Save the Green Corridor! Cambourne to Cambridge – bus lane not busway

Save the Green Corridor! Cambourne to Cambridge – bus lane not busway

Started
24 August 2022
Petition to
The Greater Cambridge Partnership
Signatures: 20,993Next Goal: 25,000
63 people signed this week

Why this petition matters

This petition is presented by Cambridge Past, Present and Future, and supported by an alliance of organisations including the Parish Councils of Coton and Hardwick, The Coton Busway Action Group, Coton Loves Pollinators and Save the West Fields. 

The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) want to build a new road from Cambourne to Cambridge (C2C). The road is only for buses (known as a busway). The proposed route will cut through fields, woodland and an ancient orchard. It will irreversibly damage landscape, views and habitats. It will bring unjustified urbanisation to the village of Coton – and it will cost a minimum of £200 million.

This C2C off-road busway would be a tragedy …

For wildlife and local ecology …

  • causes significant destruction of scrub, meadow and woodland habitats
  • desecrates an ancient orchard – where no amount of new planting can compensate for the loss
  • bisects priority Green Corridors – which are key to ecological recovery
  • carves up Green Belt land with restrictive covenants in favour of the National Trust

For local heritage and local people …

  • ruins some of loveliest, most unspoiled views anywhere around Cambridge
  • encroaches on paths used by walkers
  • imposes unjustified urbanisation on the rural, historic village of Coton

For taxpayers and commuters …

  • does not make journey times to Cambridge significantly faster – a difference of only 1.5–3.5 minutes between on-road and off-road routes
  • does not provide easy journeys to actual destinations apart from the West Cambridge Campus
  • does not take into account current road usage data or evolving working–commuting patterns
  • has a minimum price tag of £200 million and a benefit–cost ratio of only 0.43 – so is poor value for taxpayers' money

But it doesn’t have to be that way. 

There is a viable alternative route, along existing transport corridors which:

•   is less damaging to the environment

•   is far less expensive

•   also offers better journeys to actual destinations.

The new bus road has been consistently rejected by the general public at every stage of consultation. And yet the GCP continues to pursue this option, comparing it only to the option of doing almost nothing.

We support improved transport networks around the fast-developing city of Cambridge, but do not accept that this off-road busway is the best or only solution.

We call on the Greater Cambridge Partnership/Cambridgeshire County Council to listen to public opinion, save the green corridor, spare the orchard and find a better solution. 

Find out more about the C2C off-road scheme and other ways you can support this campaign.

 

 

63 people signed this week
Signatures: 20,993Next Goal: 25,000
63 people signed this week
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Decision-Makers

  • The Greater Cambridge Partnership