Managing Director of East West Rail appointed

From the East West Rail website

Network Rail and Abellio have announced that Phil Verster will be moving to become managing director of the East West rail project that was announced by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling last month.

He will take up his new post in the spring.

Phil’s successor has been agreed and will be announced in the coming days.

Mark Carne, chief executive of Network Rail said: “Phil has done a great job setting up the ScotRail Alliance and overseeing the delivery of one of the largest programmes of rail modernisation in Scotland since Victorian times. I am delighted that a leader of Phil’s calibre will be heading up the new East West rail project, recently announced by the Secretary of State. We have agreed a replacement to succeed Phil and will be making an announcement shortly.”

Dominic Booth, managing director, Abellio UK said: “Phil has played a key role in helping us create the ScotRail Alliance, the first time an operating company has come together in such a deep alliance with Network Rail to deliver the very best for our customers. We are currently investing in a fleet of 70 new trains, which will transform the rail travel experience of our customers.”

Phil Verster said: “Over the last two years I have worked with my team to launch the ScotRail Alliance, delivering hundreds of commitments and laying the ground for the exciting new train fleets that will start to arrive later this year. The opportunity to build on these same principles with the creation of a new business such as East West Rail is great for me and my family, and I wish the ScotRail Alliance team all the best for the future.”

The photo above was taken at the site of the new Winslow Station scheduled to open in 2022.

Verney Junction Garden Village

A proposal for a new 'Garden Village' of 6,500 houses rising to 13,000 was submitted to AVDC the day after the public consultation on the draft VALP closed.

It was submitted by a consortium including A2 Dominion and Garden Cities LLP and the details can be seen on their website:

http://www.verneyjunction.com/

From their website:

The site is located between Bicester and Bletchley and centred on the former Verney Junction railway station on the old Varsity Line, which connected Oxford and Cambridge. The former station is located on the proposed line for the new East West Rail route.

The site is within the Steeple Claydon and Winslow wards at District Council level and is covered by East Claydon, Middle Claydon and Steeple Claydon Parish Councils. 

Needless to say I am totally opposed to these appalling proposals which would destroy our beautiful unspoilt villages and landscape and will fight tooth and nail against them if they ever threaten to become reality.

County Council role following HS2 Royal Assent

Following Royal Assent, relevant local authorities (including BCC) now have a role in “approving” matters of detail relating to the design of the railway, which will place a number of new burdens on the county council.

Negotiations on the Service Level Agreement (SLA) and subsequent Funding Agreement – the mechanism for HS2/DfT to fund local authorities – have been on-going for many months and is still not finalised. 

Currently HS2 Ltd has agreed to fund two highway posts officers via the Funding Agreement but the detail on funding on other elements (flood, ecology, administration, management) have yet to be agreed. Unfortunately HS2 are not being consistent or transparent in the discussions and have changed their position on the funding. This makes planning difficult and risks that we will not have secured enough resource to deal with applications when they are submitted.

We have undertaken and provided an analysis to demonstrate the resource that would be required to fulfil our future duties. This analysis includes a large number of assumptions and caveated as a result of the uncertainty and lack of clarity of their programme.

·         Quick agreement needed on the Funding Agreement & SLA – work in progress and confirmation expected in the next 2 weeks.

·         HS2 to provide the necessary resource to cover the new burdens

·         HS2/DfT cover all BCC’s project management costs of delivering HS2 Assurances to ensure they are successfully delivered 

The County Council role post Royal Assent

The hybrid Act gives HS2 Ltd a lot of power. The County Council has limited/ little power or recourse now that HS2 is an Act. Legislation refers to “approvals” which is not a true reflection of the process because if the Council fail to respond within the timeframe set out in the Act it is deemed approved.

Our role:

•      To inform not to consult or engage (this is HS2 project not the Council’s and we are not resourced to do so) however we have the skills and experience to support

•      To consider lorry routes

•      To consider temporary and permanent highways works

•      To coordinate across disciplines

•      To oversee delivery of Assurances

Campaign Leaflet for the Bucks County Council Elections May 4th 2017