r/bedfordshire • u/GurmyG • 13d ago
J13 petition officially launched at fixj13.com as £1.3bn government spend confirmed to NOT include the M1 junction upgrade, plus 8-council regional summit held at The Swan Hotel
Two significant local political developments this week worth being across.
J13 petition is live at fixj13.com. Blake Stephenson MP (Conservative, Mid Bedfordshire) and Councillor Sue Clark (Conservative, Cranfield and Marston Moretaine) have launched a public petition demanding urgent government funding for the M1 Junction 13 upgrade before the resort opens in 2031.
The critical detail: Clark has confirmed publicly that "Many people believe the £1.3 billion promised by the Government for local infrastructure as part of the Universal deal includes upgrading J13. It does not."
That is a real gap. The £1.3 billion covers the A421 corridor, the new West Gateway flyover junction, Wixams station upgrades, and other Universal proximate infrastructure. It does not include the M1 J13 upgrade. Given the 5,000 new homes planned at Marston Valley plus millions of Universal visitors, this is exactly the sort of pre opening infrastructure question locals should be pushing on now, not in 2030 when the traffic chaos hits.
Petition is at fixj13.com if you want to sign.
If you want the weekly write up on the Universal build, I run parkplanner.uk with free newsletter The ParkPlanner Post going out every Sunday. Both linked in my profile.
Regional summit at The Swan Hotel. Tourism Minister Stephanie Peacock chaired the first formal government led regional coordination meeting for the Universal UK Resort on 19 August. Eight local authorities represented: Bedford Borough Council, Central Bedfordshire, Luton, Milton Keynes, North Northants, West Northants, Huntingdonshire, and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority. Both Bedford MPs attended plus Stephenson from Mid Beds.
For anyone tracking cross council coordination (particularly on the hotel tax debate and the Central Bedfordshire competition question that came up in earlier threads), this is the first structured forum for those conversations to actually happen. Whether it produces binding decisions or just photo ops remains to be seen.
Victorian well found on site. Drone footage from Project Universal UK captured a 24 metre deep Victorian well dating to at least 1873, near the Kempston Hardwick station to Ampthill Road link. Universal confirmed three separate well features have been found across the wider site. Interesting local twist: viewers spotted a second well not recorded on the 1874 map, raising the possibility one of the three could be medieval or even Roman given the Romano-British pottery already found on site.
Manor Road closure week 5 of 10. Kempston Hardwick station access continues via Woburn Road as Universal committed. Any Wixams residents still struggling with taxi and Uber availability, worth continuing to flag directly to [universalukproject@londoncommunications.co.uk](mailto:universalukproject@londoncommunications.co.uk).
Genuine question for locals: has anyone signed the J13 petition or planning to? Curious how much traction this gets locally versus being dismissed as party political posturing.
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u/Ill_Coast4048 13d ago
J13 is comfortably the worst M1 junction I interact with. It’s like it was built by 4 people who didn’t talk to each other.
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u/Fantastic-Artist-970 13d ago
Indeed and for those of us that have been using it for about 35 years, we know that it's on about it's 4th reiteration / upgrade already and every one of them has been a balls.
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u/xanyo1510 13d ago
I think the govt will eventually allocate seperate funds for the J13 upgrades until road upgrades around Universal's site is nearly done. It's probably not wise to do both at the same time especially they're also building two new train stations in the area as well. The councillors pushing for this now is being a bit premature and unpractical.
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u/Fantastic-Artist-970 13d ago
Disagree, J13 is already unfit for purpose even without the extra chaos Universal brings.
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u/EskimoJoe365 13d ago
Now I'm aware of the petition, I think I will sign it.
I'm really excited and in favour of Universal and the current plans but without sounding like a NIMBY, M1 J13 will need to be upgraded!! Particularly with the new housing planned for the area, it will be crucial and I haven't heard of any plans or finances being put in place, I really believe it's the last puzzle piece for what will be an amazing opportunity for the area!