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BFARe Response to the third EWR Non Statutory Consultation

BFARe Press Release

21 January, 2024

BFARe is a grassroots campaign comprised of nine Parish Councils, concerned residents and environmentalists fighting against East West Rail’s preferred Route E through Bedford and North of Bedford. We are working to influence the Government, Bedford Borough Council and East West Rail to reconsider this environmentally destructive route and make a better choice for Bedford.

BFARe was formed in early 2020, following considerable local public concern about EWRCo’s route proposal and the flawed non-statutory consultation (NSC) which had taken place in 2019. The comparative route costing information for the five EWRCo presented route options through Bedford Borough had been manipulated to favour Route E and this is of extreme relevance for the work of BFARe.

It is our firm belief that, since 2019, all EWRCo route consultations and public communications have been based on a false prospectus of Route E being the best route for Bedford Borough.

BFARe members voluntarily devote considerable time and energy into investigating and challenging EWRCo’s proposals, using their own local knowledge, experience and technical and professional expertise. Our responses to the May 2021 Alignment NSC, the 2023 Route Update Announcement and our own Technical Papers reflect the hard work by BFARe’s supporters.

Our work continues to provide the public with important and factually correct information regarding the considerable and unnecessary damage of Route E in contrast to the taxpayer-funded juggernaut of EWRCo PR and marketing.

With regard to the current Non-Statutory Consultation, it is worth re-emphasising some obvious facts. 

Uniquely along the whole of the Oxford-Cambridge corridor, EWRCo has chosen to:

  • Force a new railway right through Bedford Town, a highly congested urban area.
  • Inflict a decade of untold congestion and disruption on daily lives and the economic welfare of the town during the construction period
  • Demolish people’s homes
  • Adversely affect essential local services such as hospital car parking
  • Destroy high-quality agricultural land and rural countryside in North Bedfordshire, and compromise operational performance (because of steep gradients)

All of the above is for no proven economic benefit to Bedford nor for any rail commuter or freight transport advantage, even when using EWRCo’s own figures. 

EWRCo’s proposals in Bedford and North Bedfordshire are highly risky in terms of delivery, timescales, cost, and inflation, and offer no “growth” advantage over the BFARe alternative. Attempting to engineer a railway line through uniquely unsuited and difficult terrain adds to this risk and creates many compromises during construction and rail operations that future generations will find difficult to understand, particularly when a better alternative existed. 

EWRCo’s proposals represent a classic example of the “sunk-cost fallacy”. 2

The BFARe route proposal can be delivered with less risk and at lower cost, up to £1billion cheaper than Route E. 

The Complete BFARe NSC Response can be found at this link.

BFARe Technical and Communications Teams

press@bfare.org.uk


1 Brickhill PC, Clapham PC, Colmworth PC, Great Barford PC, Ravensden PC, Renhold PC, Roxton PC, Wilden PC, and Wyboston, Colesden and Chawston PC. BFARE is also supported by other parish councils and Bedford Borough Council ward members across north Bedfordshire not directly affected by the route proposals crossing their parishes but nevertheless concerned at the wider implications for their own areas. 

2 A reluctance to abandon a strategy or course of action because there has already been heavy investment in it, even where it is clear that abandonment would be more beneficial.  

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