Highways England and the Secretary of State for Transport have been examining options for the location of the new Oxford-Cambridge Expressway, and have narrowed it down to one broad corridor. Within this, there are up to one hundred specific routes the road could take. Highways England will be engaging with communities and local organisations along the corridor throughout 2019 and 2020 before announcing their preferred route in Autumn 2020.
There is also an opportunity here to include the A420 in the plans, which would take the route to the West of Oxford and add connectivity to Swindon, a considerable bonus. I also hope that this road can help relieve pressure on the A34, which is not currently fit for purpose and badly needs better infrastructure to support it.
I’ve no doubt that like me many of you were shocked and surprised to see an article in the 6th February edition of the Herald titled ‘Oxfordshire physiotherapy private contract fiasco exposed in full.’ I have been trying for some time to lead efforts to coordinate between the different health care managers and providers, hosting roundtable meetings and leading discussions on how to move forward in providing the correct services that residents require. Therefore I’ll continue to lobby hard locally and in Parliament for better healthcare. I am meeting Ministers in the Department of Health and Social care to discuss these important issues and will continue to engage locally as well.
Constituency Visits
It was a great pleasure to plant a tree as part of the Woodlands Trust Commonwealth Canopy Project at the Sylva Foundation and receive a tour of their fantastic establishment. I’ve also met recently with a delegation from local parish councils to discuss improvements to the A420, and attended a working session of ‘Didcot First’ at Milton Park to hear updates about the local economy, businesses and community actions.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any pressing issues that you would like help with. You can contact me on any matter at the House of Commons, SW1A 0AA, dicksonce@parliament.uk or 01235 768 888. Email is the quickest and most reliable way to get in touch, as I keep a very close eye on my emails and can reply very quickly. Details of my activities in Parliament can be read on my website, https://www.vaizey.com. I also send out occasional general interest emails about developments in the Wantage and Didcot Constituency. You can sign up here: http://bit.ly/EdVaizeyMP