Agenda item

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

The Executive Board:

(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)        AGREED to proceed with the further development of the proposal to assess its final viability.

The Executive Board  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.

Mr Walmsley emphasised that the proposal was based on a scheme for use by public transport only, with any proposal for use by all traffic being highly likely to be refused by Highways England.

Councillor Tim Bick, Chairman of the Joint Assembly, reported that the Assembly had considered this report at its meeting on 12 February 2016.  He reported that the majority of Joint Assembly Members considered that such a scheme could only deliver value as part of a wider Western Orbital scheme and therefore 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.

Councillor Francis Burkitt, representing South Cambridgeshire District Council, was keen for the Board to proceed with the further development of the proposal to assess its final viability.  John Bridge, representing the Local Enterprise Partnership, supported this and reported that businesses were very keen to use such a route and therefore did not want to see the project delayed.

Councillor Ian Bates, representing Cambridgeshire County Council, highlighted that Highways England at this stage had still not indicated its consent towards such a project and it was also not clear whether any bus operators would be willing to run services on the route.  He understood people wanting the project to proceed and said, in view of the upcoming consultation on the Western Orbital corridor scheme, that the two schemes had to interlink. 

Professor Nigel Slater, representing the University of Cambridge, said that agreeing to further work, including further discussions with Highways England, would not commit the Executive Board to anything substantial so supported progressing with the further assessment work.

Mr Bridge was very keen to ensure that this project was delivered within Tranche 1 of the City Deal Programme.  Councillor Lewis Herbert, Chairman of the Executive Board, understood Mr Bridge’s preference to include this in Tranche 1 but felt that, at this stage, the Executive Board should not make such a commitment.  He said, however, that this did not mean the scheme could not be delivered as part of Tranche 1 of the Programme.

Councillor Bick made the point that, in agreeing to progress with the assessment of the scheme’s final viability, resources would be spent in undertaking that work.  He therefore asked whether there would be a limit imposed on the resources available.  Councillor Herbert responded by saying that regular updates on progress and the budget for this project would be made, but agreed that a specific budget should be allocated for this aspect of the development work.

The Executive Board:

(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)        AGREED to proceed with the further development of the proposal to assess its final viability.