 Backing up claims made by CPPF, CBAG and others, Transport Planner Edward Leigh produced the evidence to demonstrate the GCP's failure to consider a demonstrably viable alternative on-road scheme. "It hasn't accepted that a compromise solution might actually be better, more in the public interest than the scheme it is proposing," he said. Also appearing as an expert witness, Steve Johnstone of Lawrence Walker Ltd pointed out that the GCP hace used pre-Covid traffic data in its modelling, when it is in fact clear that the situation has changed significantly since then. He also said that he "always worried about schemes that rely on large land value uplift in the cost–benefit ratio" and that there was not "any certainty that people will actually use the buses."
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The Public Inquiry is finally underway – though not after the entire proceedings had been jeopardised by Cambridge City Council's legal team, who had failed to post public notices, as required by law. Following their application to the Secretary of State for special permission to proceed, the Inquiry was allowed to continue. The Inquiry began with opening statements then a site visit to the key sections of the proposed route by the Planning Inspectors and representatives from both sides.   This was the third year that a Bioblitz had taken place in Coton Orchard, and still new species were being recorded – and again the moths were very much the stars of the show. 
As the stage is set for the Public Inquiry, Anna Gazeley of Coton Orchard laments the outcome of another, brilliantly fought, local campaign. Worringly, despite the unequivocal verdict of the Planning Inspector – that there was no compelling need, nor any certain benefit for the 'inappropriate' building of a new sewage works at Honey Hill, the Secretary of State has ignored all the advice and said it will be built anyway. It was a terrible day for local democracy, due process, and the use of public money. Our fight goes on, and we still need to win at the Public Inquiry. And we need every ounce of public support to ensure that any verdict in our favour cannot be ignored.  In the Cambridge Indepent, Cambridge Connect make the case for a properly joined-up approach to the region's transport . It offers an incisive assessment of problems in various quarters, including the very obvious flaws in the C2C busway scheme, which would "maroon its bus passengers in Grange Road" with "no practical route onwards to the city centre, the central station or the Biomedical Campus". Not to mention the fact that "repainting the livery on the side of buses queuing up to add to the congestion and pollution of the city centre will merely add to the scandal". Instead, then, Cambridge Connect propose a light rail network which would be "clean, fast, safe, efficient and spacious" – and put Cambridge on a par with its European Competitors. An inspired slice through the Gordian knot that is the Cambridge road system, if you will. Apart from all the enormous practical advantages, surely this is the kind of visionary thing that national government has in mind for its flagship city? Hello, Westminster? For more on the proposal, see the Cambridge Connect website.  The Department of Transport have announced that there is to be a Public Inquiry into the GCP's application for a TWAO for the C2C Busway. Yet the County Council have yet to formally ratify the application. The original proposal document was approved by the Council in March 2023, but the eventual submission in November 2024 differed in key respects. The County Council is scheduled to vote on the ratification of the submission at their meeing on 11th February, and given the changes to both scheme and circumstances, CBAG has written to every County Councillor, urging them to reconsider before giving retrospective approval to the submission. You can read our letter below.  Both on TV and in the press, there's been a steady stream of reporting this week. Thanks here to Cambridge News. We know, of course, who won in the eponymous battle!   As the objection deadline arrives and the public inquiry looms, the campaign attracts extensive coverage in national and local press and on TV and radio.  "The world has changed over the past five years and the proposed C2C scheme is out of touch and doesn't fulfil the brief of today" John Sadler, farmer. 
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