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"Orchard Park"
At a recent meeting County Council officers outlined plans to improve the B1049/A14 junction for pedestrians and cyclists. There will probably also be an improvement for south bound road users.
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There are plans to improve the B1049/A14 crossing for cyclists and pedestrians but at the same time a further improvement is proposed which would enable residents of Orchard Park to have easy access to the junction without having to go the long way round via King’s Hedges Road.
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Click here for the Histon and Impington District Councillor’s Report June 2011
The County Council has published its new speed limit policy. The good news is that it allows communities to set their own speed limits; they will not need the approval of the County Council as long as they consult properly. The bad news is that they will have to pay for them themselves.
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South Cambs District Council adopted the Orchard Park Design Guidance Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) on 8 Mar 11. What exactly does that mean?
Well, the South Cambridgeshire Local Plan (2004) paved the way for Orchard Park to be ‘a sustainable housing-led urban extension to Cambridge providing 900 dwellings, employment provision and supporting community facilities and open space’.
Since then, it is claimed that problems have arisen in the creation of the commercial developments. In January last year, instead of the proposed commercial facilities on the last remaining land parcels, South Cambs put forward about 220 additional dwellings. These would have to ‘achieve an appropriate living environment, be acceptable in transport terms, and provide the community and other services and facilities necessary to support the new community’.
This SPD sets out design principles for these remaining land parcels at Orchard Park.
Of course, the risk is that even more houses (and less commercial space) goes against the very objective to create a mixed use, sustainable development. We need a vibrant mixed use community: transport, jobs, shops etc. Not just more and more houses, however well designed!
Jonathan says: ‘We need to hold the developers and the council to account for whatever happens next’.
There’s bad news for bus users in Cottenham and Rampton, Histon and Impington. Residents of Oakington are thankfully spared. And those who live in Orchard Park get a strange temporary arrangement whilst we all wait for the guided bus.
It’s been a double whammy. First off the Tory run County Council has announced that it is cutting all bus subsidies. That’s right: all subsidies. This means that over the next year or so all subsidised routes will be withdrawn unless the operator opts to continue running them on a 100% commercial basis. This means that Histon will lose its Thursday service, the 110, to Ely; and Rampton will lose its three times daily service, the 106, to Ely. And of course people who live on the routes in Cottenham and beyond will lose their service as well. It’s an especially cruel blow for Rampton because the 106 provides a connection to the Stagecoach service which runs into Cambridge.
Neither route is due for cutting in the first wave but we will have to fight exceptionally hard to prevent them being chopped late this year or next year.
Secondly: Stagecoach has announced that it is reducing the frequency of the Citi 7 from 6 times per hour to 3. At the same time it is splitting the service in two, so that buses will no longer continue to Duxford, Saffron Walden etc in the south, and renaming the northern service the Citi 8. Fortunately all the evening and Sunday services will be retained. Those in the south of the old Citi 7 route are being chopped.
Stagecoach says that it is making these changes for purely economic reasons. They have recently had reductions in the compenstaion they get for carrying concessionary fare passengers and in the Bus Services Operators Grant which compensates them for high diesel prices.
David has spoken at length with Andy Campbell, Stagecoach Cambridge MD who insists that there will be enough capacity on the route now that Stagecoach uses the new bigger double deckers. He is also confident that splitting the route will result in better punctuality because buses will not ‘get lost’ in the south of the county.
Sue says: ‘this is bad news all round and I’m especially concerned about the impact on Rampton. This will deprive many people of the facility to get into Cambridge. It will drive others to use their cars and that’s not good for the County’s carbob footprint. we will be gathering evidence and fighting to stop these cuts’.
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Residents have been surprised by the appearance of multiple County Council documents along the guided bus route. The documents themselves don’t make a great deal of sense to most people but perhaps there’s hope that they are at least an indicator that this project is progressing.
Click here for the Histon and Impington District Councillor’s Report November 2010
Click here for the county councillors’ monthly report for November 2010.
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Most of us take for granted the road name signs that guide people to our homes, schools and offices. In fact these signs are often essential for taxi drivers, delivery people and the emergency services However, residents in Orchard Park have struggled to achieve even this most basic of information.
SCambs Lib Dems- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
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