Bedford Town Centre EWR Plan Profile Drawings

BFARe Press Release

9 September, 2024

Two new EWR Plan Profile Drawings concerning Bedford town centre construction have been released through the Freedom of Information process.  The town drawings are in addition to those already obtained through FOI for the area from Clapham to Tempsford as BFARe recently published.

The new maps provide further information and pieces of the EWR construction process that Bedfordians will experience including:

The information above is in addition to that provided through the Jacobs Construction Assessment Report (BFARe press release on 28 August 2024) 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.

Detailed EWR Bedford Town Plan Profile Drawings

The Bedford town plan profile drawings were received on 4 Sep 2024 and cover the area of the Jacobs Construction Assessment Report dated May 2023 as released by BFARe with explanatory notes. 

The plan profile maps are more specific in identifying the red line peripheral boundary of the construction effort in each affected area.  Most significantly however they detail the construction proposals within the Fairhill (Sainsbury’s Roundabout) area which were not included on any previous map or drawing.

The 2 pdf drawings have significant overlap margins with adjacent drawings and should be studied in conjunction with the previous Jacobs report.  As with the initial series of Plan Profile Drawings they are dated Feb 2022, just 8 months after the closure of the Alignment Non-Statutory Consultation and 15 months prior to the Jacobs report which itself was part of the process which led to the Route Update Announcement publicised in May 2023.

Sainsbury’s Roundabout area Detailed EWR Map (EWR_PGM-ARU-ZZ-XX-SC-C-000311)

The complete EWR map of the Sainsbury’s Roundabout area is available in pdf format here and is capable of infinite magnification to study detail. 

For convenience, BFARe have extracted the Fairhill section of the EWR detailed map (below) and annotated with place and road names to help the reader orientate with the drawing.

Previously seen drawings only covered the Bedford side of Fairhill and to the Northeast beyond the Paula Radcliffe Way viaduct onto the flood plain.  This drawing reveals:

• The turnout of the EWR tracks from the MML
• The tracks passing under the Great Ouse Way (GOW) and over the Paula Radcliffe Way (PRW)
• The need to build a new alignment of the GOW way with its new bridge over the MML in order to achieve the required rail underbridge beneath whilst allowing continuous use of the GOW
• The extent of the local area required to support construction (purple) compounds
• The use of the Fairhill road as a haul route to the EWR compounds – this road serves Aldi, Brewpoint and the recently built McDonald’s Drive-Thru
• Existing accesses between the strip of land between the GOW and the river to both the GOW and the PRW will be used
• The relocation of the National Power distribution facility which is planned as an early task in the project probably coinciding with the first moves to realign the GOW
• There is no haul access to the flood plain shown but it is almost certainly in this area
• Drawing -410 shows more of the flood plain and indicates EWR interest in The Ford and Lower Farm Road (into Clapham and Bromham respectively) but these are not suitable for heavy equipment.
• It is not known where the component parts of the viaduct will be manufactured (this drawing shows the viaduct to be 1.2km in length).

Midland Station and Hospital Area Detailed EWR Map (EWR_PGM-ARU-ZZ-XX-SC-C-000310)

The detailed EWR drawing of the Midland Station and hospital area of Bedford is available complete here extends from -311 southwards covering Poets, Midland station, the south of Ford End sidings complex and the Bedford Hospital/St Johns station area. 

In respect of Poets the drawing adds little information that is not covered within the Jacobs Construction Assessment Report or other existing plans published with the Route Update documentation in May 2023.  The sidings area between Ford End Bridge and the river crossings are virtually self-contained so not specifically explored here. 

Similarly, the plan to relocate the 5 Jowett 12-car train set sidings from this area to the Cauldwell Maintenance Facility involves moving into an area constrained by the facility and the adjacent MML.  This site is used by Bedford Timber Supplies Ltd and a range of small businesses plus a scrap yard.  It would appear that all businesses may need to be purchased and any land left at the end of the project used towards the Biodiversity 10% net gain requirement.

The above extract BFARe has taken from the detailed EWR drawing covers Bromham Bridge through Midland station to the Ford End Bridge. These bridges are the second and last to be rebuilt in the sequence of 4 bridges.

Of particular note in this section:

• There remains uncertainty over the provision of interim parking pending the final provision.
• So much of the available ground is required for construction it is not easy to visualize a satisfactory solution which will allow construction to proceed without unmanageable degradation of personal movement whether on foot, by cycle, by car or even by train
• 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
• In particular the slender triangle of properties to the south of Midland Station are oppressed both front and rear by the adjacent enforced work access

BFARe has created the extract above to cover the busy area of Bedford which is bounded by the Ampthill Road bridge (first to be worked on) and Cauldwell Street bridge (3^rd in line). This extract includes Bedford Hospital eastern frontage and most of its off-site parking which is to the West of Britannia Street along with the existing and proposed St Johns stations and associated track realignment. It was discussed in respect of the Jacobs Construction Assessment Report which described the works involved.  This drawing gives more precise indications of the areas of land take intended.  It also includes a more detailed description of the likely footprint of the new station.

Key points include:

• The new station is shown connected to the same carpark used by the existing station
• Hundreds of parking slots are sacrificed to the new EWR layout with no indication of mitigation both during construction and into the future
• Interestingly the Bedford Council Offices front car park becomes a project compound
• The major works, particularly on Cauldwell Street bridge and the adjacent junction with Prebend Street must carry a risk to ambulance emergency response times

Please contact BFARe for any further information.

BFARe Technical Team

press@bfare.org.uk