CONTENTS: Busway cycle path maintenance, highways weed strategy, hedge cutting, Waterbeach busway, Stagecoach buses and the new term, Voi Scooters, Making Connections, Mere Way

Transport and sustainable travel

After a pleasant summer where I wondered what I would put in this report a string of issues have blown up, which while frustrating does at least provide good content.

Busway cycle path to begin on a gentle note. I cycled to and from St Ives with my son on a school strike day in July, on the north bound journey we noticed an abandoned petrol scooter a few hundred metres from Station Stores, we were really impressed to see it had been removed by our return journey at 9.30am.  I know there are issues with bus shelters which have been reported but the team do often do an excellent job with very little credit.

Getting the tree guards in Orchard Park removed feels as unobtainable as walking on Mars but when they’re on form the busway maintenance team are excellent.   The most important thing is to report issues, I am always happy to receive those reports and forward them.

Highways weed strategy. The last 12 months have presented some of the worst possible conditions for highways particularly in a context of cumulative underinvestment and roads in an extremely poor state of repair.  The winter’s weather conditions characterised by deep freezes followed by heavy rain repeating across the season were catastrophic for the road surface and created a situation across the division, county and country where it was not physically possible to deal with the deluge of work in a timely manner. Every single council was desperately competing for the same materials, man power and machinery to increase capacity. 

As a response to the loud calls from residents to fix the pot holes money was reallocated from other parts of the highways budget to attempt to deal with this.  In a context of a council underfunded by £23million from government by population size, inflation like we had not seen in the previous decade where the cost of each job sky rocketed the only way to increase funding is by reallocating budgets from one place to somewhere else, there is no spare money. 

One of these re allocations was the annual cyclical weedkilling budget.   Last year this would not have been less of a problem with extended drought conditions but unfortunately the summer has presented us with optimum conditions for growing weeds.  All things being equal the County Council would have not made this decision and it is being reviewed for next year this autumn, but if the winter presents conditions as bad as last year something will no doubt have to be cut to cope with the level of work.

Hedge cutting  Now that bird nest season is over September is a great month to cut back hedges.  Please report any overgrown hedges to the parish council in the first instance in Histon and Impington.  Details in regards to Orchard Park to be updated at the community council meeting.  Keeping hedges maintained makes a big difference to the ease with which people can use pavements and roads and move easily around the community.

Waterbeach busway There were fewer responses, I believe, to this public GCP consultation (388) than to the His Imp 20mph consultation which I think is worth noting. HiHub speculated that the Impington bus stop was chosen to serve the possible new Trinity Science Park North but I think that extremely unlikely. The stop represents the best balance of a service accessible to west Impington residents and those working at the business parks in the vicinity.  There is too little money to invest in bus stops for speculative future developments.

Stagecoach buses and the new term.  To try to manage demand on the busway Stagecoach has created a new 8a service with stops around Orchard Park and along Histon Road, the busway A service has reduced the number of Histon road stops it makes to try to encourage Cambridge city and Orchard Park residents onto the 8a rather than taking up spaces for passengers heading to destinations on the busway.  I contacted Stagecoach about the issues residents have with buses at peak times in Histon, Impington and Orchard Park.  Please if you find buses are full and you can’t get a space let me know and I will report back to Stagecoach it is only by them having a handle on the scale of the problem that we can attempt to improve things.

Voi scooters after extensive back and forth with the Combined Authority, Lucy Frazer MP and the Department of Transport Voi scooters have returned to our streets.  The ‘dead spot’ on the busway which prevented journeys from Histon and Impington to Cambridge North station has been rectified and I have a contact who I can go to where there are issues with scooter parking.

GCP Making Connections – at this point in time work to improve buses is being accelerated and work on any form of congestion charge is being stopped.   Neither the County Council joint administration nor the Liberal Democrat County Council group within the Joint Administration has formed a view on whether it would have supported the GCP proposals of a £5 peak time congestion charge with 50 free days.  Both the South Cambs Liberal Democrats and City Labour political groups voted to reject the proposal. As these groups both hold large majorities their votes reflect the view of the respective councils.  This removed the need for the County group to reach a decision. This is not because we weren’t taking this seriously it’s because it is the most challenging decision in a generation and there are a very wide range of views which have been debated constantly.  

What is most frustrating is the void we see from central government. Michael Gove as Minister for Levelling up talked about ‘supercharging Europe’s science capital’ Cambridge he also talked about a ‘ring road’ and ‘congestion free’ streets but provided no detail as to how these transformations would happen, meanwhile at local level members of his party have been the most vociferous in attacking proposals to tackle congestion whilst not providing any plausible alternatives. 

What is clear about this decision is that a very large group of people are bitterly disappointed by what this stopping of work means for the future of the city and another group are relieved.   It is also fails to provide any answers as to how the city will deal with slowly building congestion levels and air pollution issues.   This in turn impacts on the ability of Stagecoach to deliver services, unpredictable city congestion levels severely impact the reliability of their service. 

Mere Way the section 278/ section 106 development of Mere Way by Urban and Civic (Waterbeach new town planners) began over the summer.   Visually it looks quite radical and should look greener and more country lane like over the coming months.  On balance I think it is worthwhile as it will revolutionise the opportunities for post 16 education and jobs for a significant number of people in Landbeach and Waterbeach but the impact on an historic bridleway is a difficult thing to balance.   I wish it had been handled differently but the approach was predetermined at initial planning stage when the section 106 conditions were agreed around 2018.

I have been working with Waterbeach Cllr Anna Bradnam to try to get changes made in the way these section 106 decisions are made.  In particular there should probably have been a requirement to undergo a public consultation as the thought processes and decisions behind the final design decisions would have been more open to scrutiny.  Urban and Civic did liaise extensively with stakeholders including equestrians, cyclists and local farmers even though there was no requirement to do that, I believe we are lucky that they are the town planners others would behave far more cynically.  What comes out is how difficult building new towns is, there is stuff to learn but in building projects with billions of pounds invested  there are going to be mistakes.

INFORMATION

Report a Highways fault If you see a problem; blocked gully/ drain, pot hole or other Highways issue please report it using the tool below. https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/travel-roads-and-parking/roads-and-pathways/roadworks-and-faults

Adult care assessment Call centre: 0345 045 5202  8am – 6pm Mon to Fri,  9am – 1pm Sat https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/adults/organising-care-and-support/care-needs-assessment Do get in touch with me directly if you have any problems, questions or concerns.

I’ve got a problem who do I contact? Organisational structure in Cambridgeshire is complicated, just ask the question.  Email me, a District Councillor or the Parish Clerk we’ll all point you to the right person (or try to).

Climate Emergency the county council wants to hear your thoughts.  What are your ideas?  What have you done?  What projects could do with some help?  The County Council really wants to hear your ideas email climate@cambridgeshire.gov.uk .

Government Structure in Cambridgeshire  detailing responsibilities

County Council; education, transport, highways, heritage, social care, libraries, trading standards, ­waste management, maintaining their estate.

District Council; council tax payments, household bin collections, housing and housing benefits, council leisure facilities, environmental health, residential planning, local emergency, community policing contact point.

Parish/ Community Council; looking after community buildings, open spaces, allotments, play areas, bus shelters, community projects.

Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) ‘The local delivery body for a City Deal with central Government worth up to £500 million over 15 years to deliver infrastructure (decarbonising transport), 44,000 new jobs, 33,500 new homes and 420 additional apprenticeships.’ Partnership between Cambridge City Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, South Cambridgeshire District Council, University of Cambridge

The Combined Authority, Cambridge and Peterborough, our elected Mayor (CPCA)  A board consisting of representatives from the District, City and County Councils and Peterborough Unitary Authority, headed by the Mayor.   Responsible for – Business support, skills, housing, transport strategy-liaising with Department of Transport, environment, international, digital connectivity, resilience, research and strategy and new homes.

Police and Crime Commissioner, Cambridge and Peterborough To support and challenge the Chief Constable to provide effective and efficient policing services for the area.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority the governing body responsible for the fire and rescue service, made up of County Councillors and Peterborough City Councillors.