East West Rail share results from latest consultation

More than 5,200 people visited 16 in-person events which took place in communities along the entire route and provided more details about the new scheme.

The railway, which is split into three phases and will take around a decade to complete, will drive economic growth in the region and the UK as a whole. This is East West Railway Company’s third consultation, which lasted for 10 weeks and provided the public with the opportunity to view the latest designs and give feedback on the proposals.

The consultation, which closed on Friday, January 24, has seen record levels of engagement with attendance more than doubled from the previous round of engagement in 2023 and also exceeding the consultation in 2019:

• 5,206 people attended in-person community events
• To date, more than 5,500 responses have been received
• 44,296 website consultation page views have been made
• More than 6,000 interactive map views have been registered
• The virtual consultation room has recorded 5,800 views by 2,200 users

David Hughes, CEO at EWR Co, said, “East West Rail is a once in a generation opportunity to connect people and businesses across the region and I would like to thank everyone who took the time to come and talk to us and share their views. We are now working to review and analyse the feedback that has been received to help inform the continued development of the design over the coming months.”

To date, East West Rail has held three rounds of engagement on its plans, using the feedback to develop more detailed designs. The company is now working on its final proposals which will be presented to the public before a planning application for the new infrastructure, a Development Consent Order (DCO), is submitted to the government.

East West Rail is being proposed to enhance the region’s thriving life science cluster, unlock access to jobs and space for businesses to grow, regenerate town centres, improve connectivity across the region and the rest of the UK, and support new affordable housing. The Government committed to delivering the new railway line in full in its 2024 Autumn budget.

Following a summary report on the consultation, which will be available on the East West Rail website in the coming weeks, finalised proposals will be presented at a statutory consultation due to be held in late 2025/ early 2026.