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The multibillion-pound infrastructure set for the East of England

Ben Schofield
Political correspondent, BBC East

The government and private companies have said they plan to spend billions of pounds on huge projects across the East of England.

They include bigger airports, a new railway line and theme park, as well as developments that will keep the lights on and taps running.

But where are some of the biggest and what stage have they reached?

Sizewell C

Sizewell C A computer generated image showing what the Sizewell C power plant will look like. There are several buildings all in a light grey colour. There are two white domes towards the centre of the image. The plant is bordered by the coastline on the top right of the image and trees on the top and bottom left.Sizewell C
Sizewell C will be built on the Suffolk coast, next to the Sizewell B power plant

A 3.2GW nuclear power plant is planned to be built on the Suffolk coast next to Sizewell B, which began generating in 1995.

According to energy company EDF, Sizewell C will produce 7% of the UK's electricity - enough for six million homes - for 60 years.

Neither EDF nor the government have said how much the plant is likely to cost overall, but the chancellor confirmed £14.2bn of investment into the plant in the 2025 spending review. That brought total taxpayer investment into the project to £17.8bn.

EDF said 10,000 jobs - including 1,500 apprenticeships - would be created during construction. Once operational, it will employ 900 people.

But local communities have battled the plans.

The plant should start providing power in the early 2030s.

Martin Giles/BBC The Sizewell C construction site. A digger and two large earth-moving trucks can be seen working on a building site. They are all yellow and black. There are no buildings but the image shows how the ground is being prepared. In the foreground flat, bare earth is seen, while a bank of earth has been created, which runs through the middle of the image. In the distance is a thick line of mature trees. To the left and further behind the trees is a large white dome, which is the top of the Sizewell B reactor. It is eerily set against the sky, which also appears an off-white colour.Martin Giles/BBC
About 1,300 people are already working on the Sizewell C construction site

East West Rail

A map of the proposed East West Rail route. The line is indicated in red. The following stops are labelled, from east to west: Cambridge, Cambourne, Tempsford, Bedford, Bletchley and Milton Keynes, Winslow, Bicester and Oxford.

The £6bn East West Rail (EWR) project is being developed in three sections.

Trains should start running between Oxford and Milton Keynes, via Bletchley, by the end of 2025.

Work is already under way to upgrade the line between Bletchley and Bedford, which will be the second section.

Finally, a wholly new track is being planned between Bedford and Cambridge, which could see new stations at Tempsford and Cambourne.

EWR said it could take one hour and 35 minutes to travel on its route from Oxford to Cambridge, about an hour less than the current fastest service.

The chancellor committed £2.5bn to the project in the 2025 spending review and said she did so "to back Milton Keynes' leading tech sector". The project is also expected to unlock land for thousands of new homes.

A statutory consultation is being planned for 2026 and EWR could apply to the government for a development consent order - giving overall planning permission - in 2027.

Critics of the scheme have said it would damage the countryside between Bedford and Cambridge. Houses in Bedford could also be knocked down to make way for new tracks.

Trains could be running along the whole route by the mid-2030s.

Fens Reservoir

Anglian Water An artist's impression of what the Fens Reservoir might look like. The image shows a shoreline in the bottom right hand corner, with a sandy beach, trees, a building and a jetty stretching into a large body of water. There are some white sailing dinghies on the water in the middle distance. In the upper right part of the image is a swirl of land that sweeps into the water, creating a man-made peninsula.Anglian Water
The reservoir could be supplying homes and businesses by 2036

This joint £2.2bn project between Anglian Water and Cambridge Water will see a 21 sq-mile (55 sq-km) lake built north of Chatteris in Cambridgeshire.

It could be suppling 87 million litres (19 million gallons) of water a day for up to 250,000 homes by 2036.

Water will be pumped from the River Nene, Great Ouse and the Ouse Washes, or a combination of these.

The water companies said they faced "growing challenges" to water supplies. The East region, they added, was "low-lying, one of the driest in the UK and especially vulnerable to a changing climate".

The Environment Agency has previously objected to large developments near Cambridge because of concerns over a shortage of water. The government set up a Water Scarcity Group to try to tackle the issue and allow the city to continue growing.

The two firms are also working together on transferring water from Grafham Water, a reservoir that was completed in 1965. Anglian is building a 205-mile (330-km) pipeline to transfer water from Humberside to Essex.

Both companies said they were supporting customers to use less water and installing smart meters to help identify leaks.

Customers' bills will rise to help pay for new infrastructure.

Solar

Martin Giles/BBC The underside of an array of solar panels. The panels are mounted on tall metal stilts and arranged in long rows, which are disappearing into the distance. There is green grass growing beneath the panels. The sky appears to be overcast and grey. Trees can be seen on the horizon.Martin Giles/BBC
Solar farms would take up less area than currently occupied by golf courses, according to the government

Large-scale solar farms with a combined generating capacity of more than 4GW are being planned across the East of England, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire.

Longfield Solar, a 400MW development near Chelmsford, was given planning permission in June 2023.

Sunnica, a 500MW facility occupying 2,400 acres (970 hectares) straddling the Suffolk-Cambridgeshire border near the village of Burwell, was approved last July 2024.

The largest solar project on the Planning Inspectorate's list of Nationally Significant Infrastructure in the East, is High Grove Solar in Norfolk, which would have a capacity of 720MW and includes 4,000 acres (1,600 hectares).

Some proposals have prompted local protests.

Airport expansion

Luton Rising An artist's impression of the new Luton Airport terminal building form outside. It is a large square building covered in glass. Luton Rising
The Planning Inspectorate had recommended the government reject the Luton expansion over environmental concerns, but the transport secretary approved it

Both Luton and Stansted airports want to grow.

In April, the government approved plans for the former to build a second terminal building and apron, and to almost double passenger numbers to 32 million a year by 2043.

Stansted announced in June that it was applying to increase its maximum number of annual passengers to 51 million by 2040.

Last October the Essex airport's owner announced a £1.1bn expansion plan that would see its terminal building improved and expanded by a third.

Work was expected to start in 2025 and could last between two and three years.

Luton said its project would create up to 11,000 new jobs, while Stansted's would create more than 5,000.

Campaigners against Luton's plans started legal action to try to stop them, while Hertfordshire County Council called for a delay to Stansted's project.

Electricity grid upgrade

A map showing the route of the proposed power line from Norwich to Tilbury via Ipswich, Colchester and Chelmsford

There are several projects to upgrade the electricity grid in the East.

National Grid is planning to "reinforce the high voltage power network" in the region with a new connection between substations in Norwich, Bramford in Suffolk, and Tilbury in Essex.

Some of the 114-mile (184km) route will be underground, but most will see new pylons carrying the wires, which would be a disaster for the countryside, according to some local communities.

The project is designed to help bring power generated by off-shore windfarms ashore.

National Grid said it expected 15,000MW of new generation over the next decade in the region, but that "in its current state, the high voltage electricity network in East Anglia doesn't have sufficient capacity to accommodate this new generation".

It is also planning a new connection between Bramford, and Twinstead Tee in Essex. That will see 11 miles (18km) of new overhead wires and about seven miles (11km) of underground cables.

Sea Link, an undersea cable connecting Suffolk and Kent, is also planned, as well as LionLink, which would connect the UK and the Netherlands, via a Dutch offshore wind farm.

Universal theme park

Universal Destinations & Experiences/Comcast An artist's impression of the new Universal Studios theme park has a large body of water in the middle with various rides and lands around the edge.Universal Destinations & Experiences/Comcast
The first Universal Studios theme park in Europe could open in 2031

In April, the government confirmed that Universal Studios owner Comcast planned to transform the former Kempston Hardwick brickworks south of Bedford into a 476-acre (193 hectares) theme park.

The plans would create 20,000 jobs during construction and another 8,000 when the park opens.

It is thought the park could attract 8.5 million visitors in its first year and boost the economy by £50bn by 2055.

According to Universal's plans, there will be a 500-room hotel and retail complex on the site.

Two train stations could serve the theme park - one on the Thameslink line at Wixams and another on the Marston Vale Line, which is becoming East West Rail.

A dedicated junction on the A421 could also be built.

A graphic that shows the size of the Universal theme park using the colour red. Wixams can be seen to the right of the site. Above it is Bedford. The Marston Vale Line and Thameslink line are also highlighted

Lower Thames Crossing

National Highways A graphic of the Lower Thames Crossing, which shows multiple lanes of traffic in both directions going into a tunnel beneath the River Thames. The road is surrounded by fields either side of the water.National Highways
The tunnels will be located to the east of Gravesend in Kent, and to the west of East Tilbury in Essex

The new Lower Thames Crossing will see the UK's longest road tunnels built under the river, providing another road connection between Essex and Kent.

The Department for Transport said a new crossing was a "priority infrastructure project" in 2011, but the scheme was only approved by the government in March.

The £9bn plan will connect the A2 and M2 in Kent to the A13 in Thurrock and junction 29 of the M25.

It will be 14.3 miles (23km) long, with 2.6 miles (4.2km) of that underground. National Highways said it would "almost double road capacity over the river east of London to reduce congestion".

People living nearby have described the proposals as like a "noose around our neck".

A428 dual carriageway

National Highways A sculpture of a black cat on the right, with its back arched and tail raised at the Black Cat roundabout, Cambridgeshire. On the left is a vehicle with an orange crane.National Highways
The cat sculpture that adorns the Black Cat roundabout is in storage until the £1bn road improvement scheme is completed

Building a new 10-mile (16km) dual carriageway section of the A428 from the Black Cat roundabout on the A1 to Caxton Gibbet in Cambridgeshire will save drivers up to 10 minutes each way.

It was the only section of single carriageway on the road between Milton Keynes and Cambridge.

About 25,300 vehicles use the stretch every day but that is expected to rise to 32,900 by 2040 as the area gets more homes and businesses.

National Highways started building the £1bn project in December 2023, and it is expected to open in spring 2027.

It is the organisation's biggest project currently being built.

Grade II-listed cottages were dismantled to make way for the new link.

National Highways An artist's impression of an aerial view of the new Roxton Road bridge over a dual carriageway. It is surrounded by a patchwork of fields, trees and warehouses.National Highways
The A428 upgrade is designed to improve journey times between Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge

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