Cambridge City Council says East West Rail should build an eastern entrance to Cambridge Railway Station

Posted byCambridge Town OwlPosted inUncategorized

The City Council’s Planning and Transport Scrutiny Committee will be discussing this in two weeks time

See item 6 of the meeting papers here. If there are lots of public questions, I suggest councillors extend the amount of time people can ask them, or have the public questions held at the start of each substantive item as the GCP sometimes does.

This post follows on from my previous one looking at the Council’s Annual Monitoring Report on Housing (but which covers lots of other stuff too). In fact the report has so much stuff in it that there was no way I could fit everything into a single blogpost. The heavy lifting on housing and transport scrutiny needs some new faces to get involved, whether picking up on what’s happening in their neighbourhood, to looking at specific themes.

For example cycling and active travel infrastructure is covered by CamCycle – whose AGM is on 25 Jan 2025 at Storey’s Field. (One of my least favourite new buildings in Cambridge – and that’s saying something!) It’s open to anyone but only members can vote on the substantive motions. (*I am a member and have been for ages because in Cambridge as a child you learn to cycle and walk around the same time). ***If you want to find out what is being proposed on transport infrastructure, please go along to this.*** Also, our city desperately needs more diversity in the cohort of us that follow and scrutinise political decisions taken about our city. Basically if you are not an affluent chap over the age of 50 with a beard and a Ph.D, you’d be helping diversify that pool! (That’s not to say doctors in academia over the age of 50 are not welcome – quite the opposite given the huge wealth of info and data that needs scrutinising! It’s also diversity of lived experiences we need as well/in addition to).

Above – some of you may want to compare the vision from the late 2000s when Prof David Howarth (LD – Cambridge 2005-10) was MP for Cambridge, and compare it to where we are in the mid-2020s

In fact, a comparison between the above and where we are today would make for a useful extended school or college project for any interested teenager – one that could be presented to the council and/or local campaign groups.

Cambridge Station’s Eastern Entrance

I won’t dwell on the point as I’ve written lots before on this. The only thing that’s new is what the City Council has said (subject to approval from councillors at the meeting).

“Eastern entrance: Whilst acknowledging a proposed eastern access is not
currently in the scope of the proposals, the Council would support the further
exploration of a new eastern entrance at Cambridge Station to improve access
and accommodate increase in passenger movement.”

And

“Station design: More detail is required to show the proposals for the station and
how it will accommodate additional passengers. This should include any planned
extensions to buildings on both sides of the railway, existing and planned
entrances and access routes, proposed footbridges and lighting, cycle storage.”

And

Wider connectivity: The Councils suggest that additional connectivity should be
provided further to the south, in the vicinity of Clifton Road, to provide better
connectivity to the business and leisure uses within this area, avoiding a
circuitous route via Hills Road bridge. Two options for this stage of the route are
proposed and there are issues with both.

See Item 6 Draft Response here – noting council officers have issues with the Station Building being a listed building – not that this stopped Brookgate from bringing in their bland designs. A huge missed opportunity in my view to create a wonderful grand entrance to Cambridge.

Comments on the land between Cambridge Railway Station and Cherry Hinton Village

Passenger and public safety – especially for women, stands out.

“Women’s specific safety and accessibility needs was overlooked in the fact sheets, missing a chance to improve their travel experience. Future consultations should actively engage women and focus on human-centric design – women are one of the largest groups of public transport users, who face well-known barriers such as station lighting, safe night-time use of public transport, and public toilet provision.”

Above – Cambridge City Council Item 6 p10 P&T Cttee 15 Jan 2025

I’m generally of the view that if it’s not safe for women, it’s not safe for the rest of us. Therefore any design and access improvements that can be made will also benefit the rest of us too. Given the proximity to the staff overnight accommodation buildings which will be on the Coleridge / Eastern side, things like a small cafe with extended opening hours, and a small convenience store on the eastern side could make a huge difference when you consider the number of people likely to be returning from London on late night trains. (I was one of the back in the day – there will be more than enough people who would welcome a small convenience store that could stay open until midnight!)

A new station for the Cambridge Airport Site?

“Cambridge East station: The proposal for a train turnback to the East of the City
creates a potential opportunity for a new station in the vicinity of the Cambridge
Airport proposed site allocation (Cambridge East) which could have a
transformative impact on connectivity to and from this area of the city.”

This aligns with my recommendation for a second urban centre for Cambridge which I wrote about here. My proposed design starting point for a new railway station entrance and exit looks something like this:

Above – as I mentioned in this tweet, I’d want the entrance to the railway station to look something like this in Budapest, Hungary. i.e. not Network Rail’s ‘minimum viable product’

Above – from Network Rail in July 2024. If we have the above, then we’ll get a couple of H-blocks. One “H” being horizontal for the two platforms either side of the railway line with a bridge crossing it, and an upright vertical one for lifts and stairs.

Fortunately, Network Rail has since been abolished and replaced by Great British Rail. (Or is in the process anyway).

Above – GBR’s new transition team

Therefore I fully expect the design and build of any new station to be ***Fuckin’ Great!!!!*** (as Al Murray’s Pub Landlord character tries to explain here!) and the place to be utterly awe-inspiring as part of the masterpiece for a second urban centre.

There are a host of issues relating to Coldham’s Lane and Cherry Hinton.

Above – I wrote about Rail Future East’s proposals in light of the planning approval for a new sci-tech park just south of the airport.

Furthermore, given that the proposals from East West Rail involve work around the chord below that heads out to Newmarket (bottom left of the photograph), now is the time to build a new station here to serve the RailPen-backed Beehive Redevelopment.

Above – on why The Beehive Centre needs a new railway station

The AMR data from Cambridge City Council 2023/24

See Item 6 Appendix 2

The annoying thing about all of the tables is that this is a PDF report – the data isn’t in a format where users can process it. (.csv or xlsx files)

Above – Item 6 app2 p118

“Traffic flows have been monitored comprehensively in Cambridge since 1978 using two screenlines. The first screenline runs along the River Cam, with vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists crossing all bridges in the city centre being counted in the spring of each year. The second screenline is a radial cordon, with vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists on every entry and exit route counted in the autumn. Seven sites are also monitored to count cyclists and pedestrians on paths between the radial routes.”

Cambridgeshire Insight 2019 p5

There is a huge amount of historical data on traffic waiting to be crunched, analysed, and reported on. Actually, it would be better for the councils and Cambs Insight to create a website aimed at providing raw data for schools and colleges to use with their pupils & students so they can use the statistics based on where they live rather than trying to make things up or using theoretical/made up case studies.

Table a public question to your councillors

Seen anything interesting that you want to discuss with local councillors and/or potential candidates for the elections coming up in May 2025? See City Council guidance on tabling public questions. And also https://whocanivotefor.co.uk/

I’m tempted to ask about a new railway station at Coldham’s Lane Bridge and ask the Council to amend their draft report recommending that East West Rail negotiate with RailPen to get a contribution towards building a new station there.

There are a host of other things that could be included including:

If you are interested in the longer term future of Cambridge, and on what happens at the local democracy meetings where decisions are made, feel free to: