The government is accelerating growth across the Oxford to Cambridge Corridor with a major £500 million investment package aimed at delivering new homes, infrastructure, and business space, while strengthening transport links and creating thousands of new jobs.

Communities and businesses across the region will benefit from improved connectivity, including the reopening of the Cowley Branch railway line with new stations at Littlemore and Cowley. These transport improvements are expected to support the creation of up to 10,000 new jobs and homes in Oxford, enhancing access to employment, housing, and opportunities.

The investment forms part of the government’s wider commitment to regional growth, aimed at transforming the Oxford to Cambridge Corridor into Europe’s leading innovation hub – often referred to as Europe’s Silicon Valley.

Key Elements of the Package Include:

  • Cambridge: Up to £400 million in initial funding to drive affordable housing, infrastructure improvements, and business expansion.
  • Oxford: Reopening of the Cowley Branch railway line with new stations at Littlemore and Cowley, connecting communities to jobs and services.
  • East West Rail: Continued investment to strengthen links between Oxford, Cambridge, Milton Keynes, Bedford, and beyond.

This public investment is complemented by private sector growth, highlighted by the Ellison Institute of Technology’s announcement of a £10 billion expansion of its Oxford base over the next decade. This expansion is set to create 7,000 jobs and cement Oxford’s position as a global leader in scientific research.

Over the past decade, the Oxford-Cambridge Corridor has already achieved significant milestones, including:

  • 43,000 jobs created
  • £27.5 billion of investment
  • Recognition of Oxford and Cambridge as the top two innovation engines in Europe

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves said: “Oxford and Cambridge are home to the two of the best universities in the world, two of the most intensive innovation clusters in the world, and the area is a hub for globally renowned science and technology. Yet thanks to years of underinvestment, they still lack the public transport, affordable housing, and infrastructure they need. That changes under this government.

We have massive ambitions for the Oxford-Cambridge corridor, that’s why we’re reopening the Cowley Branch railway 60 years after it closed, why we’re building more affordable housing and investing in business, and how we’ve been able to unlock £10 billion in private investment. By choosing investment and renewal over chaos and decline, we’re boosting growth and building an economy that works for working people.”

Science Minister and Oxford-Cambridge Innovation Champion, Lord Vallance, said: “These investments are a milestone, not just for the Oxford to Cambridge Corridor, but for the entire country. We are going to deliver the housing, amenities and infrastructure that businesses need to grow and that people need to flourish.

This region has all the ingredients to be the UK’s answer to Silicon Valley or the Boston Cluster: somewhere that turns world-class innovation into economic growth the whole nation benefits from. Today is proof we’ll back the OxCam region to fulfil its enormous potential.”

Housing and Planning Minister, Matthew Pennycook said: “This government is putting its money where its mouth is to realise the full potential of Greater Cambridge. The funding we have allocated will provide the Cambridge Growth Company and a future delivery vehicle with capital needed to unlock key sites, remove barriers to sustainable growth and ramp up housebuilding in the years ahead to the benefit of existing communities in Greater Cambridge and the UK economy as a whole.”

The growth package will deliver a wave of investment, including £15 million for the University of Cambridge Innovation Hub to create lab space for science start ups to grow and compete on the global stage.

This builds on the Oxford–Cambridge Growth Corridor investment prospectus, unveiled at this week’s Regional Investment Summit, which outlines opportunities to unlock worldwide investment and comes as the Chancellor prepares to promote British investment opportunities at the  Future Investment Initiative Summit in Saudi Arabia next week.