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Multi-storey car park on West Cambridge site

We the undersigned petition the council We the undersigned petition the Council to convene a Development Control Forum in relation to planning application 16/1134/OUT Revised Outline Planning Proposal for the West Cambridge Site, Madingley Road, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. We are particularly concerned by the proposal contained within the Outline Plan to build a multi-storey carpark for 450 cars on the corner of Clerk Maxwell Road (CMR) and Madingley Road, and by the applicant’s plan to require all cars using the carpark and all service vehicles visiting the eastern end of the site to enter and depart via CMR.

The grounds for asking for a Forum on this application are as follows:

1. The creation of a multi-storey carpark conflicts with Cambridge Local Plan Policy 80, which states that ‘Development will be supported where it demonstrates prioritisation of access is by walking, cycling and public transport, and is accessible for all’.

2. The location is inappropriate for siting a multi-storey carpark. CMR and Madingley Road are residential roads, and the building would be right on the edge of a conservation area. The first thing visitors approaching the site from the city will see is a multi-storey carpark, which would be an underwhelming introduction to a ‘world-class facility’ and out of keeping aesthetically with its surroundings.

3. The applicant has offered to fund the construction of cycle paths down both sides of Clerk Maxwell Road, which would leave insufficient space to build a feeder lane in CMR for vehicles to queue to get into the car park, adding to congestion and pollution on the corner and creating the possibility that cars will back up onto Madingley Road.

4. On 1 July 2020, planning approval was granted for the construction of 35 dwellings on the site of the former Cocks and Hens Tennis Club on CMR. The entrance to this development, where an open play area will be provided for young children and teenagers, is opposite the proposed entrance to the multi-storey car park. This conjunction of traffic and play area is potentially unsafe.

We would ask the applicant to give consideration to either removing the car park from its plan or moving it to the western end of the site adjacent to the M11, where fewer people live, and from there, if necessary, run visitors round the site on electric buggies. If that is not possible, the applicant should accept that it is responsible for the traffic generated by the West Cambridge site development and arrange for access/egress to the car park and to the buildings at the eastern end of the site to be directed via JJ Thompson Road, rather than utilising CMR as its service road. In essence, the plan brings traffic from the M11 and A428 further down Madingley Road and into the city than is necessary and is an imposition on local residents and contrary to the public policy of encouraging cycling, walking and the use of public transport.

This ePetition ran from 05/12/2020 to 15/12/2020 and has now finished.

39 people signed this ePetition.