Organisation type
Public sector
Sector
Cities and communities
Infrastructure
Transport, travel and tourism
Service
East West Railway Company (EWR Co) is developing plans for a new railway between Oxford and Cambridge, linking people with jobs, schools, services and each other, opening up new journeys, cutting travel times, easing road congestion and supporting sustainable economic growth across the region.
EWR Co needed specialist support to strengthen stakeholder engagement across its land and property communications.
Working within a sensitive and complex infrastructure programme, EWR Co want to make sure that communications with landowners are clear, empathetic and consistent. The goal is to reduce avoidable queries and escalation, build trust and support the timely agreement of survey access and voluntary arrangements. The project is fast paced and effective interaction with people is vital given the need to submit an application for a Development Consent Order.
Effective stakeholder engagement in infrastructure communications depends on clarity, consistency and timing, particularly when issues are sensitive, such as compulsory acquisition or accessing private land for surveys.
Using our extensive knowledge of East West Rail following six years of working on the project, we acted as a strategic link between EWR Co’s Land and Property and External Engagement teams, ensuring alignment between technical information and wider planning communications.
Our approach combined additional capacity with specialist expertise. We started by developing a communications strategy for land and survey work which set out a strategic approach to ensuring co-ordinated, clear and empathetic landowner communications. We then established a planning process that ensured careful cross-team co-ordination and collaboration, and avoided communications fatigue amongst landowners.
We drafted and quality-assured landowner engagement materials – including survey licence cover letters, letters to directly affected landowners, consultation materials and FAQs about land impacts, surveys and property acquisition issues – ensuring a consistently clear, warm and open tone of voice and improving accessibility without losing technical accuracy.
We supported engagement planning around evolving programme requirements, helping teams anticipate landowner concerns and respond proactively. For more complex or higher-risk issues, we advised on strategic and de-risked engagement planning, and developed clear lines-to-take, enabling confident and consistent responses.
We also ensured land and property considerations were fully reflected in wider external affairs activity, including briefings for MPs, media and other key stakeholder along the route.
Our work strengthened the quality and consistency of landowner engagement across the programme, helping EWR Co build trust and maintain positive relationships.
By improving alignment between teams and proactively addressing potential engagement risks and concerns, we supported more efficient and responsive communication with landowners.
This contributed to a more streamlined approach to securing survey access and voluntary agreements, while reducing risk across sensitive land and property issues.
Our input also ensured that land and property considerations were more effectively integrated into broader stakeholder engagement activity, supporting a more joined-up and strategic approach.
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