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The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) want to build an off-road busway from Cambourne to Cambridge (C2C), at a cost of at least £200 million.*
The proposed route will cut through Green Belt land and an ancient orchard. It will irreversibly damage landscape, views and habitats. We are wholly in favour of 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. There is a viable cost-effective alternative route, which:
KEY UPDATE
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 there is likely to be a public inquiry at the end of this year.
THIS IS NOT A DONE DEAL. 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. More ... |
SEE THE KEY FACTS
Briefing document sent to County Councillors ahead of their vote on whether to approve the scheme 
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* Based on the GCP's 2018 estimate (£160.5m) multiplied by the ONS annual rate of inflation. This does not allow for, e.g. extra steel price rises, or the project going over budget, so is probably conservative.
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THE GCP'S OFF-ROAD BUSWAY
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The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) scheme runs on road in Cambourne, then off road from Bourn to Scotland Road, parallel to the A428.
It rejoins the road, diverts to a new Park & Ride at Scotland Farm, then runs on the A1303 through Hardwick village. The route leaves the A1303 before the ‘Madingley Mulch’ roundabout, and cuts through fields, hedges and the Coton Orchard. It then goes over a new motorway bridge and through a wildlife site to run on road through the West Cambridge University Site. The final section then goes off-road through another wildlife site, across the West Fields, and along a narrow access road to reach Grange Road, where it joins the city’s road network. |
HOWEVER
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WHY OFF-ROAD SHOULD BE OFF-LIMITS
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The GCP's C2C off-road busway would be a tragedy:
For the environment
For local heritage and local people
For Cambridge
The off-road alternative would be save millions of pounds, cause minimal environmental damage, and provide more direct journeys to most key destinations. Vertical Divider
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A BETTER TRANSPORT SOLUTION
The off-road route has been consistently rejected by the general public at every stage of the consultation. And yet the GCP has never explained why it has continued to pursue this option, comparing with on-road options that were not viable.
Contrary to what the GCP are claiming, an in-highway scheme is entirely feasible. This is borne out by detailed analysis in the GCP’s own C2C Outline Business Case Options Assessment Report, Section 8 and this 2021 Report, and was deemed to have merit by an Independent Audit.
An alternative, in-highway scheme comprises a range of measures that include some sections of bus lane and some new bus-priority traffic signals. Together, these measures would enable buses and other traffic to run freely along the A428 and A1303, and then into Cambridge, as well as south on the M11 to the Biomedical Campus.
Contrary to what the GCP are claiming, an in-highway scheme is entirely feasible. This is borne out by detailed analysis in the GCP’s own C2C Outline Business Case Options Assessment Report, Section 8 and this 2021 Report, and was deemed to have merit by an Independent Audit.
An alternative, in-highway scheme comprises a range of measures that include some sections of bus lane and some new bus-priority traffic signals. Together, these measures would enable buses and other traffic to run freely along the A428 and A1303, and then into Cambridge, as well as south on the M11 to the Biomedical Campus.
LOSS OF GREEN BELT AND HERITAGE ASSETS
WALKERS ON RED MEADOW HILL
VIEW TOWARDS COTON – BUSWAY WOULD CROSS THESE FIELDS
VIEW FROM AMERICAN CEMETARY ENTANCE
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The off-road route would run through Green Belt to the west of Cambridge and across fields that are protected by National Trust covenants. This Green Belt land and “the Coton Conservation Area” is identified in the LDA Cambridge Greenbelt Study (see GCP Planning Appraisal) as a “heritage asset”: “critical to preserving the the setting and historic character of the city” and as requiring “very special circumstances” to permit its removal.” (3.2.2, 1.7) Areas of the Green Belt that could be released under clearly defined “exceptional circumstances” are identified in the Greater Cambridge Green Belt Assessment 2021 (1.7, 2.56) but they do not include the land to the west of Cambridge. The National Trust has stated that the area is: “a valued landscape which has intrinsic visual, historic and cultural significance” and that: “the impacts to Green Belt have not been fully addressed”. (Letter, pp.2, 3) There is no evidence to support the claim that the C2C busway scheme qualifies as an “exceptional circumstance” which warrants removal of Green Belt land. The American Cemetery
The American Cemetery is a world-renowned monument and a Grade 1 listed landscape. The site was chosen for its peaceful setting, and on the understanding that it would be protected from encroaching development. The Cemetery’s Superintendent has expressed concern that an off-road busway running across the fields nearby will compromise the setting, and subsequently open up the land between the busway and the Madingley Road for development.
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THE ENVIRONMENTAL THREAT
The construction of the GCPs scheme, including a bridge over the M11 and a new Park and Ride, will produce significant greenhouse gases.
Park and Ride encourages car journeys and so also results in increased emissions.
Trees and vegetation which absorb carbon will be cut down.
We are indisputably in a deepening environmental crisis, which means that unnecessary destruction of green spaces is now unconscionable.
Park and Ride encourages car journeys and so also results in increased emissions.
Trees and vegetation which absorb carbon will be cut down.
We are indisputably in a deepening environmental crisis, which means that unnecessary destruction of green spaces is now unconscionable.
Loss of key habitat
The off-road route between Madingley and the M11 would go through Green Belt land with restrictive covenants in favour of The National Trust, as well as a County Wildlife Site. It includes scrub, meadows, hedgerows and mature trees – which surveys have shown to be important habitats for some key species, including:
Critically, the off-road route bisects green corridors and ecological networks. These are vital for wildlife recovery in any locality, and nowhere more than Cambridgeshire, one of the most nature-depleted counties in the UK. The council-backed Cambridge Nature Network is working to link remnants of high-value habitats, with many projects based in and around Coton. It makes no sense for the city and county councils to back this initiative on the one hand, whilst barricading areas of countryside with concrete and tarmac on the other. The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world and Cambridgeshire is one of the most nature-depleted counties in the country. We cannot afford this loss of habitat. |
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THE THREAT TO COTON
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Coton is a quiet, unspoilt village surrounded by fields and trees. Bounded by the Coton Countryside Reserve to the south and east and the Coton Orchard to the north, it has the 11th-century, Grade I listed St Peter’s Church at its heart, and further listed buildings within the historic centre of the village. There are also two moated sites and the remains of ancient ridge-and-furrow field patterns, which are designated Historical Monuments.
Though relatively close to the city, it has a real sense of rural seclusion and community, and so is regarded by all who live here as a rather special place. Walks from the village, up Red Meadow Hill and up the rise towards Madingley, offer be some of the loveliest, most unspoiled views anywhere around Cambridge. The gently rolling fields, hedges and woods are valued enormously both by villagers and by the many visitors who make the short trip from the city to get the health and wellbeing benefits of walking in this easily accessible green space. The village and its surrounding countryside would be irreparably damaged by the off-road busway. The GCP plans include a large bus stop in the village, which will inevitably attract commuter parking – and then measures to prevent that parking. |
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A C2C BUS STOP IN COTON? (FROM GCP MOCK UP)
THE COTON ORCHARD
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On the northern edge of Coton village, the off-road busway would run through a 100-year old orchard of 60 acres. Orchards were once numerous in the area and part of the village’s character, but this one is all that remains of that heritage.
Coton Orchard is the largest and most important Traditional Orchard in the county, the eighth largest in the UK, and a site of national significance. Traditional orchards such as this, with their low management, are hotspots for biodiversity, and so classed as Priority Habitats. The off-road scheme would remove the area that contains the most mature trees, and lay a 20-metre width of tarmac and concrete right across the site. More .... |