The developer of 'Devonshire Gardens' needs a further design iteration if it is to create a reference site for sustainable, car-free living.
Category - Planning
The folly and irresponsibility of these transport plans
Eighteen new 1,500-space car parks in the countryside, and we'll still end up with more traffic, congestion, air pollution, deaths and injuries.
No action on the climate crisis until 2025
Politicians are squandering the chance of a transport future with zero carbon emissions, zero air pollution, zero road deaths and zero congestion.
Edward LeighBurnside Lakes: wrong place for a logistics hub
A developer is proposing to build six large sheds on the land between the David Lloyd Health Club and the western edge of Cherry Hinton.
Why Park & Rides are a waste of land and money
The CSET Park & Ride proposal will cost £132 million, in the hope of attracting 917 additional bus users. That's £144,000 spent per new user.
Petitioning the GCP to change its priorities
Our petition asks the GCP Board to change its priorities to schemes that could be delivered in less time with greater benefit, and much lower environmental damage.
Railroading decisions on busways and car parks
Is GCP railroading inexperienced councillors into agreeing to proceed with environmentally damaging and demonstrably unnecessary projects?
Over 50% population growth for Oxford to Cambridge Arc
Jobs here contribute more to GDP than anywhere outside of London. But landowners and businesses are motivated by money, not philanthropy.
Improved plans for Cambridge station
Unfortunately, although there are outstanding issues with the new development, these are unlikely to see it blocked a second time.
Causeway to an isolated new community
Planning permission has been granted for 430 new homes on Worts’ Causeway. The poverty of ambition is deeply concerning.
Response to Eastern Access consultation
Smarter Cambridge Transport’s comments and additional ideas for improving access to Cambridge by cycle, bus and train from the east.
Improving access to Cambridge from the east
Transport routes should be direct and services as cheap as possible. From the east of Cambridge, no public transport options fit the bill.
Sustainable growth or just promises?
Mistrust of the development sector is at an all-time high. How can the new Local Plan avoid making the same mistakes as last time?
Are transport proposals for the east of Cambridge bold enough?
Transport links to the east of Cambridge are particularly poor, so it’s good to see the GCP turn its attention in that direction.
Government must give citizens a voice
We need to provide resources to enable community groups to organise themselves and employ experts – just as economic stakeholders do.
Too many jobs and not enough houses
Local authorities are so consumed with delivering new homes, they have failed to keep track of how many jobs they are allowing to be created.
A vision for Waterbeach transport
How we can spend far less than the estimated £250 million to dual the A10 and build the Waterbeach busway, and benefit thousands more people.
Requesting a meeting about new buildings at Cambridge Station
Edward Leigh wrote to Jamie Burles of Abellio East Anglia Ltd. to ask for an open discussion to give stakeholders an opportunity to review the station area.
Who is to blame for transport project cost overruns?
Fendon Road roundabout joins a litany of Cambridgeshire County Council transport projects running hugely over budget and time.
How does a car park by the A11 help Haverhill?
The determination of the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) to build unwanted busways would be admirable if it wasn’t so profoundly misguided.
Let’s ask: “How can we make this work better?”
We need council reps, business owners and residents to engage respectfully, and to listen to each other’s ideas and concerns.
How can we fix the broken planning system?
The mechanism for setting priorities locally (the ‘Local Plan’) is no longer fit for purpose. But the government’s proposed solution is worse.
A revolution in transport is afoot
When we see the government reallocate the new-roads budget to public transport we will know it is seriously committed to restoring the environment.
Green Belt housing on Wort’s Causeway needs a rethink
Why Greater Cambridge Shared Planning needs to force the developers back to the drawing board.
Will politics or economics sink the Cambourne busway project?
Will politics or economics sink the busway project, or will it re-emerge Phoenix-like from the ashes as a new form of affordable mass transport?
Local government needs to stop wasting time and money
It’s the not the job of council officers to protect the reputations of incompetent consultants, yet they do.
What has the new government promised on transport?
The next five years are critical for the future of the planet: will the UK lead the way on de-carbonising transport?
Recent traffic chaos is a wake-up call: priorities need to change
Had the Greater Cambridge Partnership invested in smart traffic signalling technology in 2016, the network would now be more resilient to roadworks and seasonal variations in travel demand.
Response to Combined Authority Draft Local Transport Plan
We believe that the consultation on this draft Local Transport Plan needs to reach much deeper into the communities, businesses, schools and other organisations that will be affected for years to come by what is...
Emerging vision for Cambridge city centre skirts around painful choices
We cannot keep kicking the can down the road. We have to make big changes, some of which will be painful and unpopular.
Meaningless targets risk dragging us back to the 20th century
The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority’s Local Transport Plan could drag us back into making the mistakes of the 20th century.
Have your say on the Local Transport Plan
There’s a consultation (yes, another one) on the region’s most important transport strategy document.
Will you one day hear: “All change at Girton Interchange?”
Where else might we find a permanent home for a coach station, with excellent connectivity to the city and surrounding villages, and all the facilities you’d expect to find at a city train station?
Why we need to insist that new streets are fit for purpose
Why Transport for New Homes' checklist needs to be translated into robust legislation, and why citizens need to demand that it gets more funding.
Why every village should want a travel hub (but not a Park & Ride)
Using terminology precisely and consistently is important in public debate. ‘Travel hub’ is not a euphemism for ‘Park & Ride’
What did I learn from a field trip to the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany?
Ghent is an interesting comparator for Cambridge: a bold transport plan has all but removed cars from the medieval city centre.
Has the south east approach project been thrown off course?
The planned south east approach to Cambridge appears to miss the two main out of town employment sites, and the villages on the way.
Call for an alternative to the Cambridge South West (Hauxton) Park & Ride
How to let the Greater Cambridge Partnership's Executive Board know what you think of the plan.
What’s at the top of the urban transport hierarchy?
How closely do you think highway planners and engineers adhere to this?
Who’ll pay for the transport from Essex’s new town?
Somebody should be obligated to pay to provide really good public transport.
Learning from Oslo, the European Green Capital
We need a plan for our region, not just Cambridge, that is bigger and more holistic than anything produced to date.
How to transform a city at a pace people can cope with
The Greater Cambridge Partnership would do well to talk with the team at Leeds City Council
We need to be ambitious in North East Cambridge
A new urban hub would alleviate pressure within the existing medieval centre, and offer alternative spaces
Biomedical Campus and GCP have some explaining to do
GCP needs to come and talk to all of the affected communities around the Campus – now
“Technology is the new asphalt” – Inspiration from Eddington and Las Vegas
How technology could be transformational and sustainable for the whole region
East West Rail: Final nail in the coffin for the Cambourne busway?
There is an obvious conflict with the Greater Cambridge Partnership’s flagship project, the Cambourne–Cambridge Busway.
Getting transport right is crucial to a sustainable housing strategy
Let's hope politicians share this sense of urgency and support radical but practical changes along the lines we have suggested.
How can Cambridge City Council reconcile social equity with sustainability?
We are still planning and building as if the future will be only slightly different from 30 years ago.
Smarter Cambridge Transport’s Housing Strategy Response
We're asking the local councils to be more ambitious in their Housing Strategy and include issues to do with transport.
£40m spent so far on transport schemes: where has it all gone?
The biggest problem stems from an accounting practice that makes a hard distinction between capital and operating expenditure.
For the Great and the Good, the answers are always in the next report
Answers are always promised, but when these arrive, they resolve little and pose more questions.
Designing a Park & Ride service where everyone wins
‘Travel hubs’, a few miles out, require far less capital expense, and give better access to the old, the young, those without cars and those who simply don’t wish to drive.
Call for an alternative approach to the Cambourne–Cambridge Busway
How to let the Greater Cambridge Partnership's Executive Board know what you think of the plan.
What is a liveable neighbourhood?
Liveable neighbourhoods mean stronger communities and better quality of life for all who live in them.
How can we improve mobility in the city centre?
Would excluding motor traffic from more of the city centre make it more accessible, more enjoyable and safer?
What kind of city centre do you want for Cambridge?
Start thinking and discussing with friends and colleagues what kind of city centre you want for Cambridge.
A perspective from Leeds
Trying to figure out why transport economics so often fails to feed good policies to politicians...
Three new Cambridges by 2050, but no credible plan to cope
How did our local politicians allow us to be steamrollered into accepting this scale of growth?
Station Square final phase: fiasco or redemption?
There is one last chance to make this space right. People need to lobby Brookgate now.
Response to the Waterbeach New Town planning applications
Smarter Cambridge Transport supports the relocation of the railway station as being the only practical way to improve access and facilities for the full range of users
Response to the CPIER Interim Report
The Smarter Cambridge Transport response to the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Independent Economic Review's interim report.
Response to Cambridge South East Transport Study (A1307) Consultation 2018
The full response to the consultation: why Smarter Cambridge Transport supports most of the short-term measures proposed (some with modifications), but does not support any of the three long-term strategies proposed.
Start with the quick wins
Let's see action on interventions that can make a difference now, while the Combined Authority gets the longer term strategy right.
Property developers must do better
It's almost as if a deliberate effort has been made to put off every mode of transport which we should be encouraging.
Let’s have a Big Data Dig
GCP indicate that they will publish the raw data from their recent traffic survey in 2018. Why is it taking so long to release?
Fixing the Grafton Area
The Grafton Centre itself is undergoing a facelift, but the area needs more than that. These are some additional ideas we’ve submitted to the consultation.
A chance to say what you think
The new Greater Cambridge Partnership’s Big Conversation is a welcome initiative, even if it must be their last chance to get things right.
Response to SPD for land north of Cherry Hinton
With these additions to the SPD this development could radically transform the connectivity and quality of life in Cherry Hinton, Teversham and Fulbourn.