Transport Minister greeted by protesters over Oxford to Cambridge Expressway

Credit: ITV Meridian

  • Watch Juliette Fletcher's full report below

Transport Minister, Jesse Norman, was greeted by protestors on Thursday when he arrived in Oxford to view one of the country's biggest road schemes.

The Oxford to Cambridge Expressway will be 100 miles long linking Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire with Cambridge.

Jesse Norman says the £3.5 billion scheme will boost the region's economy.

He added there is demand for better transport, more housing, connectivity and better growth.

But campaigners say it will be an environmental disaster and want the scheme scrapped altogether.

The route the government settled on for the Oxford to Cambridge Expressway

The government considered three different routes for the Expressway and settled on a path that would run broadly alongside the East West Rail line.

It has not yet been decided if it will run East or West of Oxford.

Interviewees: Jesse Norman MP, Transport Minister & Chris Church, Campaigner & Layla Moran MP, Oxford West and Abingdon, Lib Dem