News
Proposal for major investment to unlock thousands of new homes published
Published 27 May 2022
Proposals for a multi-million-pound investment to help fund the relocation of Waterbeach Station to unlock thousands of new homes have been published.
In papers to the Joint Assembly, the Greater Cambridge Partnership has set out plans to provide £20million to meet the £37million cost of the relocation of the railway station.
An application for up to 4,500 new homes as part of the Waterbeach New Town development was approved by South Cambridgeshire District Council last year. But the scheme is subject to the delivery of a new station, and it cannot be delivered under a traditional planning gain arrangement, more widely known as developer contributions.
The GCP has put forward a plan to plug the funding gap to enable the station to be relocated by 2025 – unlocking the delivery of thousands of vital homes while also providing fast and frequent public transport links to help cut congestion and pollution.
The station is complimentary to the GCP’s Waterbeach to Cambridge scheme - a new segregated public transport route and active travel links to help people travel quickly, reliably and more sustainably along the busy and expanding A10 corridor.
The proposal, which would be subject to public consultation, will be presented to the Joint Assembly and then the Executive Board for a decision in July.
Other papers to the Joint Assembly – which meets on June 9 – include updates on Cambridge South East Transport (CSET) and residents parking schemes.
A targeted public consultation on a short section of the CSET busway and active travel route at the site of a new care village at Stapleford is set to be held this year.
The Executive Board agreed the route and approved the submission of a Transport and Works Act Order in July 2021.
But a planning application for a retirement care village along a small segment of the agreed route – which was initially refused by South Cambridgeshire District Council – was approved by the planning inspector on appeal in December 2021.
The GCP has worked with the landowner to identify a solution and members of the Joint Assembly will consider two options with minor deviations of the busway route which would help to transform the journeys of thousands of people every day.
A vision for parking in Cambridge has also been set out in a paper to the Joint Assembly – with ambitions to manage parking levels in the city centre as more people switch to active travel and buses for journeys in and around the city as part of the wider City Access programme.
It sets out the need for additional parking controls and is supported by the feedback to public engagement carried out by the GCP earlier in the year. Almost 2,000 pins were dropped on an interactive map by people to outline the challenges and issues they face with on-street parking across Cambridge.
An initial list of schemes have been outlined for six areas of Cambridge:
- Romsey West
- Elizabeth
- Romsey East
- York
- Hurst Park
- Wilberforce
Subject to approval by the Executive Board, work to design each scheme – which could improve parking access and road safety – would begin immediately.
Public consultation and delivery of the schemes would be staggered with the aim of implementing them within two years. A second tranche of schemes is likely to be considered by the Executive Board next year.
To read the Joint Assembly papers visit the Cambridgeshire County Council website.