Issue - meetings

To receive any questions from members of the public.  The standard protocol to be observed by public speakers is attached.

Councillor Lewis Herbert, Chairman, reported that twenty-five requests to speak had been received.  Questions were grouped together based on their subject and were asked and answered as follows:

Question by Councillor Bridget Smith

Councillor Bridget Smith, as a South Cambridgeshire District Councillor, was extremely keen to ensure that as many South Cambridgeshire residents as possible benefitted from the Greater Cambridge City Deal.  She felt that the A428 proposals as they stood were very city focussed and failed to acknowledge that South Cambridgeshire residents needed to get anywhere other than Cambridge or that they also may experience congestion, disruption and high costs getting to their workplace destinations.  She asked the following questions:

·         how many people of working age currently lived in Cambourne and of those how many worked in Cambridge;

·         how many additional people of working age would be living in the new developments at Cambourne West and Bourn Airfield and was it likely that a similar percentage would be commuting to Cambridge from these new developments;

·         how many people from Cambourne commuted to the main line station in St Neots and were any of them able to do so by bus;

·         bearing in mind that the Greater Cambridge area included all of South Cambridgeshire, would the Board promise that any cycle route from the city through the new A428 corridor would run to the St Neots main line railway station and that any bus service would also carry residents to this location;

·         why was the City Deal so focused on getting buses into the centre of Cambridge when that was not generally where people worked.

Councillor Smith asked whether it would be more sensible to run buses to a series of transport hubs located before the congestion pinch points and either for those buses to continue to the key employment sites or for passengers to be able to transfer to buses destined for the employment sites, rather than having to travel into the city centre only to have to travel out again.

Bob Menzies, Director of Strategy and Development at Cambridgeshire County Council, confirmed that he would provide the information requested by Councillor Smith via a written response from the data that his team had access to.  Addressing the first point, data from the 2011 census stated that 4,826 people of working age lived in Cambourne, with 1096 of those people working in Cambridge. 

In respect of onward journeys, Mr Menzies said that discussions would need to be held with bus operators at a later stage of the process but that Councillor Smith's suggestion was something to aspire to. 

Councillor Francis Burkitt made the point that there was a focus on the centre of Cambridge but also lots of other places, with this scheme being one of many things the Executive Board was looking at as part of the City Deal programme.  He reminded the Board that he had written to all Parish Councils in South Cambridgeshire District Council regarding transport hubs, the outcome of that piece of work he  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4

To receive any questions from members of the public.  The standard protocol to be observed by public speakers is attached.

It was noted that all public questions that had been received related to item 8.  In view of this, it was agreed that questions would be put as part of considering that item.