Invites to the long waited for 1-2-1 'surgeries' with EWR hit doormats on Saturday 23rd April. Surprisingly residents in Sidney Road, Milton Road, Cowper Road, Byron Crescent, Spenser Road and Chaucer Road also received invites. In their letters EWR included the line 'property that is potentially directly affected'. Until 23rd April EWR have strenuously denied any property not highlighted in the 2021 proposals was affected in any way by their plans.
This sent alarm bells ringing among residents who immediately asked our Councillors to contact EWR and seek clarification. They responded surprisingly quickly.
"I agree that we could have worded this better to reduce potential for confusion and any further stress for residents in the area.'
Yet again EWR have failed in clear communication with residents and failed to recognise the extreme distress, anger and mistrust they have inflicted on the residents of this area. There is a continued lack of respect shown to residents and we will be raising this again with EWR and others.
Here is the full letter from Ward Councillors regarding their response from EWR
EWR Update to Protect Poets and Poets’ residents
The majority of residents in the Poets area have received letters from East West Rail inviting them to one-to-one surgery meetings. These letters were sent in two tranches – the first letter invites the homes first identified in March 2020 as being ‘potentially directly affected’ by EWR’s proposals to surgeries on 4-7 May at Kings House Conference Centre, Ampthill Road.
The second tranche of letters was sent to other properties inviting those residents to meet 9-14 May. However, these letters regrettably contained the same wording of ‘potentially directly affected’ which has, of course, caused much concern to the wider community.
On behalf of Cllr Jackson and myself, I contacted EWR and asked for urgent clarification and pointed out the distress such an error will have caused.
We have received an apology from EWR for their error and a reassurance that these properties have not been identified as being required for the project.
They state:
“I agree that we could have worded this better to reduce the potential for confusion and any further stress for residents of this area. The second week of surgery slots have been offered to those residents of properties in the Poet’s area that neighbour or are in close proximity to the project boundary. Please be reassured that these properties have not been identified as being required for the project and we will confirm this with residents when they get in touch to book a meeting and again at the meetings.”
And: “If residents of these properties have any specific concerns they would like to discuss in the meantime, they are welcome to get in touch by emailing contact@eastwestrail.co.uk
After much pressure from Mohammad Yasin MP, Cllr Jackson and myself, we are pleased that EWR have finally agreed to meet residents of the Poets area face-to-face. Unfortunately, their letters have been another example of poor communication and it is right that EWR have acknowledged their error.
I have pointed out that EWR omitted some houses in Spenser Road and I’ve been assured they will receive letters later this week. Similarly, I’ve asked the same for those missed out in Chaucer Road and Milton Road. EWR have specified their invitations are for Poets residents east of Shakespeare Road so if you don’t receive a letter soon, please let me know.
EWR have advised us there will also be a drop-in session for the wider Bedford Community on Wednesday 25 May at Kings House Conference Centre from 2-8pm. Obviously, residents of Poets and Ashburnham Road will be able to attend that too and we would encourage you to do so.
Cllr Jackson and I work closely with Mohammad Yasin MP and his office and he mentioned us in Parliament in his excellent speech about the future of EWR and the letters.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us if we can help.
Kind regards