The campaign group says it will oppose the application for a new busway that only covers half of the originally-proposed route
At Rail Future East’s annual Cambridge meeting, Peter Westlake confirmed that the campaign group will be opposing the application to the Transport Secretary for approval for a new busway as part of the ‘CSET” project.
Have a read of Peter Wakefield’s article here from p16 – and note that Rail Future East intend to challenge the application to the Transport Secretary for a ‘halfway-house road-for-buses’ option [i.e. CSET] that both Mr Wakefield and I tabled a number of public questions to the GCP in recent months.
Above – Rail Future East Newsletter Dec 2024 from p16
I wrote about this in an earlier blogpost having gone as far as I can in trying to persuade local politicians to support the proposals to re-open the Cambridge-Haverhill link. So I will be following this with interest.
At the annual Cambridge meeting of Rail Future East at the Clayton Hotel by the railway station, a larger-than-usual crowd braved the high winds to listen to Cllr Thornburrow and (after I left) the speaker from Thameslink. (Brain fog combined with never having used Thameslink services and unlikely to in the future were the reasons for heading home early).
The welcome return of proper longer term strategic planning
Cllr Katie Thornburrow said in her presentation (see part 1 here) the new government has already indicated it will bring back the function of strategic planning – abolished by the Conservatives (a move strongly criticised by Peter Studdert, former Chief Planner at Cambridge City Council in a show on Cambridge 105 – now Cambridge Radio), which was welcomed by the audience.
Tram-tastic!
Cllr Thornburrow also mentioned that trams and light rail would have to be considered in an expanded Cambridge – restating what Cllr Anna Smith, the Chair of the Combined Authority’s Transport Committee confirmed in a PQ response recently. Furthermore, the Mayor of the CPCA Nik Johnson dropped a very heavy hint that trams and light rail will be part of his plans (and manifesto for 2025?) going forward.
Above – Mayor Dr Nik Johnson earlier – the Tiger buses theme for on-demand buses currently serving Huntingdonshire, an historical nod to the Fen Tigers legends.
Above – the Fen Tigers on the coat of arms of Fenland District Council (See source here and also the Fen Tigers WWII historical re-enactment group that were in Cambridge last summer)
Note that Britain Remade / Create Streets which launched this Back on Track report on a new generation of tram networks is on one of the government’s advisory boards on transport.
Don’t forget Peterborough!
The former Mayor of Peterborough Nick Sandford was also in attendance and reminded the audience that Peterborough is the larger city in the CPCA area, and that county boundaries are even more of a problem for the great cathedral city.
Above – former Lib Dem Councillor in Peterborough Nick Sandford in Cambridge
I mentioned the concept of a ‘Greater Peterborough Loop’ when the Wisbech Rail item came to be discussed. (I wrote about that here). Basically the very narrow terms of reference gave Wisbech Rail’s point-to-point link to March in Cambs a very low score. Hence asking it to be incorporated into a more ambitious plan.
Above – The Greater Peterborough Loop concept. CTO Oct 2024 – where I also show how it would link to a Cambridge – Ely – Chatteris – Huntingdon loop.
“I want Cambridge to become the greatest public transport city in Europe”
Cllr Thornburrow questioned how ambitious previous generations of decision-makers were with their proposed transport plans. (Mindful that the 2014 plan pre-dates her election to Cambridge City Council). Furthermore, she reminded the audience that the Victorians were very good at building strong foundations for their railways – which means re-opening lines can be significantly cheaper than building a new line from scratch.
I said that this would mean having a local government structure that matches that ambition – something we do not have in the current system. Which is why the looming Devolution White Paper, and also the looming reviewed National Planning Policy Framework documents that are due in the next ten days, will be ever so important.
As Cllr Thornburrow said, there are a lot of things happening over the next few months that we will need to engage with. (Hence the importance of public meetings to discuss them)
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Below – talking of community conversations about the future of our city, a new cafe has opened within walking distance from where I live, and it’s open on Sundays. I’m pondering setting up an informal fortnightly or monthly afternoon discussions – see my blogpost here
The Cambridge Town Owl 