Agenda item

The following background documents are available online:

·         Cambridge Biomedical Campus Transport Needs Review – Part 1

·         Cambridge Biomedical Campus Transport Needs Review – Part 2

·         Cambridge Biomedical Campus Transport Needs Review – Part 3

·         Cambridge Biomedical Campus Transport Needs Review – Non-Technical Summary

The Transport Director presented the emerging outputs and proposals from the Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC) Transport Needs Review, highlighting that this made the case for Cambridge South Station and an associated package of proposals.

Councillor Wilson highlighted that the most convenient and only reliable way to get to CBC from the northern villages was by car as all public transport options that had been in place had been taken away. Cambridge South Station would be a good option for people from these villages, if they could get to the station without driving.

Councillor Massey suggested that Addenbrooke’s Hospital and CBC needed to invest more in this project. Basic measures such as walking and cycling routes on site were also needed, as well as better links to the park and ride and better signage. She suggested shuttle buses to park and ride would make a huge difference and patients and visitors needed to be encouraged to travel to the site by public transport rather than car. She welcomed a review of bus times to make sure they served those working on site. Councillor Massey was not in favour of reviewing hospital visiting times to avoid peak hours as these times were for the benefit of the patients and their visitors, many of which would only be able to visit outside of working hours. She suggested the avoidance of deliveries at peak times should be looked at.

Helen Valentine commented that Cambridge South Station was essential. However this was a number of years away and interventions were needed before this was in place. She suggested the report underplayed the importance of the role of cycling, particularly from the east and south east. There was little reference to the need to upgrade cycle routes from Queen Edith’s Way, Wolfston Way and Nightingale Avenue. The Transport Director provided assurance that this issue would be fed in to future discussions.

Christopher Walkinshaw welcomed the report and queried whether analysis had been carried out regarding where those travelling to CBC were coming from. He pointed out that most interventions were on site. The Transport Director clarified that this analysis had been done.

Dr Andy Williams assured the Joint Assembly that CBC partners took this very seriously and were investing where they could. He highlighted that the short term problems were very significant and local residents needed to be engaged with. The Transport Director informed the Joint Assembly that discussions with residents had been scheduled and that the GCP and CBC partners were already working together as a team. Local residents needed to be drawn into this. He clarified that Astra Zeneca would have no allocated car parking for staff on site and that on the whole CBC site there was only parking provision for 20-30% of staff. Analysis had been undertaken of where CBC staff were travelling from.

Dr John Wells also welcomed the report and suggested there were many interventions that could be put in place in the short term. He pointed out that the Addenbrooke’s Hospital website, which provided information on how to get to the hospital, focussed primarily on driving and parking rather than the park and ride. He suggested that communications around this could be improved with signposting primarily to the relevant bus services and park and ride service, rather than car parking. In the longer term he emphasised the need for continued effort to be made in the coordination of partnership working between CBC partners and the GCP. Dr Wells suggested that medium and longer term interventions should be prioritised and the accountability for these interventions needed to be clear in order to ensure they were delivered. Councillor Sollom echoed support for this. In response, the Transport Director informed the Joint Assembly that clarity of accountability and delivery plans were the next step.

Dr Wells pointed out that by 2031, CBC would have roughly the same volume of people passing through it as Stansted Airport; the scale of this needed to be recognised and very serious attention given to it long term.

Councillor Kavanagh welcomed the emphasis given to cycle parking. He suggested the cycle route to Shelford needed to be widened and if there was already a plan for this, negotiations needed to start with landowners.

Councillor Sollom echoed the points made by Dr Wells regarding prioritisation and accountability. He pointed out that none of the Liverpool Street railway line had been included. Regarding the timeline of impact graph in the report, he queried whether the CAM metro did anything, pointing out that there was not much difference in gradient between the CAM maximum impact and baseline impact on the graph.

Heather Richards suggested that to help with prioritisation, the calculated numerical impact should be explained.

Councillor Topping suggested that Papworth Hospital had a duty of care and a requirement to engage with Cambridge as it was relocating to the city. He suggested there needed to be clear governance and accountability for who was driving forward Cambridge South Station.  The Transport Director clarified that there was a very clear development plan for Cambridge South Station, regarding which partners were holding the Department of Transport and Network Rail to account. There was a timeline for that plan.

Councillor Wotherspoon raised concern that the only demand management option incorporated in the modelling was parking control. In response to this the Transport Director clarified that demand management was only partially captured in the report as it only looked at parking restraint.

In response to concerns raised regarding investment by CBC and Papworth Hospital, the Transport Director informed the Joint Assembly that both were contributing to a new bus service.