Agenda item

To consider a report by Graham Hughes, Executive Director (Cambridgeshire County Council), scheduled for consideration by the Executive Board on 3 March 2016.

The Joint Assembly:

(a)        NOTED the outcome of the high level risk assessment and the progress made on the proposal for a bus only slip road at Junction 11 of the M11.

(b)        RECOMMENDED that the Executive Board integrates the scheme into the developing Western Orbital proposals to ensure that it is considered within this wider strategic context.

The Joint Assembly considered a report which set out a high level risk assessment on the issues that impacted the inclusion of a southbound bus priority slip road at Junction 11 of the M11 in Tranche 1 of the City Deal Programme.

Stuart Walmsley, Head of Major Infrastructure Delivery at Cambridgeshire County Council, presented the report and highlighted a number of issues and risks that had been identified.  These were set out in the report and included the fact that:

·         Highways England would need to give its consent to any proposal;

·         any proposal would need to cross land currently under planning consideration for new housing and leisure facilities;

·         there was currently no bus route running off Junction 11 of the M11;

·         any potential wider scheme, such as the Western Orbital corridor, would be closely linked to infrastructure at Junction 11.

Comments by Members of the Joint Assembly, in discussing the contents of the report, were noted as follows:

·         the low likelihood of a commercial service operating at this junction was a significant issue;

·         a bus-only solution seemed illogical for this junction.  Mr Walmsley explained that it would be extremely unlikely for Highways England to give consent for any proposal in this respect that included cars as well as buses, on the basis that it would itself become a new junction;

·         this specific project did not fit in with the bigger picture of transport infrastructure schemes included as part of the City Deal programme;

·         this project would be an unnecessary diversion from the Western Orbital corridor scheme;

·         despite the perceived lack of commercial opportunities, employers were still keen for this project to progress;

·         there would be a significant increase in traffic movement in terms of staff, patients and visitors, as a result of Papworth Hospital moving to the Addenbrooke’s site;

·         if employers in the area agreed to fund a service instead of commercial operators, there was a danger that they could cease that service at any time thereby leaving the route unused and resulting in wasted resources;

·         there would be significant pressure in this area in the years to come, but the solution proposed in this instance was not the right way to address it.

NOTE – Councillor Nick Wright declared a non-pecuniary interest in this item as a Governor of Papworth Hospital.

NOTE – Dr John Wells declared a non-pecuniary interest in this item as a Governor of Addenbrooke’s Hospital. 

The Joint Assembly unanimously NOTED the outcome of the high level risk assessment and the progress made on the proposal for a bus only slip road at Junction 11 of the M11.

Councillor Bick, Chairman, invited Members to vote on recommendation (ii) set out in the report, which recommended that the Executive Board be asked to proceed with the further development of the proposal to assess its final viability for inclusion in the Tranche 1 City Deal programme.  He also invited Members to vote on paragraph 17 of the report, which recommended the integration of the scheme into the developing Western Orbital proposals to ensure that it was considered within this wider strategic context.  With 7 votes in favour of recommendation (ii) and 8 votes in favour of paragraph 17, the Joint Assembly RECOMMENDED that the Executive Board integrated the scheme into the developing Western Orbital proposals to ensure that it was considered within this wider strategic context.