Businesses and transport leaders have urged Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to agree improvements to the Ely junction bottleneck. 

Sending a clear message from Cambridgeshire to the treasury, those present at a rail summit meeting in Cambridge on Friday (July 7) said the junction “holds back trade and the wide prosperity it should bring"G 

“Modest investment in rail capacity in the Ely area would boost and widen services and give Soham a direct link to Newmarket and Cambridge,” they said. 

The summit discussed how boosting Ely rail capacity would improve transport across the country, making the most of investments at new stations at Soham and Cambridge South, as well as funding pledged for Peterborough Station Quarter and East West Rail. 

Hosted by the Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Dr Nik Johnson, and co-chaired by former transport minister the Rt Hon Norman Baker, the gathering discussed how action on Ely would be quick to ripple growth out through Cambridgeshire, the wider East, the South-East, the Midlands and the North, right up to Scotland. 

Dr Johnson, said: “The public money spent on rail in many areas can yield a much better return if Ely Junction is widened to release freer and more frequent and reliable rail traffic.  

“The cost-benefit ratio of fixing the Ely pinch-point is an incredible return of £4.89 back for every £1 spent. It’s a win-win investment with quantifiable reward far beyond the opportunity that will be felt for decades by people and communities across the country.” 

 He added: “Dividends will include more freight and passenger services and better connections, at least 100k fewer lorries on the road each year, a massive drop in carbon emission, improved air quality and less need to spend government money on roads, as rail freight options for imports and exports become more viable.” 

The Summit heard that if the Government did approve £466m to boost capacity at Ely, there would be 2,900 extra freight services through Felixstowe each year and a staggering £2.2 billion benefit would pour back into the UK economy. 

A letter from the summit which presses home the value of delivering the Ely solution will go to the chancellor and the transport secretary Mark Harper to help inform their consideration which rail improvements to approve in the next funding round. 

Businesses, transport and industry leaders, farmers and growers , the local authority and political leaders – everyone who supports the Ely Solution is s urged to get their signature on to the letter, currently available here on the Combined Authority website, before it is delivered on Friday (July 14). 

The letter accompanies an Investment Prospectus detailing for the Chancellor the beneficial impacts of improving capacity at Ely – for example, £4.89 for every £1 spent, 100k lorries off the road annually, and almost 3000 extra freight services to and from the UK’s busiest container port each year.     

The Summit builds on the East of England All Party Parliamentary launch last month of ‘Keeping Trade on Track’. This report from England’s Economic Heartland and Transport East presents persuasive evidence of the regional, national, and international benefits of upgrading the Ely junction. 

Dr Johnson added: “If the Government is committed to delivering UK growth and supporting international trade, it has to commit to investing in Ely junction widening and improvements. 

“Our message to the Treasury and Government is clear: Let’s work together – we all want to see good economic development for UKplc. If the Government is serious about levelling up, we must progress Ely. If we are serious about meeting net zero targets and getting thousands of HGVs off the roads across the United Kingdom, then the Government must progress Ely. 

“We hope that you will now move to agree the required funding for the Ely rail improvement.”