East West Rail needs to be much more open and honest about where residents stand, says Bedford MP

Bedford MP Mohammad Yasin has hit out at East West Rail Company (EWR) for not engaging with residents affected by the proposals.

He said communication had "not been good enough to date", and said: "It is very disappointing that the large number of consultation responses and the time needed for their analysis and consideration were not factored into the planning."

He added: "EWR needs to be much more open and honest about where the residents stand and what their options are whatever the outcome of the consultation.”

The comments come after EWR released a list of community representatives, which was composed of councillors rather than residents.

Mr Yasin wrote to Simon Blanchflower, EWR’s CEO, to complain that while the proposals were a "Government project, not a local council project" - Bedford councillors were having to deal with "unfair criticism and accusations of a lack of transparency over a project that is not within their control."

Mr Blanchflower replied, saying since the end of Covid restrictions, EWR has now been "actively looking" at how best to interact with residents, especially in Poets and Ashburnham Road.

He said to the MP: "We are keen on presenting these plans to the local councillors in Harpur and Castle as well as your office in the coming weeks for you to feed into make sure they work for the residents in Poets and Ashburnham Road."

Mr Yasin added: "I hope to see a much better understanding of how detrimental the plans are to the lives of that community.

"Further delays will have a real and significant impact on people's everyday lives, whether that be in long term planning, wanting to move or make home improvements, or just the mental stress of ongoing uncertainty."

Mr Blanchflower also confirmed the next phase of the project will be announced in summer 2022.

Harpur Councillor Colleen Atkins said she too had received a reply from Mr Blanchflower, promising to "engage directly with Poets and Ashburnham Road residents".

She said: "We have already written back to him stressing these should include in-person meetings and other ways that are convenient for people affected by the proposal. We hope those residents will let EWR know what type of meetings they would like and how frequently.

"It is immensely disappointing that the new proposals will now not be published until the summer of this year. Residents need to know now exactly when they can expect to have news, saying ‘the summer’ is far too vague. We need dates from EWR and they need to stick with them.

"We have stressed the impact the delays are having on Poets residents’ lives and their mental health and have urged that the proposals are released with the utmost of urgency.”