The Oxford to Cambridge corridor requires a ministerial champion, according to the MP commissioned by the Government to review the area’s development strategy.

Delivering an opening keynote speech at the beginning of the Oxford Cambridge Corridor Economic Growth Conference, Milton Keynes MP Iain Stewart said this co-ordination should either be delivered by a minister or cabinet committee stating: ‘’There needs to be more coherent central government integration.’’

Stewart raised concerns that planning timetables for planning, infrastructure and transport are misaligned within the corridor saying: ‘’If this is just a collection of housing and infrastructure projects it will fail. This needs to be a coherent vision.’’

He also told delegates at the MK Dons football club in Milton Keynes that he had delivered his report to Sajid Javid just before the latter was recently reshuffled from his former role as secretary of state for communities. However, Stewart has subsequently met Javid’s successor James Brokenshire, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond and various senior other Government ministers to examine the next steps that the Government should take in the arc.

The MP, who chairs the Milton Keynes South and Oxford-Mk-Cambridge Corridor All-Party Parliamentary Group, added it is important to maintain an ‘effective level of local accountability’ for the project adding: ‘’If this is just an endless series of housing estates, the project will not work.’’