The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) want to build an off-road busway from Cambourne to Cambridge (C2C), at an estimated cost of at least £230 million.

We want to see public transport solutions and a better C2C bus service. But the GCP's off-road scheme will not provide a solution or a good service.

The proposed route will cut through Green Belt land and an ancient orchard. It will irreversibly damage landscape, views and habitats.

But there is a viable, cost-effective, alternative route, which:
  • is much less damaging to the environment
  • is far less expensive
  • offers better journeys to most key destinations.

On 21st March 2023, Cambridge County Councillors voted to approve the Greater Cambridge Partnership’s application for a Transport and Works Act Order (TWAO) for the C2C Busway scheme. Once the GCP have submitting their application to the Department for Transport this summer, this will trigger a public inquiry.

With Cambridge Past, Present & Future and an alliance of other organisations, we are raising funds to pay for independent experts and legal representation at the public inquiry.

This is not a done deal.

The on-road alternative will
cause minimal environmental damage
save millions of pounds and
provide more direct journeys
to most key destinations.  


Latest news – council applies for TWAO

On 12th November 2024, Cambridgeshire County Council submitted their application for a Transport and Works Act Order (TWAO) to the Secretary of State for Transport  for authorisation to construct the GCP’s C2C busway scheme.

The TWAO, among other things, grants planning permission and gives powers to compulsorily purchase land owned by those who oppose the scheme. 

The notice of application details the conditions for objections and representations, and we are currently consulting with Coton Parish Council, Cambridge Past, Present & Future (CPPF)  and other groups about our submissions. We are advised that a few, strong, well constructed objections from key stakeholders and institutions as well as high-profile supporters are likely to be more effective than a large number of objections from the general public. 

Importantly, it is a requirement of the process that these objections trigger a public inquiry. 

This is therefore not a done deal. With an alliance of other organisations, we are raising funds to pay for independent experts and legal representation at the public inquiry. This is likely to be held in the early part of next year.

We have now reached a critical stage in this campaign. We have raised significant funds to pay for independent experts and legal representation at the public inquiry – but we do need more.

Please support our campaign by 

You can help!

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What our supporters are saying

"You can put a bus route anywhere you like, but you can’t mitigate for cutting down hundreds of trees like this."
Chris Packham on ITV News

“The threat to the historic orchard at Coton is a sign that the urge among planners in the country to override environmental concerns in order to promote GDP growth remains undiminished.”
Sir Partha Dasgupta GBE FRS FBA Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Cambridge

“The National Trust continues to object to the proposal for an off-road busway between Madingley Mulch and Cambridge city centre because of its impact on a valued landscape which has intrinsic visual, historic and cultural significance, and which is fundamental to preserving the setting and special character of the historic city of Cambridge in accordance with its Green Belt purpose.”
The National Trust

"The open green spaces of Cambridge need protection."
Sir David Attenborough

"These ecosystems are developed over many many decades, and you can’t replant your way out of this kind of destruction."
Joel Ashton, wildlife gardnening expert and TV presenter

"Leave Coton Orchard alone!"
Iolo Williams, wildlife expert and TV presenter
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"“The climate crisis requires careful analysis  before any investment into future-proofing our country is made.  Where we need better public transport, care must always be taken that existing facilities are adapted before adding additional infrastructure across greenbelt land. In this case there is a far less destructive alternative, making better use of the nearby existing N-S highway.   I join those who have stated very clearly that the proposed investment would prove to be a costly environmental tragedy.”
Sir David King, Founder & Chair, Centre for Climate Repair, University of Cambridge

"Coton Orchard has such enormous riches. I can’t think of anywhere else quite like it. And it’s big enough to be significant, and its connected to the surrounding countryside – and that connectivity is absolutely vital."
Brian Evesham, CEO Wildlife Trust BCN

“These veteran trees in Coton Orchard are protected through the National Planning Policy Framework, and are a vital and treasured part of the UK’s natural and cultural landscape.”
Jack Taylor, Lead Campaigner at the Woodland Trust

"The proposed C2C busway might, in the fullness of time, make a small contribution to combating the global climate crisis, but it would be a great shame if this could only be achieved at the cost of worsening the biodiversity crisis. It is not in our long-term interests to remove the trees of Coton Orchard, and the irreplaceable habitats in and around them, which, once lost, are lost forever."
Clive Anderson, TV and radio presenter, former barrister, Selwyn College alumnus

In a nutshell …
The GCP's C2C off-road busway would be a tragedy:

For the environment
  • carves up Green Belt land with restrictive covenants in favour of the National Trust
  • causes significant destruction of scrub, meadow and woodland habitats
  • bisects priority green corridors – which are key to ecological recovery
  • desecrates Coton Orchard, a county wildlife site – where no amount of new planting can mitigate the loss

For local heritage and local people
  • ruins some of loveliest, most unspoiled views anywhere around Cambridge
  • encroaches on paths used by walkers, including many from the city
  • imposes unjustified urbanisation on the rural, historic village of Coton

For Cambridge
  • does not make journey times to Cambridge significantly faster – a difference of only 1.5–3.5 minutes between on-road and off-road routes for a 30-minute journey
  • does not provide faster journeys to most key destinations
  • does not take into account current road usage data or evolving working–commuting patterns
  • has a minimum price tag of £200 million and a benefit–cost ratio of only 0.43 – so is poor value and a waste of money that could be spent on other projects

But the on-road alternative will save millions of pounds, cause minimal environmental damage, and provide more direct journeys to most key destinations.  
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© Coton Busway Action Group 2023