In her growth statement on Wednesday, the Chancellor confirmed her backing for East West Rail and announced that the building of an East Coast Mainline Station at Tempsford would be expedited by 3-5 years. It will later join with the East West Rail line.
Richard Fuller MP said,
This announcement confirms that considerable house building is coming to Tempsford and elsewhere in Bedfordshire.
I warned at the general election campaign that East West Rail is really a housing project and the Chancellor today gave the go ahead to concrete over our countryside, to ignore the huge cost to taxpayers of East West Rail and to increase pressure further on local services which are struggling to keep up with a rate of housing growth which is already two and a half times the national average.
Richard's thoughts on the growth statement can be watched here. You can watch Richard's comments on BBC Look East here and on ITV Anglia here. A longer interview about the implications of the growth plans on Bedfordshire can be listened to in Richard's interview with BBC 3 Counties Radio here.