We had a hint that two new multistorey car parks were being planned, but I didn’t assume the designers would go for a particularly hideous design for a facility that will become obsolete within a decade of completion.
TL/DR? Have your say here – closing date 29 May 2025
I first wrote about this back in January 2025. Since then, the website https://cambridgeretailpark-future.com/ has been updated to show us how ‘orrible their car parks will be.
A car park so ugly and hideous they cannot bear to call it a car park on their diagram.
Above – from RailPen’s consultation page. Scroll down and you can find their exhibition boards
“I didn’t know they had an exhibition!”
Yes you did.
“No we didn’t!”
The delights of publishing but not publicising things to where the wider public can spot them? Sounds familiar. Similar with the Kett House / Station Road monster block, the time between when the event is announced to when the event takes place makes it impossible for most residents to plan in advance. All too often the public has to drop everything in order to make their views (all too often ignored), known.
“Is it all bad news?”
Actually, it isn’t – and this is despite RailPen’s “disgraceful” behaviour with the Beehive application in getting a minister to call in the application before the city council had the chance to even consider it.
The display boards show there are a host of opportunities to try some really imaginative and innovative things in terms of public art, children’s play areas, safe spaces for teenagers and the public, and more.
Existing tenancy agreements mean there are some limitations on what types of businesses can locate on the site. If ministers want competitive markets, they should ban such exclusivity clauses that prevents competitors from establishing new businesses, because the principle of competition should benefit the general public as firms compete on both price and customer service.
Above – from RailPen – note the exclusivity clauses and also the existing contractual requirements to provide free parking spaces
Above – note the existing limitations on what can be built because of the previous industrial and waste disposal use of the site
Above – Coldham’s Lane (white-and-orange-dashed line) with the main railway line and junction of the Cambridge-Newmarket railway, dated 1956. National Library of Scotland
You can see the pits from the old brick and tile works – which were later used for landfill. Hence the limitations on what can be built on the land.
Above – via Britain from above, the Cambridge Pumping Station with the big chimney in the foreground (now the Cambridge Museum of Technology), the old Cambridge town gas works, and on the other side of the then tree-lined Newmarket Road (at least they made the effort!) the old brickworks. Top-right of the photo you can see the ramp leading up to the road bridge over Coldham’s Lane. You can explore more of the photos from the area in Britain from above here.
I hope Peter Freeman intervenes and insists that a new rail station is built – or at least land is set aside for it with a financial contribution towards its construction
Above – you can see the transport plan map – and also the cul-de-sac where the Silverwood Close residents live.
As I mentioned in that earlier blogpost, the image looks southwards at the top, and northwards at the bottom. A rail station over the Coldham’s Lane Bridge could (in principle) provide for four exits. These are:
- North Romsey (residential area – top left of the photo)
- The Beehive Centre (sci-tech park proposals, around 5,000 employees anticipated plus any local residents and visitors using their facilities – top right of the photo)
- The Coral Park Trading Estate and Cambridge Retail Park – depending also on what the land owners might do if such a station were built – as this could substantially increase the land value – bottom right of the photo)
- The Centre for Computing History – which is one of Cambridge’s hidden gems, (bottom left of the photo)
The Chisholm Trail cycleway diverts from alongside the railway line under its current design but there may be a chance the developers might be able to make some more land available.
Their construction timeline is ambitious
Above – the timeline from the display boards (scroll down)
One of the reasons why I think it’s ambitious is because so many other medium-to-large building projects in and around Cambridge are having to re-plan their construction phasing because of inflation with construction materials (on which the Government publishes industry statistics on a monthly basis), and the chronic skills shortages in the building industry.
Anyway, I’ll leave it there before I fall down an internet wormhole on the construction industry. Have your say at https://cambridgeretailpark-future.com/feedback/
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The Cambridge Town Owl 