Last week, Richard met online with the latest CEO of East West Rail, David Hughes.
Richard Fuller MP said:
David Hughes comes with considerable experience of railways including work in London, in the private sector and at the Department of Transport.
We reviewed the current status of the project and I made clear my continuing opposition in principle to East West Rail including its shoddy financial case and the irreversible damage that will be done to the environment of North Bedfordshire. Fair to say that I made my points as forcefully as I could but that the change in CEO has not (yet) led to fresh thinking at East West Rail.
So we moved on to more practical matters and I raised with him the concerns mentioned to me by residents at recent meetings in Ravensden, Wilden, Wyboston and Keysoe. East West Rail needs to be much clearer in explaining what extra land will be taken up during construction and what such land may be used for subsequent to construction. Residents want to know more about the sequence and timing of any closures of bridges in and around Bedford and what mitigations might be in place.
There are growing concerns about the impact on Bedford Hospital should EWR go ahead. People need to know what EWR would do to ensure there continues to be access to parking onsite during construction and to be clear that the ownership of any new car park built by EWR will be given to Bedford Hospital free of charge.
The new CEO has visited Bedford and, hopefully, will visit various locations along the potential route in my constituency shortly.
