Cambourne-Cambridge Busway Public Inquiry – first hearing

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You can watch/listen to the preliminary exchanges in front of the two planning inspectors (Richard Clegg, and Geoff Underwood) who will make a recommendation to the Transport Secretary on whether to grant planning permission for the controversial busway

The substantial hearings will take place from 16 Sept 2025 for eight weeks.

The website hosting the Cambourne-Cambridge Busway Public Inquiry is here – and the core documents for the inquiry are here.

Statement of cases

You can see the statement of the cases by the County Council, and the objectors here. The latter include:

  • The Federation of Cambridge Residents Associations and affected members (incl North Newnham, and Gough Way RAs)
  • Coton Orchard,
  • Coton Busway Action Group (whose extensive submission is worth reading, reflecting the almost decade-long experience they have had monitoring, scrutinising, and questioning the proposals)
  • East West Rail Co Ltd
  • Friends of the Cam
  • Council for the Protection of Rural England
  • Clare Hall (Cambridge Uni)
  • Woodland Trust

Browsing through the objections, although I’ve listed the institutional objections above, do have a look at the submissions from individuals too. Just because an institution or group has a prominent name (and thus access to professional support) does not automatically mean theirs will be the strongest case.

“The GCP’s Funding Statement puts the total anticipated costs of their off-road CtoC busway route at £192,284,900’ 1 with benefits being tied mainly to time savings. However, the Benefit–Cost raHo (BCR), as estimated by the GCP themselves indicates it is poor value for money.”

Above – Coton Busway Action Group (2025) Statement of Case, p20

Having a listen through the hearings, I also noted the following:

Peter Freeman of the Cambridge Growth Company will be called up as a witness by the barrister for Cambridgeshire County Council.

The Greater Cambridge Partnership won’t be represented, but their component institutions are. Have a listen to the exchanges with Mr Neil Cameron KC representing Cambridgeshire County Council trying to explain the tangle of local government structures to the planning inspectors! (And also Alison Melton, special adviser to the Mayor of the Combined Authority explaining the role of the recently-elected Mayor, who Ms Melton confirmed will be objecting on a number of grounds).

It looks like barrister Jack Parker will be representing Cambridge Past, Present, and Future, and Coton Parish Council. Mr Parker said that Edward Leigh, formerly of the Smarter Cambridge Transport campaign (and a civil engineer by profession) will also be one of the witnesses being called by Cambridge PPF. James Littlewood of Cambridge PPF will also be giving evidence too.

East West Rail are being represented – and have stated they are in negotiations with the county council and are close to agreement. Their objection is because the current busway plans cut across the proposed route between Bedford and Cambridge. It remains to be seen what solution if any they come to.

The agenda (which you can see here) covered:

  1. Introductions: Panel of Inspectors, Programme Officers, Others
    present: conduct of the meeting
  2. Scope of the proposals, including proposed amendments
  3. Main considerations and other matters
  4. Participation in the inquiry
  5. The form of the inquiry
  6. Timetable
  7. Inquiry venue
  8. Documentation
  9. Site visits
  10. Costs
  11. Any other procedural matters

“Doesn’t sound particularly exciting…”

It shouldn’t – it’s a preliminary hearing/meeting. And it’s not blockbuster viewing or listening either. It sounds dull and boring – but then unless you’re familiar with what’s being discussed, it’s almost inevitable that it will. That’s the nature of detailed scrutiny: When you are well-versed in the content of what is being discussed, it’s a very intense experience because you have to concentrate for expended periods of time. To everyone else, it’s a word salad.

That’s why having a properly functioning and resourced local media network is ever so important. These meetings need paid professionals to turn hours upon hours of exchanges into something that the general public will understand and make sense of. By that I mean that they will be able to work out how all of this might affect them either way.

It’s going to be a very long eight weeks ahead of us this autumn!

Food for thought?

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: