I’m not sure what the Better Beehive Campaign are going to make of this proposal given their campaigning on the proposals for the Beehive redevelopment on the other side of Coldham’s Lane, but it feels like a missed opportunity to get a new station at Coldham’s Lane built
This follows on from my previous blogpost about a town planning conference where Peter Freeman of the Cambridge Development Corporation spoke. I asked the city council if I could sit in on a public online meeting where RailPEN published their first proposals to enable councillors to give their first impressions. Given my fun and games being ADHD/ND+ having to sit still and not ask questions was a bit of a challenge given my sleepless night last night.
The proposals will be published by RailPEN shortly – most likely on their website at https://cambridgeretailpark-future.com/the-site/ – so the public will get to respond. I can’t help but think that if it is built, it won’t last long and the structure will have to be retrofitted into something else because ministers are due to ban the sale of new fossil-fuelled motor cars in 2035. There are not enough minerals on the planet to get a 1-4-1- replacement of petrol cars with electric cars as it is. Hence why I think there’s a huge missed opportunity regarding Coldham’s Lane Bridge.
Back in July 2023 I wrote how the Beehive Centre redevelopment plans needed a suburban or light rail station at Coldham’s Lane Bridge to serve it. Now that we have a firm idea of what is proposed for the retail park site on the other side of Coldham’s Lane, the case for a new station feels stronger. This is also where councillors in their regular meetings with ministers and civil servants on the future of our city, really should make the case to the Department for Transport and ask them to convene the necessary meetings (ideally chaired by a minister) to facilitate these improvements.
There were lots of low-res diagrams but I won’t populate this blogpost with them – rather I’ll wait until the developer publishes them instead.
Above – you can see the squares labelled 1 and 2 are for Asda and a ‘Northern multi-storey car park’. There is an additional Southern multi-storey car park at 6, just above a proposed apart hotel at 7 bottom centre, with three of the major commercial tenants at the Beehive moving over subject to commercial negotiations.
My preference would be to have an airport-style ‘travellator’ (horizontal escalator) between the supermarket and the station where the two rail lines meet. This is assuming that you couldn’t build a supermarket that had a direct exit to a railway platform. Anyone who might otherwise choose to drive in can use a ‘park and rail’ along the proposed upgraded Cambridge-Newmarket line. For those with mobility limitations, keep a smaller surface-level car park on the ground floor and use the upper floors for something else. Even student accommodation!
The reason why this has all come to a head is because of the East West Rail consultation. Now that the Transport Secretary has signed off the land designations, any new planning proposals that cover land within the areas in red will need agreement with East West Rail. Inevitably that involves Coldham’s Lane Bridge below
Above – from EWR’s interactive map
I put this point to Cambridge City Council earlier this week – see this blogpost.
There have been stronger criticisms from South Cambridgeshire District Council – see their meeting papers here and the video of the debate here. As Cllr Brian Milnes stated, there is a lot of pain but not much gain for the villages which the route passes through.
Cambridgeshire County Council will be discussing the same project on 21 Jan – and you can see their meeting papers here. As well as concerns on environmental impacts, the county council has called for a new Cambridge East Station to be incorporated into the East West Rail programme of works. Chances are this will happen if the Combined Authority or Cambridge City Council can stump up the cash via a developer contribution or three. But they need to start talking to each other and the science park freeholders soon.
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