Plans have been submitted for a major redevelopment of the Bell Language School on Red Cross Lane. The plans begin with the construction of a two/three storey building with up to 100 student accommodation rooms, on the west side of the site backing on to housing in Greenlands. Further phases will see another two/three storey building with 100 more student accommodation rooms, this time more centrally located in the site, and a new administration building ‘over three storeys’ on Red Cross Lane. There will also be extensions for academic buildings and a dining room, again in the centre of the site.
Car parking spaces will rise from 61 to 75, while cycle parking spaces will rise from 60 to 144. The six-bedroom house at no.7 Red Cross Lane, currently in use as student accommodation, will be one of the buildings to be demolished.
These plans have been in the offing for a long time ? a ‘pre-application submission’ was made in early 2016, and a public consultation meeting was held in March last year.
Where can I find out more?
Full documentation is on the Cambridge City Council planning applications website here. The main documents to look at are the four listed as “Design and Access Statement”.
Can I make a comment?
Yes ? you have until Tuesday 5 February and the best place is to do it on the planning applications website here. Alternatively, email the case officer Patricia Coyle at patricia.coyle@cambridge.gov.uk
I am horrified to think that 200 more students are going to live in the area. Do not missunderstand me. I love young people, but 75 more cars and 125 more bykes in the area…Is anybody able to tell me when all this nonsense is going to finish?Will we have enough water and waste facilities to accommodate this number of people?
In reply to Celia Milstein?s comments
Why is she ? horrified ? to think of 200 more students living in this area ?
The Bell School is a well established language school and has been on this site for well over 40 years
There have always been students of the Bell living in this area
The new facilities will provide excellent on site accommodation for them and I?m sure as they are language students not many of them will have cars
Just be thankful that there is provision for parking as I can imagine it is a nightmare for staff of the Bell and at least they won?t be parking in the side roads
And cyclists ? What is the problem there ?
Surely we should be pushing to reduce the number of car parking places. More parking equals more traffic, equals more pollution. It is very close to the Addenbrookes bus station, a P+R site and easy cycling. The Neighbouring streets are already parked up with Addenbrookes staff, so they can’t get worse. Students shouldn’t need cars..
The parking spaces are not for hospital staff they are for Bell school staff and will be on the premises of the Bell School
Also it is not 75 more spaces . It is an increase from 61 to 75 which equals spaces for 14 more cars . Maybe the Bell School will include an electric charging point also in the plan .
I think 144 spaces for bicycles is more than adequate as I know the foreign language students are not encouraged to hire bicycles unless they have experience of riding a bicycle due to the lack of knowledge of our roads and accidents in the past .
They are all advised of the bus routes and are frequent users of the buses from the hospital site.
it’s entirely relevant to question the compatibility of the Bell School expansion from a traffic perspective, given the County Council’s specific intention to promote Red Cross Lane as a safe cycling route to the Biomedical Campus; and more generally the increased numbers of cyclists who will be approaching the city from the expanded cycle parking at Babraham Road P&R. The Design and Access statement in the Bell School application acknowledges the high number of taxi collections/drop offs to the site, and the Red Cross Lane/Hills Road junction is an acknowledged accident site.
I also feel extremely sorry for the residents of 2 Babraham Road. Again the D&A statement says Bell wish to “Concentrate maintenance and storage facilities in one location”. I’m sure that makes sense for them but unfortunately that location is hard up against the boundary of No 2.
Finally, in an area already subject to extreme densification, any proposed development which will place additional pressure on local resources, including road space and green space, has to be examined on its merits. The fact that Bell can make money from expanding is not per se a justification for accepting the proposal.