Aylesbury East Councillor Mark Winn has started a letter writing campaign to show the level of support from local residents for the Aylesbury spur of East-West rail. The letters to Aylesbury MP Rob Butler welcome the £760M that the Government is investing in East-West Rail and the 1,500 jobs it will create but highlights concerns that the recent funding announcement did not commit to the completion of the proposed spur between Aylesbury and Milton Keynes, which was originally conceived as part of this project.
Cllr Mark Winn said, "Aylesbury is a town that is central to the wider economic region, being an integral part of England’s Economic Heartland, which has in recent years expanded by thousands of additional homes and is due to expand by thousands more by 2033. The Government awarded Aylesbury ‘Garden Town’ status. To live up to that standard growth needs to be sustainable and facilitated by infrastructure that expands to accommodate this level of population and economic growth. It will be difficult to expand Aylesbury’s economy and population in a sustainable way without improvements to the connectivity of the town, this should include the expansion of its railway provision beyond the current line to London and the single-track rail line to Princes Risborough.
HS2 is a railway that brings no direct benefit to Aylesbury and, like the vast majority of the population in the area I am in opposition to it. In complete contrast, East-West rail is a railway that will bring benefit to Aylesbury and is welcomed by its citizens. I would urge people to sign this letter to show the Government that Aylesbury wants them to build the promised rail link between Aylesbury and Milton Keynes and the double-tracking of the rail line to and from Princes Risborough. Doing so would help ensure Aylesbury's economy and environment benefits from a major rail investment through this area. Achieving the maximum benefit that East-West rail can provide is in all our interests: the Aylesbury Spur can be integral to this.
The Government’s £760M investment to East-West rail and the 1,500 jobs it will create forms part of the national commitment to ‘build back better’ from the Covid-19 pandemic, levelling up transport infrastructure across the country by investing in rail connections that will help boost economic growth, create jobs and opportunity. Excluding Aylesbury from the direct benefits of this project, by not building the Aylesbury Spur, risks the town missing out on the levelling up of transport infrastructure and hampering the economic growth that can be achieved.
By signing and submitting this letter residents are able to demonstrate that they support efforts by our Member of Parliament, Rob Butler MP, and others to ensure the Government commits to building the rail link between Aylesbury and Milton Keynes as part of the East-West Rail investment and that Aylesbury’s economy and environment benefit from a major rail investment in the area."
Mark will be submitting a motion on this subject to Aylesbury Town Council and Buckinghamshire Council in coming weeks.
To sign the letter please click here.
