Transport and traffic are two of the hottest topics of debate in Cambridge. So I know there are lots of ideas for improving transport. Now it looks as though we may be able to put some of them into practice.

By law (Town & Country Planning Act 1990), councils may require money from developers to offset the impact of their developments. As this is laid out in Section 106 of the Act, the contribution is dubbed ‘Section 106 money’ by councillors. I do not know what the developers call it.

Cambridgeshire County Council is asking us for our ideas on how this money should be spent in the south of Cambridge. Projects should ‘mitigate the effect of the additional transport-related movements from new development’. The officers have come up with some proposals already:

• steps and cycle channels from the Hills Road Bridge to the Guided Busway cycle route
• a clean-up of signage on the ring road

They are asking us for further suggestions, and we shall be discussing proposals at the next South Area Committee on 5th March (Cherry Hinton Village Centre).

So please let me have your brilliant ideas – come to the meeting too, if you can, as it is open to everyone. I shall post an agenda on this site nearer the time, so you can see where the discussion on transport plans is. If you’d like to join in the discussion, why not post a comment here?

OK, I’ll get things started:

My idea is signage and low-level lighting on the Guided Bus cycleway.

What’s yours?

Hills Road Sixth Form College recently applied for planning permission to demolish their existing sports pavilion on Sedley Taylor Road and build a new one. The application was considered at the recent South Area meeting on 7th November.

Many residents of Sedley Taylor Road have concerns about parking and access to the existing sports pavilion and playing fields, and fear that the new pavilion could increase these difficulties. There has been a well supported petition, and residents met the College before the application to express their concerns. So parking and traffic were very much in councillors’ minds at the meeting, and although the application was approved, one of the conditions was that the College submit a travel plan including measures to discourage private motor vehicles and to encourage other means of transport. The travel plan has now been received. Here it is: HRSFCtravelplan

I have asked that it come back to the Area Meeting for consideration.The next meeting is on 9^th January, at the Cherry Hinton Village Centre and begins at 7.30 p.m. The travel plan is the third item on the agenda.

The next South Area meeting on 7th November will include a discussion on police priorities. The meeting’s at the Cherry Hinton Village Centre and open to everyone. It starts at 7.30 and we anticipate the policing discussion will begin by 8 p.m. You can view an agenda  for this meeting on the City Council website, as well as the police crime statistics and reports on the last few months.

The police come to the South Area meetings once every two months to put forward priorities for the next period and hear views from the public, including suggestions for new priorities.At the last meeting, we asked them to prioritise mini-moto anti-social behaviour, and it will be interesting to see what the police have to say about that.

One priority I intend to suggest is driving behaviour near schools. I regularly receive complaints about motorists parking on corners, on yellow zigzags, or blocking the road outside schools – creating a very hazardous environment for everyone, especially children.

If you are concerned about a particular type of crime or nuisance, or have something you would like to propose as a priority, come along to the meeting if you can. It starts at 7.30 p.m. and the police priority setting is the first major item after public questions. If you can’t make it, please pass your idea to me or one of the other councillors for Queen Edith’s, Cherry Hinton or Trumpington and we can put it forward on your behalf, with your permission.

The meeting will also be discussing where to put new CAB advice hubs (see previous post). After that it will determine three planning applications:

11/0900/FUL Hills Road Sixth Form College Sports Ground, Sedley Taylor Road (a new pavilion)

11/0873/FUL 12a Drayton Close (annexe to existing residence

11/0202/FUL 31 Beaumont Road (change of use from private dwelling house in multiple occupation)

The next meeting of the South Area Committee, on 7th November, will determine a planning application for a new sports pavilion at Hills Road VI Form College. You can see details of the application here:

11/0900/FUL Hills Road Sixth Form College Sports Ground, Sedley Taylor Road

There are two other planning applications: one in Drayton Close and one in Beaumont Road. You can see a full agenda on the Cambridge City Council website.

Work has begun on the improvement scheme for the Wulfstan Way shops (see previous posts) and if you have visited the area recently you’ll know that the excavators have arrived! Workers and council officers were there too when I was shopping this afternoon.

The scheme will provide more attractive paving and pathways better linking the shops on one side of the street to the other, and there will also be a community noticeboard, extra parking, seating and lighting. Some money has been allocated to public art, and we are hoping to work with local schoolchildren to come up with ideas and designs.

There will be some minor disruption while the works take place, but I am assured there will be pedestrian access at all times. I hope all will go smoothly, but if you have any questions or comments, please contact me and I will liaise with the site foreman or the Council.

Cambridgeshire library managers will be visiting the South Area meeting at the Queen Edith Chapel in Wulfstan Way this Wednesday. They’ll be doing a presentation on the Conservative administration’s library review and seeking the views of the public on the planned changes as well as ideas on the library service and its future viability. The Conservative councillor in charge of the library service has been invited but at this stage we are not certain if he is intending to come. As many local people will know, our own branch library, Rock Road Library, is under threat of closure or downgrade, so please come and speak up.

There’ll also be a presentation on the City Council’s new recycling services (batteries, other plastics, small electrical goods) as described in my previous post ‘Cambridge recycling just gets better and better‘.

and three planning applications:

65 Cavendish Avenue (11/0262/FUL)

37 Monkswell (11/0242FUL)

1 Mowbray Road (11/0535FUL)

You can read the full agenda here: http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/democracy/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=122&MId=374&Ver=4.

This Thursday’s South Area meeting (3rd March) has three planning applications. Here are the details, with links to the Council’s planning website, where you can read the applications, view the plans and see people’s comments and objections:1. A 5-bedroomed house next to The Cottage on Gazeley Road 10/1278/REM2.

1. A 5-bedroomed house next to The Cottage on Gazeley Road 10/1278/REM2.
2. A single-storey rear extension to 255 Hills Road 10/0996/FUL
3. Division of a property into two dwellings – 1a Orchard Estate 11/0003/FUL

As well as the planning applications, the meeting will be looking at some important issues, including how the police spend their time and how the City Council should regulate lap-dancing clubs. The meeting’s at Homerton College and starts at 7.30pm. It is open to everyone, but will be focussing on issues relevant to the south of Cambridge, Queen Edith’s, Cherry Hinton and Trumpington. You can view an agenda on the City Council website.

It was standing room only at Homerton College on Thursday as the Cambridge South Area Committee debated a planning application by Punch Taverns to demolish the Queen Edith Public House and replace it with housing. Seven councillors voted unanimously to throw out the application.  They insisted on the value of the pub to the community and the local economy, as well as the importance of pubs being ‘local’ in the true sense of the word, within walking distance of people’s homes.

Debate centred on whether the pub really does meet day-to-day needs and whether it is a community facility. We stressed the fact it is the only pub in the Queen Edith’s area, with the nearest alternatives being in Rock Road (both about a mile away) and that the road the pub is on, Wulfstan Way, has a very high number of elderly people who would find a mile-long walk difficult.

 

There were about 40 people at the meeting, and two people who spoke against the application, Ms Caroline Gohler on behalf of Cambridge Past Present and Future and Mr Philip Barnes on behalf of the pub landlord, his family and customers. A Mr Smith spoke as agent for Punch Taverns, the owners of the pub.

 

Speech at South Area on planning application to replace The Queen Edith with eight houses

Last Thursday’s Area Committee received a report on the plans for the Wulfstan Way shops and gave Council officers the green light to proceed with a range of improvements including new pathways, extra seating with public art, fresh parking spaces, a noticeboard and road safety enhancements.

It is hoped some of the changes will be in place in time for the Community Christmas Tree event on the 14th December.

The committee also approved a planning application for a new bungalow at the back of 71 Mill End Road.

Liberal Democrat Cambridge City Council has devolved some functions to local ‘area committees’, each covering a geographical quarter of the city. Queen Edith’s is part of the South Area, which also includes Cherry Hinton and Trumpington. The committee comprises the councillors for the three wards.

Last Thursday it met at Homerton College for the first time – a handy venue on the mainbus routes, but swelteringly hot last week. Fortunately chilled water and fans were close at hand.

For my sins, I have been elected to chair it for the coming municipal year, taking over from Trumpington councillor Andy Blackhurst who is chairing the Council’s Housing Management Board this year. Fortunately he is staying as vice-chair.

The first item of business was ‘Safer Neighbourhoods‘, a report by the local police on their activities and recommendations for priorities for the coming quarter. The meeting agreed to carry on with tackling anti-social behaviour in Paget and Foster Roads in Trumpington and in Tenby Close, Cherry Hinton. Following a request from Cllr Sheila Stuart, drug abuse in Hanover and Princess Courts (council flats in the northern part of Hills Road) were added.

We received a report about the Council’s revision of its Statement of Licensing Policy, which has to be renewed every three years, and a consultation on the same. The meeting did not give much detail about any changes, but was more a means of bringing the renewal to people’s attention. If you would like to see what is proposed, and comment, you can view the policy on the City Council’s website — any time up to 5th September.

More wonders of the web were presented by the Council’s planning officers in a Powerpoint presentation on a new virtual facility for viewing and tracking planning applications: Planning Public Access. You can view plans on line, comment on them, see what others have said about them,  and set up an email alert so you know when something changes. Use it at home, or if you prefer, at the Council’s Customer Service Centre on Rewgent Street, where planning officers are there to help form 10.30 till 3 p.m.

Community development grants were approved for  the following groups:

• Little Bunniers Mothers/ Carers Playgroup
• Trumpington Residents Association
• 2nd Cherry Hinton Guides
• Hanover and Princess Court Residents’ Association
• Trumpington Elderly Action Group
• Denis Wilson Court Social Club

There were two environmental improvement bids:

A topographical survey was agreed for the Wulfstan Way shopping parade, to take forward improvements (see my previous post on this).

The other bid was for traffic calming in the form of road humps in Clarendon Road and Shaftesbury Road, to stop speeding, alleged to be coming from the Government offices and Cambridge University Press. I am sorry to report that police checks demonstrated that there is indeed speeding taking place, 15% of the vehicles driving not just over 30 mph but over 40 mph, though it’s not proven who is speeding. Two cats were killed in one of the streets last year.

The chair of the Brooklands Avenue residents’ association, spoke in support of traffic calming. E-mails expressing opposition to traffic calming had been sent to councillors by C.U.P. and one of the residents of the street.

The committee considered that while they viewed the speeding with concern, other measures than speed humps should be considere, possibly a 20mph limit, flashing lights warning people of the speed limit or chicanes. Officers will report back at the next meeting.

Two planning applications were approved: a retrospective application for a tall fence at 54 Kelsey Crescent and two new houses at 102 Glebe Road (with conditions for new landscaping on the boundaries with neighbouring properties and for a ban on deliveries to the site during construction during the school rush hour).