The St Ives Greenway will be a new or improved active travel route that will make it easier for those walking, cycling and, where appropriate horse riding to travel between St Ives into Cambridge.
The route is one of twelve proposed greenways and will run past several rural settlements, including Fen Drayton, Over, Swavesey, Northstowe, Oakington, Cottenham and Histon.
The proposals involve a series of upgrades to the existing footpaths, byways and carriageways in these areas to connect them to the existing provision alongside the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway.
The proposals will make it easier to travel in both a pleasant and sustainable way into and out of Cambridge and to enjoy our countryside for leisure purposes. They will also help to make local journeys such as school and nursery runs safer and easier.
Progress
A number of sections along the St Ives Greenway have been identified as quick win schemes and have already been delivered using pre-allocated GCP funding. These quick wins include:
- Girton to Oakington link.
- Willingham improvements to Busway link.
- Rampton, Reynolds' Drove link.
We consulted on the Oakington to Cottenham spur and the Over and Fen Drayton spurs between Monday 6 February and Friday 31 March 2023. We'll share further updates on this in due course.
We're continuing flood monitoring work in the Swavesey area.
Due to rising construction costs, we are pausing work on a proposed on the Over spur as agreed by the board at their meeting in September.
Route details
The St Ives Greenway will run for 12.2 miles and include 4.6 miles of additional pathway.
The route starts in St Ives, alongside the existing Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, before passing RSPB Fen Drayton. From here, there is a spur to Fen Drayton which will utilise the existing byway along Hollywell Ferry Road to connect into the local village.
From here, the St Ives Greenway continues east towards Swavesey, Longstanton and the new town of Northstowe. Within this section there will be a spur to Over, which will look to upgrade an existing footpath, as well as a link to Rampton.
Between Oakington and Cottenham there will be a further link which will better connect these two villages to the busway and to each other.
The St Ives Greenway then proceeds onwards towards Histon, with a spur to Girton en route. It then enters Cambridge, passing Cambridge Regional College and Cambridge Science Park, before ending at Cambridge North railway station and the Chisholm Trail.
Key benefits
- Green active travel into and out of Cambridge for those walking, cycling and horse riding .
- Easy and safe travel to workplaces, local schools and colleges, shops and transport hubs.
- New links to make it more accessible from local centres
- Easy access to RSPB Fen Drayton