East West Rail: Will houses in Bedford's Ashburnham Road be demolished?

A Green councillor is calling for more clarity on the future of homes along Ashburnham Road now East West Rail (EWR) has announced its route.

In Friday’s announcement, EWR said work would now be carried out to minimise “the impact on homes and businesses in the Ashburnham Road area” but didn’t elaborate further.

Much has been made of the loss of homes in the Poets area – but during the 2021 consultation, EWR had also identified several commercial and residential properties in Ashburnham Road which could also be demolished.

They included a doctors’ surgery, the Pentecostal Church, the tyre centre, the Polish community centre and some private residences.

In EWR’s Route Update Report released on Friday, it said: “Further work will be undertaken at the next stage of the design to minimise the area of land required for the construction of Bedford station as well as the footprint of the proposed station building, and to refine platform geometry and arrangement, with a view to minimising the impact on homes and businesses in the Ashburnham Road area.”

But Ben Foley – the Green Party councillor for Greyfriars ward – says that work should already have taken place by now and Ashburnham Road residents just want to know where they stand.

He said: "The fact that the Government’s agency East West Rail (EWR) still are unwilling to narrow down at all the site they are looking at for Bedford station is infuriating.

"There was no need to threaten homes in Ashburnham Road with demolition in the first place and I'm angry that they haven't taken this opportunity to narrow the area of consideration.

“It is very worrying that they appear to have rejected the idea of a fast platform at Bedford station, something the town vitally needs.

“I'm also amazed that, even though there is enough space for six tracks without demolishing any homes, they are still persisting in plans to demolish so many homes north of Bedford station. I do not believe that they have done anything like enough to minimise the impact on homes north of Bedford station."