Bedford Borough Council is warning that residents are being left to go in blind over East West Rail’s revised parking plans for Bedford station, with the argument centred on how the scheme could affect traffic around Ashburnham Road, Prebend Street and Queens Park. Bedford Independent first reported the story.
The issue matters well beyond the station itself. East West Rail’s latest consultation says the project now takes account of the planned Universal United Kingdom Resort near Bedford and includes provision for a Stewartby station to serve the theme park, making regional access and transport capacity part of the same conversation.
What Bedford Borough Council wants to see
East West Rail Co has published revised plans for a six-storey multi-storey car park on Ashburnham Road, alongside two surface car parks, taking the total to more than 900 spaces. Council leaders say they still have not been given the overall traffic modelling or masterplan they need to understand the effect on surrounding roads.
We can’t go into this blind.
The council says it has asked repeatedly for the wider picture, including the likely impact on routes into Queens Park and the handling of traffic at the end of Prebend Street. It also says any final decision on the parking plans will sit within the Development Consent Order process, not with Bedford Borough Council alone.
Why the Universal UK link matters
East West Rail’s own consultation material says the route will connect Oxford, Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge, and that updated proposals were shaped by further design work, environmental assessments and traffic and transport analysis. The company says the 2026 consultation ran from 14 April to 9 June, and that feedback will inform final designs ahead of a Development Consent Order application in 2027.
For Bedford, that means the station changes, parking layout and road access questions are not happening in isolation. They sit alongside a wider rail plan that is already being adjusted around the future Universal United Kingdom Resort, which is why the council is pressing for clearer traffic evidence before the project moves on.
What happens next
The immediate next step is the formal consent process, where the parking proposals and the rest of the East West Rail changes will be tested further. For now, the council’s message is simple: without the masterplan and traffic modelling, Bedfordians are being asked to judge a major transport change without the full facts.
