Tuesday 23 September, 18.30, Histon Baptist Church there is a public meeting with senior county council officers to discuss safety measures being implemented along the busway.

There has been extensive public discussion about these measures.

To date I don’t think the county council has effectively communicated what it is doing to residents of communities affected by the busway. Tuesday is an opportunity to set that right and begin a process of open dialogue.

The reason for the safety measures is that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is making it very clear that it requires significant safety improvements along the busway. The HSE is not responsible for roads and public highways so they are treated very differently.

The HSE is an organisation with extraordinary powers. It can close a factory or business down overnight with no opportunity for recourse. It can bring a criminal prosecution against county council officers such as the CEO and Executive Directors consequently the council needs to act to avoid the busway being shut down over night and senior council staff being in a position where they could be sent to prison.

That said the way the HSE operates is incredibly challenging. It will not specify what it wants done for safety, the county council has asked. The HSE expects the county council to work out what the necessary measures for the safe operation of the busway are. That said the HSE has made it clear that it objects to members of the public walking across the busway tracks, it’s last enforcement notice included a photo of someone crossing the busway tracks and saying action needed to be taken by early October.

It is worth noting that under previous chief executives at the county council before 2021 there was a culture of ignoring HSE directives and that is in part why the county council was prosecuted in the high court by the HSE this spring. Furthermore had the county council fully recognised how the HSE operates it would have designed the busway and maintenance track differently.

Community Power and what we can do to challenge county council decisions

Where our power as a community lies is that faced with the overarching power of an organisation as strong as the HSE the council is always likely to over compensate in terms of safety and go further than it needs to. We as a community have an opportunity to demonstrate what matters to us about the busway and how important things like crossing points are.

On Tuesday we will have the first of 3 community meetings about this and there will be an opportunity to listen, ask questions and to speak about how important certain aspects of the busway are to the good health of the community. We have an opportunity to make a case to the county council. If you feel strongly about this please attend.

nb. this meeting has been arranged at incredibly short notice due to the urgency of the issue.