Category: Local Issues

The GCP has come up with six new road classifications, and made a recommendation of how these could be applied across the city. Some could profoundly change the characteristics of neighbourhoods in Queen Edith’s.

At the start of the 20th century, most of Queen Edith’s was countryside. The north-western corner around Rock Road was the only real built-up area. Over a hundred years later, much of the area is showing the strain of its vintage.

In this last of my five part series on the streets and transport, I’d like to bring you an update on where we are with the City Deal, because things have changed even since Monday. Thursday evening saw a meeting of the City Deal ‘Executive Board’, and the main item on the agenda was to decide on the next stage of the “A428 Cambourne to Cambridge Better Bus Journeys” scheme. Bear with me if you think this hasn’t got much to do with Queen Edith’s. As I mentioned before, they’ll be turning their attention to the A1307 Babraham Road soon, so forewarned is forearmed.

In a City with such skills, abilities and wealth at hand, a practical futuristic vision should be deliverable. Tim Moore explains.

Was there ever an initiative in Cambridge that united so many disparate groups of people against it, for so many different reasons?

Ever thought you’d like to see improvements to local streets, and said to yourself: “We’d chip in towards that ourselves if we had the chance”? Actually, you can.

Get ready for five daily blogs on transport this week, starting with this personal view of what the City Deal is trying to do. It’s not very encouraging so far. But see what you think.

The following information has been sent to me by local resident Ken Hart, a member of a long-established group called South Cambridgeshire Against Marshall’s (SCAM), who thought that an update on their activities might be of interest. Ken says: “Cambridge Airport recently boasted the completion and use of its second passenger terminal. The original passenger

I don’t think many people are aware of how much building and development is brewing in our area. Two events in the next fortnight will shed light on what’s happening.

Going out of the city, traffic will soon be invited to speed up just as it approaches Cherry Hinton Hall Park and the alleyway opposite, an area where children are frequently crossing.

In the latest example of “Quick ? there’s a space ? let’s build on it!”, competing parties have their eyes on the plaza in the centre of the Leisure Park. First out of the blocks, in the black corner, are the owners of the site, X-Leisure (themselves owned by Land Securities), who want to build a new restaurant building between the Travelodge and The Light Cinema.

Smarter Cambridge Transport is asking for a six-month trial of city-wide neighbourhood parking schemes, allowing local communities to choose the most suitable parking controls for each area. Support its request by signing the petition at the Cambridgeshire County Council website.

Monday night’s council “South Area Committee” meeting heard what the Cambridge News described as a “blistering attack” on many local transport initiatives by Stagecoach bus chief Andy Campbell.

Car parking is a growing problem in several parts of Queen Edith’s, most notably in the roads nearest to Addenbrooke’s and in the roads opposite Hills Road Sixth Form College. In Rathmore Road, Hartington Grove, Marshall Road and Blinco Grove, pavements are regularly blocked and gridlock can ensue as two-way traffic tries to fit into a single carriageway. One solution might be a residents’ parking scheme.

As part of the Greater Cambridge City Deal, this junction is being examined for improvements, and the views of residents and users are being sought.

It’s clear then that the proposed extension of the Biomedical Campus is not good news for wildlife. But according to Aidan Van de Weyer of the South Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats, “No one has demonstrated that there is any demand for the development of this land, let alone made a case that benefits of development would outweigh the damage that it would cause.”

Our streetlights may remain on overnight, after the city council has stepped in and proposed to cover the cost.

We may not have a village centre, or signs naming our part of the city, and we may not even be represented by the city’s MP, but I’d like to think Queen Edith’s is steadily continuing to develop more of a character as it grows in importance.

The County Council’s has granted us a consultation survey on the proposed streetlight switch-off. But there are still many questions to be answered, and many serious objections to the plan.

This is an exciting time in the development of our city, and if you’d like to take part, there are opportunities to do so.

Cambridgeshire County Council seems determined to press ahead with its plan to turn off the county’s streetlights after midnight. Here’s what residents were told at Monday night’s City Council South Area Committee meeting.

It was probably the best-attended South Area Committee meeting for a long time. Here’s what the council officer and contractors had to tell local residents about the cycleway saga.

The first ever Queen Edith’s Community Action Morning was considered a big success. Here are some photos!

A small, single storey house on Worts’ Causeway has been bought by a local property developer and plans submitted to replace it with two 4-bedroomed, 3-storey houses.