I am thrilled to announce a new Orchard Park / Cambridge North bus stop has been confirmed as part of the Waterbeach busway project.  I have always made the case for this stop and submitted strong responses to the consultations but when I found it was absent from the plans circulated for the Waterbeach busway in October 2024 I stepped back and thought carefully about how I could build a case for this much needed stop.

As I interrogated the plans it became apparent that there was an incredibly strong operational business case for having a stop there.  If you don’t have a bus stop between where Waterbeach busway joins the St Ives busway and where the St Ives busway splits in two at Orchard Park trying to interconnect between services which may serve different locations is far harder as you would always have to second guess which branch you needed to be when for which bus.  If you have a single place where all buses stop changing between bus services becomes straightforward.

Project managers, engineers, consultants, Stagecoach, the Combined Authority, The Greater Cambridge Partnership other councillors, none of them had noticed this.  I was the one to spot the glaring oversight and the reason why it was so important.  I immediately escalated this to the leaders of the Greater Cambridge Partnership, the Combined Authority and our MP.

I was absolutely delighted when in March Waterbeach Busway plans came to the county council with the Orchard Park / Cambridge North busway bus stop included.  This delivers a direct connection for Orchard Park residents to Cambridge North rail station and is a great win for the community.  

I would love to get a ‘North Histon’ second busway bus stop but that will require a different business case.   

I’ve managed to get other changes on the Waterbeach busway plans such as a commitment to solar studs along the cycle path, a more sophisticated approach to flood prevention, greater safety between the cycle track and bus route and an electricity supply so that the junction where the busways meet will be lit.

I know how important the direct connection to Cambridge North is for Orchard Park residents and am really glad I have been able to get it agreed.