Opposition grows to £3.5bn Oxford to Cambridge Expressway

• Video report by Charlotte Cross

Destined to cut through the Thames Valley countryside - plans for a new £3.5 billion highway linking Oxford to Cambridge are moving forward.

But not with the support of local councils.

Buckinghamshire County Council is the latest authority to officially declare its opposition to the Expressway.

This week, councillors voted for a motion against the plan.

It was brought forward by the leader of Aylesbury Vale District Council, Cllr Angela Macpherson, after Aylesbury too voted to oppose the Expressway at a meeting earlier this month.

She said she was “delighted” by the result.

“[The Expressway] will be detrimental to our environment, detrimental to our wildlife,” she said.

“It will disrupt rural communities that very much value the lifestyles they have.

“It will also fly in the face of carbon reduction targets that the government themselves are setting to be carbon neutral by 2050.”

The Expressway will go from Oxford, via Milton Keynes, and end up in Cambridge.

It will cost £3.5 billion - and mean around a million new homes being built.

And it’s been highly controversial, with a number of protests held against the plan.

The impact on the environment is one of the major concerns, and the local Wildlife Trust even mounted a legal challenge against the plans earlier this year, which was ultimately unsuccessful.

Highways England has now chosen its two preferred route options.

One passing to the west of Oxford - and one to the east.

The organisation says the new road will help what it calls a 'missing strategic link' - a 30-mile gap in the major road network between the M1 and the M40.

It will also link up with a proposed East-West rail line, from Abingdon and Oxford to the south of Milton Keynes via Winslow, ultimately extending the Aylesbury line as well.

A spokesman said:

A public consultation was due to be held this autumn - but there has not yet been any update on when that will begin.