Agenda item

Histon Road: Bus, Cycling and Walking Improvements

To follow. Publication of this report has been delayed so that it can be updated to reflect the outcome of the additional meeting of the Local Liaison Forum, which will take place on the evening of 26th November 2018.

Decision:

The Executive Board SUPPORTED:

 

a)    The final design for Histon Road as shown in the plans in Appendix B of the report as a basis for moving to the detailed design stage, including preparation of the final business case and contractor procurement; and

 

b)    The Landscaping strategy as set out in Appendix A of the report.

Minutes:

Councillor Mike Todd-Jones and Lilian Rundblad were invited to speak as Chair and Vice Chair of the Histon Road LLF. They provided an update on the meeting, which took place on 26 November 2018, which had been called due to the changes that had been made to the Histon Road scheme design since the last LLF meeting. Officers were congratulated for taking steps to address concerns expressed at the Joint Assembly meeting. It was noted that the LLF had agreed the following resolutions:

·         To request the Greater Cambridge Partnership Executive Board to direct that in consulting with the residents of Histon Road between Blackhall Road and Brownlow Road, the officers, including the landscape designer, take into consideration incorporating into the design a three metre high steel-mesh fence with climbers, verge with seeded grasses and semi-mature trees planted in the verge by every other fence panel as replacement of present hedges between Blackhall Road and Brownlow Road. Further, that negotiations with the County Council would ensure that the area would be maintained by Highways as well as any drainage construction required between the verge and private properties.

·         To request that the Greater Cambridge Partnership Executive Board direct the officers to incorporate unambiguous pedestrian priority at minor road junctions.

 

Public questions were invited from Lilian Rundblad, Anna Crutchley and Matthew Danish. Details of the questions and a summary of the responses are set out in Appendix A of the minutes.

 

The Chairperson drew the Executive Board’s attention to public representations received from Molly and John Snedden, details of which had been circulated to the Board.

 

The Joint Assembly Chairperson provided an overview of the Joint Assembly’s discussions regarding Histon Road. There had been a feeling at the meeting that this scheme did not provide bus, cycling or walking improvements. He congratulated the officers for the work that had been done to redesign the scheme following the Joint Assembly meeting.

 

The GCP Transport Director presented the report which set out the final design proposals for Histon Road. The Executive Board was informed that dialogue was ongoing regarding boundary and landscape issues. The lessons learnt from the Gilbert Road junction design would be applied to other schemes.

 

The Executive Board discussed the report:

·         Councillor Van de Weyer commented that the result regarding the Gilbert Road junction, demonstrated what could be achieved. It needed to be reinforced that drivers did not have priority when entering cycle lanes.

·         Councillor Herbert highlighted that Histon Road was a constrained road, which had not been a safe route for cyclists or pedestrians. The scheme was very different to how it had begun, and had been much improved by the public engagement that had taken place.

 

The Executive Board unanimously SUPPORTED:

 

a)    The final design for Histon Road as shown in the plans in Appendix B of the report as a basis for moving to the detailed design stage, including preparation of the final business case and contractor procurement; and

 

b)    The Landscaping strategy as set out in Appendix A of the report.

Supporting documents: