England's Economic Heartland Strategic Alliance is one of seven sub-national transport bodies in England. [1] [2] EEH is a partnership of councils and local enterprise partnerships, stretching from Swindon and Oxfordshire in the west to Cambridgeshire in the east, and from Northamptonshire down to Hertfordshire. The area includes the Oxford-Cambridge Arc, as defined by Government.
England's Economic Heartland Strategic Alliance was founded in November 2015. [3]
It is currently[ when? ] chaired by Cllr Martin Tett, leader of Buckinghamshire County Council. The vice-chairman is Cllr James Jamieson, leader of Central Bedfordshire Council. Mayor of Bedford Borough, Dave Hodgson, chairs the Strategic Transport Forum. [4]
In its November 2017 the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) released a report calling on the Oxford-Milton Keynes-Cambridge 'arc' to be made a 'national priority', with investment in major transport schemes. [5]
The NIC's report, Partnering for Prosperity, said England's Economic Heartland had gained 'recognition at national level', and 'received financial backing from the Department for Transport to advance an ambitious programme of work, including the development of an overarching transport strategy and work to identify and define a major road network across the arc'. [6]
In summer 2017, England's Economic Heartland consulted on becoming a Sub-national Transport Body (STB). [7]
The Department for Transport's Transport Investment Strategy, [8] states that STBs will be involved in infrastructure decision-making. [9]
They will advise on investment on the new Major Road Network. [10]
England's Economic Heartland is producing a Transport Strategy for the region which will guide decisions about investment and priorities up to 2050. A draft version for consultation is due to be published in summer 2020. In summer 2019 England's Economic Heartland held a period of engagement on its Outline Transport Strategy. [11]
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England that are in the top level category for statistical purposes. It consists of the nine counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex. South East England is the third-largest region of England, with a land area of 19,072 square kilometres (7,364 sq mi), and is also the most populous with a total population of 9,379,833 in 2022.
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the east, Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, and Oxfordshire to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Milton Keynes, and the county town is Aylesbury.
Milton Keynes is a city in Buckinghamshire, England, about 50 miles (80 km) north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms the northern boundary of the urban area; a tributary, the River Ouzel, meanders through its linear parks and balancing lakes. Approximately 25% of the urban area is parkland or woodland and includes two Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). The city is made up of many different districts.
The South Midlands is an area of England which includes Northamptonshire, the northern parts of Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire and the western part of Bedfordshire. Unlike the East Midlands or West Midlands, the South Midlands is not one of the NUTS statistical regions of the United Kingdom.
Southern England, also known as the South of England or the South, is a sub-national part of England. Officially, it is made up of the southern, south-western and part of the eastern parts of England, consisting of the statistical regions of London, the South East, the South West and the East. Altogether, it forms a population of nearly 28 million and an area of 62,042 square kilometres (23,955 sq mi).
The Oxford–Cambridge Arc or Oxford–Cambridge Growth Corridor is a notional arc of agricultural and urban land at about 80 km (50 mi) radius of London, in south central England. It runs between the British university cities of Oxford and Cambridge via Milton Keynes and other settlements in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire at the northern rim of the London commuter belt. It is significant only in economic geography, with little physical geography in common.
The A421 is an important road for east/west journeys across south central England. Together with the A428, the A43 and A34, it forms the route from Cambridge through Milton Keynes to Oxford. The section between the A1 and the A5 is a national primary route.
In January 2004, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott announced the United Kingdom government's Expansion plans for Milton Keynes. However, the change of government in 2010 and the abolition of the Regional Spatial Strategy in 2012/13 saw these plans revoked and a planned expansion of up to 44,000 dwellings reduced to 28,000. The Milton Keynes Core Strategy was published in July 2013 and regards the figure of 28,000 new homes to be the minimum figure.
The South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) was one of a number of regional development agencies in England. It was set up as a non-departmental public body in 1999 to promote the region and to enable a number of more difficult regeneration projects which otherwise might not take place. It covered Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex
Milton Keynes City Council is the local authority for the City of Milton Keynes, a local government district in Buckinghamshire, England. The council was established in 1974 as Milton Keynes Borough Council. Since 1997 it has been a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council; it is independent of Buckinghamshire Council, the unitary authority which administers the rest of the county.
Milton Park is the UK’s largest single ownership innovation community, situated in Vale of the White Horse in South Oxfordshire, England. The Park is located between Didcot and Abingdon in Science Vale UK, a cluster of significant growth, innovation and enterprise.
The East of England Local Government Association (EELGA) is an association of the 52 local authorities in the East of England. It is a regional grouping of the Local Government Association and the regional employers organisation. It was established in April 2010 following the abolition of the East of England Regional Assembly.
The Thames Valley Health Innovation and Education Cluster (TVHIEC) is a publicly funded partnership authorised by the Department of Health to improve innovation and education within the NHS across the Thames Valley. It was established on 1 April 2010 and is based in Oxford. The Thames Valley Health Innovation and Education Cluster is one of seventeen HIECs established by the Department of Health in January 2010 to improve the quality of healthcare through increased innovation within health/social care and applied healthcare education across England. The themes of Thames Valley HIEC are:
Milton Keynes City Council is the local authority and unitary authority for the City of Milton Keynes, a borough in Buckinghamshire, England.
A local transport body is a partnership of local authorities in England outside Greater London. There are 38 local transport bodies. They cover similar areas to local enterprise partnerships, but are not permitted to overlap each other. Decision making for major transport infrastructure spending is devolved to these bodies from the Department for Transport. They will receive funding from April 2015.
The Aylesbury Vale is a geographical region in Buckinghamshire, England, which is bounded by the City of Milton Keynes and West Northamptonshire to the north, Central Bedfordshire and the Borough of Dacorum (Hertfordshire) to the east, the Chiltern Hills to the south and South Oxfordshire to the west. It is named after Aylesbury, the county town of Buckinghamshire. Winslow and Buckingham are among the larger towns in the vale.
The Oxford to Cambridge Expressway was a proposed grade-separated dual carriageway between the A34 near Oxford and the A14 near Cambridge, via Milton Keynes. The road would have provided an outer orbital route around London, as well as connecting major growth areas in the region.
Heart East is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to the East of England from studios in Milton Keynes.
East West Rail is a strategic aim to establish a new main line railway between East Anglia and Oxfordshire, with potential services as far as Cardiff. The immediate plan is to build a line linking Oxford and Cambridge via Bicester, Milton Keynes and Bedford, largely using the trackbed of the former Varsity Line. Thus it provides a potential route between any or all of the Great Western, Cotswold, Chiltern, West Coast, Midland, East Coast, West Anglia and Great Eastern main lines, avoiding London. The route opens the possibility of future services between Southampton Central or Swansea and Ipswich or Norwich, using existing onward lines. The government approved the western section in November 2011. The eastern section, the new Bedford–Cambridge route and the Oxford–Bedford improvements are categorised as a nationally significant infrastructure project.
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