Agenda item

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

It was noted that a public question had been received in relation to the Chisholm Trail, which was the subject of item 8 at this meeting.  It was therefore agreed that the question would be put as part of item 8.

Question by Councillor Susan Van de Ven

Cambridgeshire County Councillor Susan Van de Ven thanked the Joint Assembly and Executive Board for their support in respect of the A10 Cambridge to Royston cycleway.  Although that scheme missed out on tranche one funding, she said that its serious consideration at the time meant that the scheme was scoped out in detail which exposed its strong potential to make a difference to modal shift away from car use which, in turn, helped mitigate against increasing traffic congestion.  Councillor Van de Ven reported that this had helped attract Cycling Ambition funding worth approximately £3 million for the Harston, Foxton and Shepreth links and highlighted that she had attended the sod cutting ceremony for the City Deal funded Shepreth to Melbourn segment which brought the overall Cambridge to Royston scheme much closer to realisation. 

Councillor Van de Ven explained that the following would be necessary to complete the overall A10 cycle scheme:

·         further pressing for funding for the final cycle link segment connecting Mebourn and Royston, which represented a key micro-economic zone with a cluster of very significant employment centres.  Councillor Van de Ven said that strong localised travel to work flows had been identified and she was encouraged that the Local Enterprise Partnership was working on funding opportunities, emphasising that this needed support from all quarters;

·         Foxton level crossing was becoming an ever increasing obstruction to everything that moved on the A10 corridor, including the new cycleway, and Councillor Van de Ven expressed her disappointment that Network Rail had shelved its feasibility study to close the crossing and build a bypass with a bridge or underpass.  The level crossing was on the City Deal’s list of key components for unlocking sustainable transport potential along the A10 corridor and she therefore hoped that the Joint Assembly and Executive Board could put their weight behind encouraging Network Rail to properly address the crossing.

Councillor Van de Ven took this opportunity to report what was happening locally to help the area’s potential for local and regional travel. 

It was noted that the Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton Community Rail Partnership comprised of County and District Councillors, representatives of the rail industry and was supported by organisations such as Railfuture, AstraZeneca, Melbourn Science Park and Shepreth Wildlife Park.  She reported that, through the Partnership, the Wildlife Park had brokered a discount admission ticket for people arriving at Shepreth by train, with 10% of its visitors now arriving by that means, and that Melbourn Science Park now operated a shuttle bus to and from Meldreth Station due to it having run out of car parking space.  She added, however, that none of these stations had any shuttle bus turning facilities or bus service connections, stating that the three stations were experiencing a 10% increase in footfall every year.  She was concerned that there were no plans to upgrade these stations as transport interchanges to meet modern demand, stating that improving access to these stations was clearly set out in the Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire Transport Strategy. 

Councillor Van de Ven reported that the Community Rail Partnership had commissioned Railfuture to carryout an audit of the three stations which had now been published and provided a comprehensive overview of necessary work to modernise the stations.  She suggested that a next step, which could unlock funding for station infrastructure improvement, was that of station travel planning and therefore asked the Joint Assembly if it would consider supporting this.

Councillor Bridget Smith understood that when the Foxton level crossing scheme had been originally considered alongside tranche 1 priority schemes, the Assembly and Board was informed that this particular scheme would be funded by Network Rail.  She sought clarity as to whether this was no longer the case, and if not, whether this scheme should be re-introduced within the tranche 1 programme. 

Councillor van de Ven confirmed that it had been the initial intention of Network Rail to fund this scheme, but that this had fallen through.  She was keen for the scheme to be re-prioritised as part of the City Deal’s programme.

Councillor Roger Hickford, Chairman of the Joint Assembly, highlighted that the City Deal’s tranche 2 programme was scheduled for consideration at the next cycle of meetings of the Assembly and Executive Board and expected this scheme to be included as part of the report associated with that item.