Council hits out at East West Rail's depot decision

Buckinghamshire Council has expressed its extreme disappointment at East West Rail Company's (EWR Co) recent decision to identify Newton Longville as the location for a major train maintenance depot and passing loops for freight trains, and by the manner in which this news has been communicated.

Steven Broadbent, Leader of Buckinghamshire Council said: "This announcement has been made with no prior notice, and no opportunity was given for us to review this decision with EWR Co before it was shared more widely. We are also disappointed and concerned that the location is being wrongly described as being in Bletchley West in some public information, when it is in fact in Newton Longville. This has the potential to cause unnecessary confusion plus is misleading to our residents who may not realise this planned depot will directly impact their local area."

In Buckinghamshire Council's response in February 2025 to a consultation on proposals by EWR Co, the council expressly stated that if a depot location within Buckinghamshire were to be shortlisted, it would expect early engagement to ensure impacts were properly understood and assessed. It is therefore extremely regrettable that no such engagement took place with Buckinghamshire Council during EWR Co's site selection process.

Cllr Broadbent added:

"The decision to site this large depot in Buckinghamshire is not one that is welcomed by the Council and I want residents to be fully informed about the scale of this site – it's being built to accommodate around twenty trains which is a considerable size and places a substantial impact on this area. Newton Longville is a rural and unspoilt community with limited infrastructure. There will be significantly increased construction traffic on local roads. The impact of such a huge development on this community will be monumental, with negative effects on traffic, noise and the local environment. Landing this on the community with no prior engagement while plans were worked up is not the right way to go about this."

He continued: "We have always welcomed the benefits of East West Rail, which will provide passenger services between Oxford and Cambridge. However, this decision falls short of the transparency and partnership we expect and has eroded our confidence in the whole process and our belief in the credibility of EWR Co.'s stated commitment to openness and working with stakeholders to shape the next stage of the project. We have written to EWR Co to set out our position in respect of these recent announcements on the depot and passing loops and the potential impact this will have on the local area.  I will also be writing to the Secretary of State, Heidi Alexander MP because it is through this Government's changes to the planning system that this lack of transparency to local communities originates"

EWR Co are holding a series of community engagement events for the public and other stakeholders to explain their proposals and the reasoning behind their decisions.

The next event takes place this Saturday, 31 January, at Queensway Methodist Church, Queensway, Fenny Stratford, Bletchley, Milton Keynes MK2 2HB between 12noon and 5pm.

Mr Broadbent said: "I would urge all local residents to go along to this event so they can find out the full extent of the proposals and share their views with EWR Co representatives.

"We are also requesting that EWR Co arrange for further engagement events to take place within Buckinghamshire for this purpose. Currently none of the planned events are at locations within Buckinghamshire, yet these proposals directly impact Buckinghamshire residents; this is not acceptable."