that those living in Bedford will experience including:

• EWR requirements for town centre roads to access construction areas and compounds creating an unmanageable degradation of personal movement whether on foot, by cycle, by car or even by train. Delays to travel times and idling traffic will increase the already high levels of town centre air pollution
• High volumes of EWR construction traffic will use the Sainsbury’s roundabout area and in particular, the road to Brewpoint, Aldi and McDonalds will be used extensively for access to an EWR construction compound
• The hospital parking situation remains entirely unclear with hundreds of parking slots sacrificed to the new EWR layout. There is no indication of mitigation both during construction and into the future
• The proposed new St John’s station opposite the hospital is shown connected to the car park area attached to the present station
• The new Midland Mainline station is shown but the extent of new parking arrangements including multi storey car parks are not clearly illustrated
• The whole length of Ashburnham Road from the station to Ford End and part of Midland Road are designated as haul routes which raises the issue of impact on the residences and businesses which front onto this road
• The Bedford Borough Council offices front car park will be used as a construction compound
• The major works, particularly on Cauldwell Street bridge and the adjacent junction with Prebend Street may carry a risk to ambulance emergency response times

The information above is in addition to that provided through the Jacobs Construction Assessment Report (BFARe press release on August 28) which included the following detail:

• Demolition and rebuilding of four key bridges into and out of town. In the order: Ampthill Road, Bromham Road, Cauldwell Street and Ford End Road. These works will require full road closures on a rolling basis over at least six years
• Possession of the larger part of Bedford Hospital’s car park will be taken for construction activities with no plans for an alternative solution to meet the needs of those using or working at the hospital. Hospital officials are already on record stating that the hospital cannot function without a car park
• Use of Bedford’s roads for the transport of materials for construction from the A1 and M1 will add to the unbearable congestion and pollution resulting from road closures and the subsequent diversion route
• The demolition of homes in the Poet’s area as the six-track option is confirmed

An East West spokesman said: “Please note these drawings were created in 2022 and do not represent the current plans for the scheme and are therefore out-of-date. They should not be presented in a way that suggests they resemble our likely proposals – to do so may be misleading to those impacted by the scheme. The latest details of the proposed scheme will be set out in our next round of consultation in due course.”