Countryside campaigners have slammed the Government's preferred option for a new major road development, saying it will damage the environment and threaten farms and local communities.
Highways England’s preferred ‘corridor B’ for a new expressway designed to speed up journeys between Oxford and Cambridge has been accepted by the Government.
Roads Minister Jesse Norman claimed that the road will "help unlock the commercial development of up to one million new homes", with the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Robert Jenrick, adding that "the Oxford to Cambridge arc is one of the greatest opportunities for economic growth in Europe".
The expressway, with options to pass either west or east of Oxford, is expected to take up to 40 minutes off the journey between the A34 south of Oxford and the M1.
However, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) highlights how the new development will lead to "unsustainable" urban sprawl, which will in turn "threaten unspoilt countryside".
Paul Miner, head of strategic plans and devolution at CPRE said: "We fear that the government’s announcement of the expressway route will lead to major new development being planned in open countryside all along it.
"This route will be particularly damaging because it crosses tranquil, unspoilt countryside, threatening characterful villages and many important wildlife sites," he stated.
Mr Miner added that a lack of meaningful public consultation to date means that local communities are facing an unwanted road that will also increase traffic and pollution.
The Roads Minister claimed that the preferred corridor underlined the Government’s "desire to protect the natural environment", but CPRE warned that the route could still threaten Green Belt countryside, and compromise dozens of farms, ancient woodlands, Sites of Special Scientific Interest and the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
