Issues and Options

Orange – East-West rail northern station growth

I am a County Council in Hertfordshire representing the Tring Divison. Tring residents (including me) find the Marston Vale Line now a convenient method of getting to Bedford by changing at Bletchley. Depemding which part of the town they wish to visit they will select either of Bedford Midland or Bedford St Johns. 1. The current East-West Rail Line is proposed, under the agreed favoured route, to run to the north of Bedford. If, however, problems develop with regard to the acquisition of land or the granting of planning permission along the favoured route, then it might prove useful to continue to have this land available should an alternative route prove necessary. 2. The development site as highlighted in the current consultation documents will only be marginally effected by the continued preservation of the relevant railway land. 3. Should a tram or light rail transport system be required in Bedford – a town beset by serious road traffic congestion – the Bedford St Johns Station, not far from the hospital, would need more space as a significant transport interchange between road, rail and tram services. The full length of the trackbed to Cardington Road would be essential to any tram route. 4. Until, or instead of being, needed either for an alternative E-W Rail Route or for a tram system, the land could almost immediately be put to a pro-social use as a footway/cycle way to and from Cardington Road and with some space devoted to secure cycle parking.

It is national policy to phase out the sale of internal combustion engine cars and vans by 2035 and generally reduce carbon dioxide emissions by, among other things, electrifying transport as much as possible and by encouraging efficient and sustainable public transport. We all need to bear this in mind from now on. The land adjacent to the station and the trackbed east to Cardington Road represent valuable strategic assets, worth far more in the longterm and in the light of national policy developments than the sale value of the land for housing. I am asking that this land should not be developed at the present time but should continue to be protected for future transport use.