Agenda item

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

The Executive Board:

(a)        NOTED the findings summarised in this report and set out in the Draft Concepts Report.

(b)        DISCOUNTED from further consideration as part of the Greater Cambridge City Deal reopening the railway to Haverhill and providing a Busway all the way to Haverhill and AGREED to commission, with partners, further traffic counts and modelling assessments of the case for improvements to the A1307 all the way to Haverhill.

(c)        APPROVED for public consultation the illustrative concepts set out in this report to provide improved Park and Ride linked to Bus Rapid Transit between Fourwentways and Cambridge, and Cycling and Walking measures along the corridor.

(d)        AGREED to receive a report recommending a preferred set of measures, informed by public consultation and the conclusion of appraisal and assessment work in late 2016.

The Executive Board considered a report which set out the high level transport improvement concepts that had emerged from initial study work undertaken on the A1307 corridor. 

Jeremy Smith, Head of Transport and Infrastructure Policy and Funding at Cambridgeshire County Council, presented the report.  He said that further consideration had been given to the scheme since it was initially looked at in view of the changing development picture in the area.  A more comprehensive look into traffic conditions, taking into account seasonal variation, would be necessary together with analysis of smaller parts of the route which could provide more impact.  A summary of concepts for the scheme at this stage were set out in figure 2 of the report.

Councillor Tim Bick, Chairman of the Joint Assembly, reported that the Assembly had considered this report at its meeting on 12 February 2016.  In view of acknowledgement that a more comprehensive investigation would be necessary before it was advisable to discount major road interventions between the A11 and Haverhill, the Joint Assembly supported the recommendations contained within the report but recommended the removal of reference to major road interventions in recommendation (b).  A number of points raised by Members of the Assembly, including the impact of growth in Sawston, the need for clear diagrams as part of consultation documentation and not losing focus on cycling and walking provision, were set out in Councillor Bick’s report.  The importance of relating bus infrastructure investment to the way operators would run services on the infrastructure was also discussed by the Assembly and a request was made for officers to facilitate a meeting with representatives of bus operators to help better understand the possibility of obtaining service commitments. 

Councillor Ian Bates, representing Cambridgeshire County Council, was pleased that representatives of Essex and Suffolk had engaged in this project and welcomed this wider partnership approach.  He also made the point that the A505 was an extremely busy road and thought, in looking at the corridor, that it would be worth considering this as part of the consultation exercise.  Councillor Francis Burkitt, representing South Cambridgeshire District Council, agreed and said that a lot of Sawston residents would want the village of Sawston to be included as part of this scheme.

Councillor Lewis Herbert, Chairman of the Executive Board, supported the sentiments of the amendment to recommendation (b) proposed by the Joint Assembly, but proposed a revised amendment to include the words ‘and commissions with partners, further traffic counts and modelling assessments of the case for improvement to the A1307 all the way to Haverhill’.  This was supported.

The Executive Board unanimously:

(a)        NOTED the findings summarised in this report and set out in the Draft Concepts Report.

(b)        DISCOUNTED from further consideration as part of the Greater Cambridge City Deal reopening the railway to Haverhill and providing a Busway all the way to Haverhill and AGREED to commission, with partners, further traffic counts and modelling assessments of the case for improvements to the A1307 all the way to Haverhill.

(c)        APPROVED for public consultation the illustrative concepts set out in this report to provide improved Park and Ride linked to Bus Rapid Transit between Fourwentways and Cambridge, and Cycling and Walking measures along the corridor.

(d)        AGREED to receive a report recommending a preferred set of measures, informed by public consultation and the conclusion of appraisal and assessment work in late 2016.