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The C2C proposal was formulated by the City Deal in 2014 in response to the SCDC draft Local Plan. This included a significant development along the A428 corridor, west of Cambridge. The SCDC Local Plan (adopted 2018) stated that there should be improvements to public transport, to include:
“provision of high quality bus priority measures or busway on or parallel to the A1303” (p.74) The local plan did not specify that the transport infrastructure had to be off-road. In 2015, the government-funded Greater Cambridge City Deal launched the Cambourne to Cambridge (C2C) Better Bus Journeys Project, putting out five on-road and off-road proposals out for consultation. The Coton Busway Action Group began campaigning. The public strongly opposed Option 3, an off-road route through Coton and the West Fields. But the City Deal decided that this was their preferred option. City Deal changed their name to the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) in 2017. Residents proposed an optimised on-road 'Option 6', endorsed by the Local Liaison Forum, but this was repeatedly misrepresented by the GCP in scheme reports. A second consultation in 2017–18 offered sub-optimal on-road schemes ('Options 1 and 2') and the off-road scheme – 'Option 3'. The public still preferred the on-road option – by a 2:1 margin. In 2022, the GCP launched an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) consultation on the off-road scheme. The public were asked to comment, via a questionnaire, on measures to 'manage and mitigate impacts of the scheme on landscape and environment'. You can read the full, formal response from CBAG, and from Cambridge Past, Present and Future and other groups here. |
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COTON BUSWAY ACTION GROUP
Click to download the minutes from the 2023 CBAG AGM and Constitution. |
Where we are now
On 21st March, 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. The GCP will submit the application to the Department for Transport this summer, and this will trigger a public inquiry. We were told that the application would be submitted in the summer of 2023, but it has still not been submitted.
In October 2023, we received the following news, via an update from our District and County Councillor, Michael Atkins:
"Delivery of the C2C busway is currently on hold. C2C is bound-up with delivery of the Bourne Airfield housing development (they both depend on each other), and the Environment Agency have objected to further major housing developments until water availability can be improved across the region, thus temporarily pausing both schemes."
Although C2C is temporarily "on hold", we have to continue on the assumption that a solution to the water problem will eventually be found and approved by the Environment Agency, and the scheme submitted to the Department of Transport. With Cambridge Past, Present & Future and an alliance of organisations, we are raising funds to pay for independent experts and legal representation at the public inquiry.
We are now stepping up our campaign – to raise public awareness, keep up pressure on the decision makers, and ensure a strong, fully supported case is made at the Inquiry. Here's how you can lend support.
In October 2023, we received the following news, via an update from our District and County Councillor, Michael Atkins:
"Delivery of the C2C busway is currently on hold. C2C is bound-up with delivery of the Bourne Airfield housing development (they both depend on each other), and the Environment Agency have objected to further major housing developments until water availability can be improved across the region, thus temporarily pausing both schemes."
Although C2C is temporarily "on hold", we have to continue on the assumption that a solution to the water problem will eventually be found and approved by the Environment Agency, and the scheme submitted to the Department of Transport. With Cambridge Past, Present & Future and an alliance of organisations, we are raising funds to pay for independent experts and legal representation at the public inquiry.
We are now stepping up our campaign – to raise public awareness, keep up pressure on the decision makers, and ensure a strong, fully supported case is made at the Inquiry. Here's how you can lend support.
