The start of the statutory process at the end of which the Transport Secretary will decide whether to authorise the construction of the C-2-C busway, has begun
- Read this guide on what it involves
- Read this if you want to comment on the proposals
- Wade through the documents library if here if you want the details
And it’s not cheap.
Above – from the estimated costs (which you can probably double if not treble given past form!)
“Forty-million-smackeroonies for advisers?!?! (20% of the costs). How much would it have been if it had been done by a ‘Great Cambridge’ unitary council with an expert & empowered in-house team like in the olden days?”
“What are the legally valid grounds for objecting to the application?”
I was hoping someone could tell me that because ‘It’s cr@p’ is not a legally valid reason for a Transport Secretary to dismiss/block an application under the Transport and Works Act 1992, and if a minister tried such a thing they would be judicially reviewed (and rightly so).
I’m hoping that other campaigning organisations will be able to find the words and other grounds to object to the proposals (And thus force the issue on the Cambridge Connect light rail alternative)
‘We don’t like more buses, we do like the Cambridge underground light rail’
What I wrote about the proposals back in October 2016 – over eight years ago.
“The Smarter Cambridge Transport campaign has done an in-depth article on buses – see http://www.smartertransport.uk/buses/. In a nutshell the city centre is now too crowded – especially at peak times – to cope with more buses. Or rather that was the feeling coming from the room. There was however strong support for the principles of Dr Colin Harris’ idea of a light rail for Cambridge that has a main line that goes underground.”
Above – following a meeting in October 2016 about the proposed busway.
I also filmed a video a couple of months earlier on what is lacking in terms of a ‘Cambridge Vision’.
Above – Me with hair. Cambridge future vision problems. 11 Aug 2016
Eight years later, have we made any progress in solving the problems I highlighted? (If so, which ones, and how much? And which ones have gotten worse?)
“The leisure offer for the city has stagnated in contrast to the city’s population”
Me on 11 Aug 2016 – highlighting the Cambridgeshire Horizon’s Major Sports Facilities Strategy
We got the Ice Rink – but then that was a solution (the funding was there) looking for a site. Does Cambridge City’s new ground at Sawston count given that there is no regular public transport to/from the site?
As for the rowing lake and the swimming pool….exactly.
“What happens to the buses when they hit Grange Road?”
This problem never went away. Furthermore, the Independent Audit of the proposed busway raised it as an issue and it has not been dealt with.
“[The CBC proposals offer] no solution apart from the City Access program of soft measures to restrict on-street parking and reallocate road space to active travel. The assumption is that these measures will be enough to enhance bus speeds and provide more reliable journey times across the city. However, no detailed modelling of the likely impact has been conducted so it remains uncertain whether bus accessibility will improve.
“The OBC [Outline Business Case] recognises the need to access the fringe employment site at the Science Park and Cambridge BioMedical Campus and proposes a pattern of orbital bus services to serve these sites. from the Park and Ride sites at Madingley Road and Scotland Farm via the M11 and A428 as well as connections in the City Centre. These constraints remain valid for the C2C scheme and only weak remedies are proffered at this stage.”
Above – just incase you missed it first time around… p21 of the Independent Audit of the C2C Busway 2021
That unresolved issue – now in the court of the Combined Authority, is the main substantive reason I can think of for opposing the proposed application.
Any thoughts?
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The Cambridge Town Owl 