For several years, the Countryside Regeneration Trust (CRT) has been fighting to protect Westfield, a wildlife-rich area of farmland at Lark Rise Farm in Cambridgeshire, from the worst impacts of East West Rail's proposed Cambridge-to-Oxford line. Now, following sustained engagement with EWR, there is some positive news to share.

The latest EWR plans show that the proposed railway line has been moved back by several hundred metres from its previous alignment. This shift may sound modest, but for Westfield it is significant. Less land will be consumed by the railway's footprint, and the crossing over the Bourn Brook, the watercourse that runs through the farm, supporting otters and water voles, and is a prime area for feeding bats, will now be both lower and shorter than originally planned.

Equally welcome is the removal of a plan that would have seen a large area of Westfield used as a construction compound for many years during the building of the railway. That proposal would have meant prolonged and severe disturbance to land that has taken decades to develop into one of the most nature-friendly arable sites in the county. Its removal from the plans means that a bigger parcel of land will be left undisturbed.

The CRT is clear about what this represents. We would prefer there were no railway line cutting across the farmland at all. Westfield is home to Red List species, including grey partridge and corn bunting, to a remarkable assemblage of rare arable weeds – fourteen species of local or national significance. Overwintering farmland birds that depend on the land's low-input, nature-friendly management. This is irreplaceable habitat, and any intrusion into it carries a real ecological cost.

But we also recognise that these changes represent a meaningful reduction in that cost, and we believe the County Wildlife Site status awarded to Westfield for the rare arable weeds last year played a significant role in achieving them. That formal recognition of the site's ecological importance, endorsed by the Wildlife Trust, the county council, and other environmental organisations, appears to have carried real weight in the project’s development.

Kerriann McLackland, Head of Estates at the CRT, said: “The fight to protect Westfield continues, and the CRT will remain a determined voice for this land. But today, we can acknowledge that engagement, evidence, and persistence can make a difference.”