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Active Travel – Specific Village Project consultation

Active travel is about helping people who want to walk or cycle as their first choice for short journeys. Last year it became clear that Station Road (particularly from the War Memorial to High Street) could be so much safer for cyclists if through traffic was reduced.

A proposal on how this might happen has now been published for consultation, and involves making major changes near the Baptist Church. Details can be found via consultcambs.uk.engagementhq.com/cats and there’s a map of the proposals at tinyurl.com/hwtt9cu8

The County Council are clear that this consultation aims to share the proposals for identified schemes with the wider public and to gauge their support and feedback for each option.

The plan is a real opportunity to reduce the amount of through traffic down Station Road which will make it both safer for cyclists and also a nicer place to live. Access will, of course, be maintained – just requiring a little more thinking until we get used to it.

However the plan, as is, would cause the loss of the bus stops by and opposite the Baptist Church. That’s not good.

But, we can support the idea, and ask for how it is to be made to happen to be changed. Access only (except for buses, cyclists, of course) from both ends (from Chequers Road to the War Memorial) would work, and could be enforced by cameras. Or perhaps a similar control could be implemented at the War Memorial end only permitting buses into and out of that portion of Station Road.

There’s a survey here – tinyurl.com/vtjvsbfy – do have your say!

Any projects which go ahead will be subject to further stakeholder engagement and public consultation either prior to installation as part of a Traffic Regulation Order or during any trial scheme, if implemented under an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order.

 

21 comments on “Active Travel – Specific Village Project consultation

  1. Has any thought been given to how this might affect the use of the Baptist Church as a polling station? Often people pop in to vote on their way to/from work. If there is an element of inconvenience is there a chance that some might not bother?

  2. Any considered measure to tackle the through traffic problem is welcome and therefore, I support it. This will hopefully make Station Road a more pleasant place to live, reduce pollution and be safer for pedestrians and cyclists. There is going to be a problem for the Petrol Station and for its customers.

    • Cedrid, Im not sure it will impact the Petrol Station at all, as cars will still be able to drive both ways down that section of Station Road, with access retained both at The Boot and at the War Memorial.

  3. There are a lot of negatives with this plan as it is proposed. Access to the Baptist church will be more difficult, the loss of bus stops and the increased traffic exiting station road by the war memorial. That junction is a already difficult to get off and its easy to miss cyclists coming down the B1049 with the all the signage in that area.
    Station road doesn’t need any traffic calming now as there seems to be parked cars all the way along it.

  4. Could you please explain in words how you would enter and leave Poplar Road by car as the proposed plans do not make it clear to me.

    • No changes to Poplar Road itself – only change will be if you want to go north to Cottenham when you’ll have to go via Chequers Road

  5. Also concerned about access from both ends of the village to Firs House surgery and the pharmacy in Station road. Also as we saw in the previous effort to reduce traffic in Station Road, it will have the effect of increasing traffic loading on all the other roads, including the B1049 (already very busy) and the other parts of Station Road. Also if the B1049 is blocked for any reason there will be NO alternative route through the village… pretty worrying in terms of congestion and pollution. For cyclists it would surely be better to have a dedicated separate cycle path (not necessarily on Station Rd) to get through the village.

  6. Has any thought been made as to where the traffic will go? Just pushing it onto the B1049 isn’t the answer, why should the people living on there have to put up with more traffic, it’s heavy and noisy enough already.

    To me the solution is to make travel through our village less attractive, not to force traffic to use another part of it.

    Reduce the lanes into the village to single width with priority for traffic leaving the village like they’ve done in Oakington. Make it more attractive to avoid Histon and Impington.

  7. With the school and geographer closing there is not and never has been an issue with this area – please focus your energy in an area that needs adjusting rather than waste money in a junction/road that never has been a problem – I’ve lived in this village over 45 years and there’s never been an issue. Please don’t waste money on an area that you don’t live by and don’t know the actual situation. Please sort the absolute chaos and danger on the main road where the new school is. This is such a dangerous and ill thought out place for a school and in my book it’s a major accident waiting to happen. Please don’t waste your money here but at the school on the B1049. My blood is boiling with people who don’t live in the village who think they can sort an issue that is not there just like Bell Hill. If used to be a way to stop people going to the village centre to access the far part of the village. Now it is queuing traffic and extra cars going up a very dangerous road – windmill hill where it was never necessary. Please leave our village alone Nd spend money where it is desperately needed not here. Fuming

  8. It seems that the poor motorist is again having to panda to cyclists. By making motorists go round the proposed new route it will only increase the carbon emissions thus increasing the risk of climate change. It will also make it more awkward for access to all the side streets. Why cant things be left as they are as it works well

  9. A lot of elderly people don’t cycle they drive or use the bus and to do away with the bus stop will be a great inconvenience. Also if you drive around the area you find many cyclists do not use the cycle lanes which have cost a fortune to install!

  10. I don’t feel this is the right place for the restrictions. We do need to make cycling around the village safer and hence more attractive – but this stretch of road has not normally been a problem. The stretch of Station Road from The Boot to the War Memorial is where the action is needed (all cyclists will recognise the experience of being squeezed between the kerb and parked cars by oncoming traffic on the wrong side of the road). In my experience most of the cars travelling south down that stretch of Station Road turn south onto the B1049 at the War Memorial rather than continuing down the rest of Station Road – so these restrictions may not have much of an impact. The changes to the junction made a few years ago greatly reduced the number of cars continuing in this direction down Station Road. This section of Station Road has good wide footpaths and plenty of space for cyclists.

    For a cyclist the junction of Station Road and Chequers Road is however dangerous for those cycling southwards down Station Road, whilst cars are sweeping round the corner into Chequers Road. A Red painted Cycle lane across that junction could help.

    Im very concerned about the loss of the Bus Stop outside the Baptist Church. The proposal is addressing only the active and mobile who are able to cycle or walk. The elderly and those less mobile are invisible in this proposal. We cannot have an Active Travel upgrade that makes things worse for that group of people. Any alternative location for the bus stop will add a very significant walk for someone with less mobility.

    In general, I do feel we need to be radical, and car drivers (I include myself) need to get used to journeys taking longer so that access for pedestrians and cyclists is safer and easier. But this is not the right place. Id favour one -way down the War Memorial to The Boot section and better traffic light timings to make is easier to get onto the B1049 at the Green junction.

    • Exactly what Sue F says. I’m a cyclist and this proposal seems mostly pointless.

      Sue rightly points out that the Chequers/Station junction is the problem – yet another stupid Cambridgeshire example of a natural T junction altered for the sole benefit of cars making it a danger for others as there is no way to signal “striaght on” when straight on is round the corner and turning left is straight on.

  11. I think this would be a great enhancement of the village, hopefully by preventing through traffic and rat running, the whole length of Station road/ Cambridge Road will be improved for cycling and walking with little inconvenience to drivers. The worst case extra distance travelled is only less than half a mile adding only 1 minute to car journeys.
    I’ve seen many families with young children cycling on this route in lockdown with the reduced traffic which had decreased as traffic has increased. Reducing traffic on this route will allow many children to cycle or walk safely to Histon Brook Junior School. Station Road should also be limited to 20mph.

    • The whole village (perhaps par the 1049) should be 20mph, but I don’t believe it’s possible to drive station road above 20 anyway – the problem is not speed but width, and while I see the “cutting the rat run” sentiment, I think the ease of driving the 1049 does that by design.

      The speed cars can sweep of the 1049 onto Station Road was not addressed (and is not addressed by this). That is a current real danger for anyone cycling south, and more so if cyclists have the enticement of a “safe street” just so long as they quickly dart across the invisible oncoming trafic.

  12. I understand that Station road being used as a rat run to avoid various other holdups on Water lane/Bridge road is an issue but I cannot see anything positive about this proposed scheme.

    I am a resident of Saffron Road. I walk, cycle and try to use my car as little as possible but there are times when I need to leave the village. This scheme will essentially leave me with only one option for joining Water Lane/Bridge Road and that will be at the war memorial junction where the traffic is prone to backing up already. If you intend to implement this scheme then please consider adding traffic light control to the memorial junction so I and others can access the main traffic flow without putting our lives at risk. This scheme will also add more traffic to the Rose and Crown junction which can already back up through the high street at times.

    The idea of suspending the bus stop opposite the Baptist church is ridiculous. It will leave a huge part of Histon without a bus stop within easy walking distance. Our nearest will now be the high street. I am all for using (and do) public transport but this scheme is a deterrent.

    Anyone needing to access the various businesses and health related practices on station road, Firs surgery, dentist, pharmacy and baptist church who are unable to walk that far will now need to access the main flow of traffic on water lane/bridge road to get there and the same on the return journey. Also thought must be given to people needing to ‘U turn’ to get back down station road.

    The proposal for water filled barriers will frankly just be an eyesore in a fairly picturesque village. This whole proposal risks dividing the village in two with the only access between parts bein a busy main road..

  13. Yet another crackpot idea to unnecessarily spend scarce resources. No thought (or concept/understanding whatsoever) by the persons behind this idea of the detrimental effects of implementing such a plan – as articulated in the comments above. If whoever it is is desperate to spend some money, tell them to have another go at improving the various road surfaces around H&I that have been made worse thanks to the resurfacing works carried out by CCC over the past couple of years or so, particularly for cyclists.

  14. I should also like to say that this is a terribly consultation. The feedback survey is ridiculous – I’m not going to look through 20+ PDFs and fully understand them all. And then the feedback is only on a scale of 1 to 5. What’s the point? They need to be reading these comments and those on village groups instead to gage accurate local opinions.

  15. An ill thought out proposal. A good start for cycles on Station Road would be a smooth surface and a uniform road width between the High Street and the memorial. The widening of the pavement on this section was recently done very poorly so that the road now varies in width making it difficult and dangerous for both cyclists and car drivers.

  16. I and my family are totally opposed to these proposed changes to Station Road between the Memorial and Chequers Road, it has been stated by many other residents there are no problems with the present layout apart from the Chequers Road junction. Doing away with the two Bus stops would create real problems for the many older residents who live in this area. Blocking off the end near the memorial would be an eye sore and create more traffic through the whole length as all the vehicles from Poplar Rd, Loves Close, School Lane, Kay Hitch way, Baptist Church, The Firs and all the various business’s would be forced to enter and exit through Chequers Road. Please think again Councillors to this poorly thought out scheme.

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