New Transport Strategy for Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire

The County Council is preparing a new Transport Strategy for Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire in parallel with the South Cambridgeshire and the Cambridge Local Plans. The draft strategy is looking at ways to improve transport in Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire up to 2031, and affects the viability of the proposed Bourn Airfield Development.

 

The strategy plans to cope with the rising population and increase in demand on the travel network by shifting people from their cars to use public transport and to cycle and walk. This is a risky strategy that in my view, could back fire spectacularly as it seeks to control people’s travel habit through various restrictions.

The County council acknowledges that the Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire area is a popular area to live and work and forecasts that significant growth in jobs and homes is set to continue over the next twenty years.

 

Transport strategy for Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire

The road network in the sub region is already very busy and to accommodate future growth, the council states that “many more journeys will need to be made by bus, train, bike and on foot”. The question here is, “how does the council intend to force residents to use these alternative modes of transport?”.

 

The Local Plans provide for 22,000 jobs and 14,000 homes in Cambridge between 2011 and 2031, and 22,000 jobs and 19,000 homes for South Cambridgeshire over the same period. Modelling work was carried out to assess the impact of the additional homes on the expected traffic pattern in the area and the result is published in the Draft Transport Strategy document.

 

According to the report, the modelling work has been carried out in three phases. Model tests were carried out initially assuming only committed transport investment is undertaken (including upgrading the A14 and Cambridge Science Park station). Further tests investigated the improvements which could be made by using a focused series of transport improvements. The measures tested included improvements to the A428, access controls on the Cambridge Ring Road, a major increase in cycle provision, bus priority measures and busways, additional Park & Ride sites, and improvements to rail services.

 

The focus of the transport strategy for cambridge and south cambridgeshire is as follows:

• More journeys to be made by bus, train, bike and on foot so that traffic levels aren’t increased.
• Extra capacity for traffic to travel round the outskirts of Cambridge, so that road space into and across the city can be prioritised for buses, cyclists and pedestrians
• Additional park and ride options on the fringes of Cambridge, to minimise the amount of unnecessary traffic travelling through the city.
• Ensuring public transport, cycling and walking are the best ways of getting around and across the area, since they will be quicker and more convenient than by car.
• Reducing car traffic by using a variety of techniques, which may mean limiting the available road space for cars.
• Enabling people to use public transport for at least some of their journey into Cambridge or surrounding towns, by creating a frequent, quality service across major routes.
• Developing local transport solutions with communities, which link to public transport along key routes

The transport strategy is illustrated in the diagram below:

 

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All sounds very good in theory, but experience shows that theory and practice are different altogether, and despite similar measures already in place, traffic into and out of Cambridge at peak times of the day continues to be a nightmare.

 

My concern with the strategy is that it is focusing on how travel habits will need to change, rather than on providing the capacity to cater for the increase in traffic. So, if travel habits do not change, the road infrastructure in particular will not be able to cope. It is bad enough as it is now, let alone with the additional thousands of houses being proposed. The modelling figures on which the whole strategy is based is shown in the graphs below:

 

 

The graphs show that the strategy assumes that increase in car use will be small, perhaps only about 10% more by 2031 than in 2001. Cycling and working from home are projected to increase significantly, thereby reducing the need for car journeys.  As some say “what planet are the architects of these proposals on?”

 

You can read more about the strategy and the proposals on the county council website.

 

Transport Strategy for Bourn Airfield Development

It is shocking that the evidence on which the strategy is based is so flawed. It is inconceivable that the new settlements will work or be viable without proper transport links. It is even more so with respect to the Bourn Airfield Development where the Madingley Park and Ride site on the western edge of Cambridge, is on the city side of the M11, and where Madingley Rise is the only link to it, and is already a very congested road at peak times.

 

The specific transport improvement proposals for Bourn Airfield Development are:

• A segregated bus link from Cambourne to Bourn Airfield Development across the Broadway, and on through the development to the junction of the St Neots Road with Highfields Road
• Any measures necessary to ensure that a bus journey between Highfields Caldecote and the junction of the A428 and the A1303 is direct and unaffected by any congestion suffered by general traffic
• High quality segregated inbound bus priority measures on Madingley Road between the M11 and Queens Road in Cambridge, complementing the works on Madingley Rise between the A428 and the M11.
• Potentially incorporate a Park and Ride facility for the A428 corridor
• A network of attractive, direct, safe and convenient walking and cycling routes linking homes to public transport and the main areas of activity such as the village centre, schools and employment areas
• Direct, segregated high quality pedestrian and cycle links to west Cambridge, Cambourne, Highfields Caldecote, Hardwick and Bourn
• A Smarter Choices package including residential, school and workplace travel planning (whatever that means!)

 

The proposals to mitigate the current problem on Madingley Rise are:

“high quality segregated bus priority measures on the A1303 between its junction with the A428 and Queens Road, Cambridge“, in a timescale defined as short/medium.

“A Park & Ride site accessed from the A428, to take advantage of the bus priority measures on the A1303 St Neots Road between the A428 and the M11“, in a timescale defined as medium/long. This is the same Park and Ride that the South Cambridgeshire Plan document refers to as “potential” rather than a definite. Which one are we to believe?

 

Note the order in which the two are put – first squeeze the motorist off the road, then provide the buses at a later date. Segregated bus priority measures on Madingley Rise? What measures – there isn’t any now, and there is no space to put any “segregated bus lanes” along the entire length of the route right up to Queens Road.

 

Reality is that the problem will first get worse as queues on Madingley Rise which already start from the A428 approach to Madingley Mulch will only get longer and back up the A428 and the Hardwick road. But I suppose the “any measures” to ensure free flowing traffic from the new developments to Madingley Mulch will have kicked in?.

 

Oh no, I don’t think so, as the transport document states “any measures necessary to ensure that a bus journey between Highfields and the junction of the A428 and the A1303 is direct and unaffected by any congestion suffered by general traffic“, in a timescale described as medium/long. This is a road journey that currently does not suffer any congestion anyway. Go figure!!

 

Bourn Airfield Development is already shown to be at severe risk and unviable with the mickey-mouse proposals on in the draft transport strategy document. There are no plans to improve the road infrastructure, and the source of funding for these schemes is also unclear.

 

Word on the street is that the Government is giving just £14.1m for major transport schemes in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough for the period 2015-19. This is lower than the £21m the Cambridge & Peterborough Local Transport Board (LTB) had asked for and which would have paid for the Madingley Rise bus priority scheme. In response to the shortfall the LTB met on 17 July and decided to put Madingley Rise bus priority scheme together with the Chisholm Cycle Route on the back burner, and try to fund them from elsewhere.

 

As it turns out the cycle route will now be funded by the Government from a different pot, whilst the Madingley Rise scheme may now be expected to be funded by the proposed West Cambourne and Bourn Airfield Developments through S106 agreements. The potential park and ride on the A428 corridor is also unlikely to happen without significant funding.

 

If, as we have seen from the Vision Document from the promoters of Bourn Airfield Development, they do not see that any major infrastructure needs to be put in place before houses are built, therefore getting the necessary S106 or CIL out of them may be akin to trying to draw water from a stone.

 

What do you think of the transport strategy?

The draft Transport Strategy for Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire is out for consultation now. It is being undertaken alongside the consultations that Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire councils are currently carrying out on our respective draft local plans.

 

The councils say they want to hear from you, and would welcome your views and opinions (not that anyone believes that anymore!). Officers from the County are attending as many local plan exhibitions during the summer as possible, subject to resources. So, go along and ask all those difficult questions that you want answers to. The dates in September for the local plan exhibitions are as previously published.

 

The deadline for submission of comments on the transport strategy for Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire is 5pm on Monday 30th September 2013. The strategy affects the viability of Bourn Airfield Development massively so make sure you send in your comments.

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