Agenda item

To consider the attached report by Graham Hughes, Executive Director (Cambridgeshire County Council).

The Joint Assembly:

(a)        AGREED that the Executive Board be requested to accelerate improvements to Junction 11 of the M11 as soon as possible, as a stand alone project.

(b)        RECOMMENDED that the Executive Board notes the findings of the technical report.

(c)        RECOMMENDED that the Executive Board notes that the outcome of the A428/A1303 (Madingley Rise and Madingley Road) corridor and Western Orbital scheme development work will be the key determinant in considering the future recommended bus priority options in the locations set out in the report, in respect of Junction 13 of the M11.

The Joint Assembly considered a report which contained a high level appraisal of the technical implications and costs of creating bus-only slip-roads at the following locations:

(i)         M11 junction 13: when turning off the A1303 (going east) onto the M11 (going south);

(ii)        M11 junction 13: creating a bus lane alongside the existing slip-road off the M11, that would get priority treatment at the traffic lights;

(iii)       M11 junction 11: turning off the M11 (going south) between the existing farm and footbridge and the existing slip-road, then going round the corner of the farmland at Trumpington Meadows, running parallel to (and west of) Trumpington Road, and entering Trumpington Road Park and Ride thence joining up to the Guided Busway.

Stuart Walmsley, Head of Major Infrastructure Delivery at Cambridgeshire County Council, presented the report and stated that in relation to junction 13 it was considered necessary in order to ensure that the appraisal was realistic in an operational context, to assess options for bus priority across the junction.  This was due to it being unrealistic to only appraise bus slip-roads if buses could not access the slip-roads with priority.  Mr Walmsley, in presenting the report, took Members through the high-level concepts that had been developed for the areas set out in (i) to (iii) above, and referred to the feasibility report that had been produced as appended to the report.

Mr Walmsley emphasised the point that there were still a number of issues to consider within the Western orbital transport infrastructure scheme, which was a scheme within the tranche two priority programme although approval had been granted to commence initial works to develop options for the scheme.

Councillor Francis Burkitt, as the proposer of the original request for this report, put forward his thanks on behalf of the Joint Assembly to officers for undertaking this piece of work to a high standard and within tight timescales.  He noted that these junctions would form part of the Western orbital route as well as impact the A428 corridor and was of the opinion that the concepts relating to junction 11 were very discreet and deliverable.  In asking whether the Board should be recommended to progress a particular piece of work for junction 11, the following points were noted from the resulting discussion:

·         the concepts within the feasibility report for junction 11 looked fairly simple and uncontentious;

·         improvements to junction 11 would be quite key to employment sites and large employers, such as Astra Zeneca for example;

·         junction 11 could potentially be added to the A428 transport infrastructure scheme.

Mr Walmsley reminded Members that improvements to junction 11 did not currently feature as a priority in the City Deal’s transport infrastructure programme for tranche one, which already totalled £180 million when there was only £100 million of City Deal funding available.  There were also risks of progressing works on the M11 ahead of the Western orbital scheme scheduled to be delivered as part if tranche two of the City Deal, as it was unclear at this stage what that scheme would look like and how it would impact junctions 11 and 13 of the M11.  In addition, Graham Hughes, Executive Director of Economy, Transport and Environment at Cambridgeshire County Council, confirmed that adding improvements to junction 11 of the M11 onto the A428 transport infrastructure scheme could slow down progress of the scheme’s delivery and require the amendment of its business case, which had already been worked up.  He reminded Members that one of the schemes currently within the agreed priority programme for tranche one may need to be removed to make way for this project should a decision be made to proceed.

Discussion then ensued on disconnecting improvements on junction 11 from other City Deal transport schemes and progressing this as a separate project.  It was noted that £800,000, the cost of one of the concepts, could potentially unlock this junction which it seemed was ready to be delivered.  Another view put forward, however, was that undertaking works on junction 11 at this stage could limit options for the Western orbital scheme.

Mr Hughes agreed with the latter point and said that in the fullness of time the slip-roads could cease to be used or that they could even be removed altogether as part of the wider Western orbital scheme.  He added that improving this junction would only deal with part of the problem and confirmed advice from officers as being not to proceed with this as an individual project but to build it into the Western orbital work.

A question was asked as to why there was such a large variance between estimated costings for some of the concepts.  Mr Walmsley reported that a lot of risk was built into the estimated cost of schemes, as well as each being costed against known practices for similar schemes delivered elsewhere.

The Chairman, in conclusion, felt that there was a clear desire by some Members of the Joint Assembly to accelerate improvements to junction 11 of the M11.  Voting on this proposal, with 7 votes in favour and 6 votes against, the Joint Assembly AGREED that the Executive Board be requested to accelerate improvements to Junction 11 of the M11 as soon as possible, as a standalone project.

The Joint Assembly also unanimously:

(a)        RECOMMENDED that the Executive Board notes the findings of the technical report.

(b)        RECOMMENDED that the Executive Board notes that the outcome of the A428/A1303 (Madingley Rise and Madingley Road) corridor and Western Orbital scheme development work will be the key determinant in considering the future recommended bus priority options in the locations set out in the report, in respect of Junction 13 of the M11.