Agenda and minutes

Minutes agreed.

i)             Accordia Bridge, presented by  Chair of Group, Dr Nigel Harris.

ii)            Cycle Expo

·       Cycle Expo (Mike Davies). This is the largest cycle conference in Europe and the organisers are hoping to come to Cambridge next year and stage the event in the days leading up to the arrival of the Tour de France (3-4^th July 2014). 500 delegates would be expected to attend, with the Corn Exchange and Guildhall proposed as the venues. This would be an opportunity for Cambridge to showcase all its cycling-related projects, although a financial commitment is being sought from the County and City Council to cover the cost of the venue hire. The cost of this would be £10,500. This would not be a publically open event and it is anticipated that Cambridge would be repaid with a number of free tickets to the conference.

The Group discussed the £5000 grant request and concluded that although they were supportive in principle, there was a need to balance risk with profit. Although all agreed that Cambridge would benefit from hosting such an event, it was felt that the provision of such a grant would be inappropriate if it was likely that the organisers would make a significant profit.

ACTON: Mike Davies to discuss the Cycle Expo grant proposal with the organisers and reach an agreement on likely profit and the underwriting of risk.

·       Pedestrian bridge over Hobson’s Conduit – presented by Dr Nigel Harris (Chair, Accordia Bridge Group).

Cllr Cantrill declared that in his role as Councillor, he had been involved in a number of meetings on this issue with Accordia residents.

Dr Harris described how the Accordia development is bound on its western edge by Hobson’s Brook and that a bridge would allow pedestrian access to the other side where the community garden etc. could be reached more easily. Outline planning permission has been approved and fundraising has been sought from the grant committees of various local companies. According to Dr Harris, the County’s Rights of Way Officer has expressed his support for the bridge. Residents hope the bridge will be adopted.

The Group are being asked to support a grant for 15% of the £18,000 cost (£2,875)

The Group were informed that as part of the outline planning consent, the bridge would include a kissing gate in order to inhibit cycle traffic. This raises concerns regarding parents with pushchairs and wheelchair users being excluded from using the bridge. It was felt alternative measures of inhibiting cyclists such as the addition of Traffic Regulation signage would be preferable.

The Group decided to approve the funding subject to conditions specifying its compliance with certain City Council policies, and its provision of appropriate wheelchair access.

Officers are waiting for the announcement on the Cycle Ambition Grant for funding totalling £4million. This would be to fund ambitious segregation schemes on various roads within the city such as Huntingdon Road and Trumpington Road. Only an Authority within the City Deal can make a bid and although the message from the DFT is viewed as encouraging, the formal announcement has yet to be made.

Officers are also continuing to progress an extensive programme of ongoing projects.

·       Joint Cycleways Programme.

·       The work at Downham’s Lane has finally begun and will provide a new right of way for pedestrians and cyclists as well as a much improved link with a widened cycle path around the corner leading to Hawkins Road to reduce conflict between cyclists.

·       Radegund Road/Perne Road improvements. Total budget £413,000. This will include changes to the roundabout and reduction in the carriageway width to improve the safety for cyclists as this junction is within the city’s top 10 accident hot spots. An off-road segregated route will also be provided but will need additional consultation and time needed to review the feedback. The DFT funding is time constrained to the end of this calendar year. Modelling work is being carried out to determine whether congestion will be increased. Approval will be via Environment Scrutiny Committee and County Cabinet.

·       Green Dragon Bridge. Consultation will be conducted on the various options in order to reduce conflict between cyclists and pedestrians. It is proposed that the curve of the bridge is removed and the remaining space is returned to Stourbridge Common. This will not obstruct the Jubilee Cycleway and will instead join it.

·       Jesus Green path. Consultation will be carried out regarding improvements to its overall condition and changes to the width.

·       Fen Road. Improvements for cyclists are proposed in relation to the railway crossing.

·       City Centre cycle parking. Consultation is due to start in mid-July until the end of August. Off-street provision needs to be increased by 1/3 and there are plans to break through and extend the Grand Arcade cycle park into the currently underused Magistrates’ car park. Officers have met with Station Cycles who are amenable to the proposal and to its management. The Operational Manager at the Grand Arcade is also positive. Further discussions, work and a review of costs are needed before the scheme goes before Environment Scrutiny Committee in October. A key risk is the possibility of delay due to agreement needed on changes to traffic regulations and the advertising conducted by the County Council. Cllr Ward added that this may need a Revenue Bid due to the loss in parking revenue. Cllr Rosenstiel added that this may also be an issue for the Licensing Committee.

·       On-street cycle racks/capacity. The design of the Downing Street racks has been amended in order to improve locking options and reduce any trip hazard. There is a proposal to install up to 7 of these high capacity racks at the end of Christ’s Lane. The consultation will include a QR code and a web link for further details.

·         NW University Site, Primary Road

·         NIAB (Darwin Green 1)

·         University Technical College

CR outlined the proposals for the development for the NW area of the city. Which would bring a new vehicular through route from Madingley Road to Histon Road.

·       NW Cambridge, University site. This has now received Outline planning approval and some details are now coming forward as part of the Reserved Matters. The primary roads through the site, linking Madingley Rd with Huntingdon Road, are likely to have high vehicular use at peak hours. The developers are proposing uni-directional dutch style cycle lanes, segregated from traffic and pedestrians. The proposal is to set these back from the carriageway as some officers felt that this would keep the road looking narrow and so encourage low speeds. The challenge will be in establishing priority over side roads, keeping the paths uni-directional and making sure cyclists can easily access and exit them.

·       NIAB (Darwin Green 1). This has not yet been given outline approval but is expected to go to committee soon.  It is expected that the primary road will also have high vehicular use as it provides a new route from Huntingdon Road to Histon Road.  The provision for cyclists proposed differs significantly from that for the University site. Enhanced/hybrid cycle lanes have already been implemented at the beginning of the primary road at the Huntingdon Road end as part of the NIAB frontage site. It is proposed that these lanes will continue part of the way into the Darwin Green 1 site here and at the Histon Road end but not through the main part of the site. CR was of the opinion that these should continue through the site but developers and urban design officers were concerned that this would increase speeds as the carriageway would feel too wide to maintain the 20mph speed limit. A segregated orbital cycle route will be provided on the NW edge of the site linking Huntingdon and Histon Road and a strategic cycle route will also be provided across the site linking to Windsor Road.

Cllr Cantrill enquired as to how cycle movements from NW Cambridge into the city centre would be managed. CR responded that links would be provided to Storey’s Way and a toucan crossing across Madingley Road to the West Cambridge site and onto the Coton footpath via JJ Thompson Avenue is proposed as well as a toucan crossing to the orbital route linking with the NIAB site. As part of the NW Cambridge section 106 agreement funding had also been provided to complete the Madingley Road cycle scheme from the Observatory to the new junction.

The group discussed the West Cambridge section 106 related cycle route which was now proposed to be via Sidgwick Avenue rather than Queens’ Green.  All agreed the issues relating to Sidgewick Avenue are key and will need to be addressed.

·       Cambridge UTC. This new building on Robinson Way was given planning approval today. CR expressed her disappointment that the poor pedestrian and cycle access to the site was not resolved.

·       Page to Performance – ‘Why We Ride’ film.

ACTION: Clare Rankin to circulate the web link to the Group.

Date of next meeting – Proposed date Wednesday, 30th October.