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

One million pounds in additional mitigation grant secured from High Speed Two for Steeple Claydon area

It is excellent news that Steeple Claydon and the surrounding villages have secured £ 1m to cover additional local environmental mitigation from High Speed Two.

From the HS2 final report:

'The Secretary of State, recognising the particular situation at this location with the introduction of major infrastructure (the Infrastructure Maintenance Depot) into an environmentally sensitive area, will make
available the sum of £ 1m (to be paid within 90 days of Royal Assent) to Aylesbury Vale District Council to
support further local environmental mitigation which is over and beyond that proposed in the Environmental Statement or related detailed design subject to Aylesbury Vale District Council confirming and agreeing such proposals with the Promoter.     Proposals for this additional mitigation will be discussed further at the Community Liaison Group, including with the representatives of Aylesbury Vale District Council, Buckinghamshire County Council, and the four parish councils of Steeple Claydon, Calvert Green, Charndon and Twyford attending that meeting.'

I look forward to receiving more details about the criteria and process of allocating this funding.

Government confirms its commitment to East West Rail

From the East West Rail website:

The Government has confirmed its commitment to delivering the East West Rail links from Oxford to Bedford and Milton Keynes via Bletchley, and Milton Keynes to London Marylebone via Aylesbury.

Sir Peter Hendy, chairman of Network Rail, published his review of the nationwide Railway Upgrade Plan on 25th November 2015.  His report confirms that the second phase of the Western Section of East West Rail will go ahead with development work continuing and delivery starting as soon as possible before March 2019 (referred to as Control Period 5 or CP5), for completion in the following five-year railway control period (Control Period 6 or CP6).

Sir Peter’s report states:

“During CP5 development work will continue into the full re-opening of the route between Bicester and Bletchley – a project which will enable trains to operate between Oxford/Aylesbury and Milton Keynes/Bedford (East West Rail Phase 2) and delivery will be started as soon as possible.”

Further development work, now being done by the newly-appointed EWR2 Alliance, is needed before final delivery dates can be confirmed.

Cllr Rodney Rose, Deputy Leader of Oxfordshire County Council and chairman of the Joint Delivery Board for East West Rail, said:

“We have met with Sir Peter Hendy of Network Rail. The vital importance of East-West Rail to improve connectivity within our region, as well as part of the national strategic rail network, is well understood. The new train services on East West Rail are vital to support economic growth, planned housing developments and the creation of thousands of new jobs. We understand the challenges ahead. Our joint delivery approach means that we are using the combined expertise of Network Rail and the local authorities within the East West Rail Consortium to accelerate the delivery process.”

Martin Frobisher, Network Rail, route managing director, said: “The railway is vital to Britain’s economic health. We are carrying out East West Rail (EWR), part of our national Railway Upgrade Plan, because we care about giving train passengers what they want and about building a strong economic future for people in the regions this scheme will connect.

“Such is our commitment to delivering East West Rail as soon as possible, we have just awarded alliancing contracts for Phase 2 (EWR2). An alliance of Atkins, Laing O’Rourke, VolkerRail and Network Rail will design and construct EWR2, linking Oxford to Bedford and Milton Keynes via Bletchley, and Milton Keynes to London Marylebone via Aylesbury.

“A connection from Oxford to Ipswich via Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge is a vital missing piece in our country’s rail network. That’s the end goal of EWR. Phase 2 will be major step towards making that a reality.”

Martin added: “As the development work continues to finalise the scope and develop more detailed designs, we will be able to give more precise dates for construction. We recently completed a successful first round of public consultation, which showed a high level of public support and yielded valuable feedback on our initial proposals. The project team will now refine these proposals ahead of a second round of consultation in 2016.”

AVDC Garden waste services

From the AVDC website:

Garden Waste Service

Arrange a garden waste collection

Correction to Aylesbury Vale Times garden waste collection dates

Easter weekend has been printed wrongly in the garden waste section of page 12 
of the Aylesbury Vale Times.

Any garden waste collections which would have taken place on Easter Monday, the 28 March, 
will now take place on Saturday 2 April.

Garden waste collections on Monday 4 April will still happen and remain unaffected.

The revised dates for the May bank holiday garden waste collections are correct, 
as are the revised dates for Good Friday collections of normal waste.

We apologise for the error and any confusion it may cause.

How does the service work?

We provide a large brown wheeled bin that we empty fortnightly between February
and November.
We will collect your garden waste bin on the Monday of the same week as your
household waste bin.

New Customers

You can sign up to the service via the Aylesbury Vale My Account at any time of the year.
Your service will automatically continue each year unless you ask us to cancel it.

How much does the garden waste service cost?

One annual payment of £38, payable by direct debit. (on Friday 1 April the price
will increase to £40)

A £4.50 admin fee will be applied to any other payment method.

What can I put in my garden waste bin?

• grass and hedge cuttings
• garden plants and fallen fruit
• leaves
• small branches and twigs (up to wrist thickness – about 10cm)
• tree and shrub prunings
• most weeds, except noxious weeds such as :
• Japanese Knotweed, Ragwort and Giant Hogweed

How much garden waste will you collect?

You can order up to six garden waste bins per household (each bin is charged separately).

If you don’t think you’ll fill a bin each fortnight, consider sharing it with a neighbour.
We’ll register the account with one resident and collect from that address.

How else can I dispose of my garden waste?

You can compost garden waste at home or take it to your local Household Waste and 
Recycling Centre.

Please don’t put garden waste in your household waste bin.

Report a missed collection

If we’ve missed your bin, let us know within 24 hours of your collection date and we’ll
empty it that same week.