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 Executive Board:

a)    NOTED the findings of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus Transport Needs Review study, and recognised the urgent need for action in the short to medium term.

b)    REQUESTED officers to work with the Cambridge Biomedical Campus partnership at a senior level, and with residents of the adjacent communities, to develop an action plan for short, medium and long term interventions based upon the recommendations of the Transport Needs Review study.

c)    AGREED to receive a further report on an agreed prioritised delivery programme following discussions with the Biomedical Campus partners.

Public questions were invited from Jim Chisholm and Sam Davies. The questions and a summary of the responses are provided at Appendix A of the minutes.

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 that a package of proposals was needed. He highlighted that the deregulated environment regarding buses was challenging.

The Executive Board discussed the report and made the following points:

·         Claire Ruskin indicated her support for the proposals and queried whether there were other sites that should be looked at in the same way as CBC had been, such as the Cambridge Science Park for example.

·         Councillor Bates expressed his full support for Cambridge South Station. He suggested the long term interventions needed at CBC also needed to be looked at. He pointed out that there was no ‘A’ bus service from Trumpington park and ride on a Sunday to get visitors to Addenbrooke’s Hospital; the only option was to drive. He suggested there was a need to do more outreach work for patients in the community, to avoid the need to travel to Addenbrooke’s. He also suggested outpatient appointments would be better offered at the weekends when there was less traffic. The CBC partners needed to be worked with closely on what could be done.

·         Councillor Van de Weyer pointed out that the GCP did not have the power to solve all the problems identified.

·         The Chairperson agreed that basic analysis needed to be undertaken of other sites around Cambridge, such as the Science Park, as suggested by Claire Ruskin. He suggested Addenbrooke’s and other partners on the CBC site, needed to take greater ownership of the challenge faced. He also suggested that residents of the communities adjacent to the CBC needed to be worked with. He pointed out that Cambridge South Station was vital, as was expanding the capacity of park and ride. The bus network needed to be improved; he suggested a bus service between Babraham and Trumington park and ride was needed. He thought that the CBC site was overly car dominated and pointed out that it was difficult to walk and cycle through the site; this was due to lack of joined up planning. It was suggested that CBC needed a full time transport officer.

The Joint Assembly Chairperson commented that one of the reasons the CBC site was so car dominant was because it was difficult to access by public transport and you could not reach CBC directly by public transport from any of the northern South Cambridgeshire villages. He pointed out that people needed to be able to rely upon being able to get to their appointments on time if they used public transport. Alternatives needed to be in place before access by car was made more difficult, so that people were not disadvantaged and could still easily access health services at CBC. He pointed out that people needed to be able to drop-in to health services and the ability to do so improved health. It was suggested that not all health services should be located at Addenbrooke’s Hospital.

Councillor Herbert proposed an amendment to recommendation b) with the addition of ‘working with residents of adjacent communities’, which was seconded by Councillor Bates. The amendment on being put to the vote, was agreed.

Councillor Bates proposed a further amendment adding the words ‘long-term’ to recommendation b), which was seconded and supported.

The Executive Board:

a)    NOTED the findings of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus Transport Needs Review study, and recognised the urgent need for action in the short to medium term.

b)    REQUESTED officers to work with the Cambridge Biomedical Campus partnership at a senior level, and with residents of the adjacent communities, to develop an action plan for short, medium and long term interventions based upon the recommendations of the Transport Needs Review study.

c)    AGREED to receive a further report on an agreed prioritised delivery programme following discussions with the Biomedical Campus partners.