Issues
This section lists issues - problems on the street network and related matters.
Issues always relate to some geographical location, whether very local or perhaps city-wide.
You can create a new issue using the button on the right.
Listed issues, most recent first, limited to the area of Waterbeach Cycling Campaign:
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Election campaign 2024
It is important that we engage with the candidates at each election, scrutinise their views, and press for commitments to active travel and sustainable transport.
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temporary fencing on Haling way
Temporary fencing, for no apparent purpose, that then becomes a hazard as it falls over or degrades.
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Planning application : 23/00872/REM Plaza adjacent to proposed primary school
Plaza adjacent to proposed primary school on key phase 1
Waterbeach Barracks Key Phase 1 Primary School Plaza Denny End Road Waterbeach Cambridgeshire CB25 9PA
South Cambridgeshire
Application reference : 23/00872/REM
I haven't spotted whatever it is that is supposed to provide "access for picking up and dropping off pupils". There seems to be a 5-Sheffield toastrack ("exact product TBC") on what looks like the 'drive' (next to 'He' which means heritage surface coarse asphalt). I do not see anything that would encourage use of Bakfiets etc.
Image is a crop from LANDSCAPE GENERAL ARRANGEMENT PLAN
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Social Media Hostility
I have noticed that especially since the congestion charge there has been a lot of aggression towards Camcycle in social media comments. Notably on Facebook, Nextdoor, etc. I am aware that angry aggressive people have always been on the internet but I do feel the level has increased since congestion charge notoriety, with many people's opinions degenerating into conspiracy theories about Camcycle and the council.
I do worry about the effect this can have on increasing "us vs them" mentality and increasing aggressive behaviour towards cyclists on the road.
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St John's Innovation Centre - Vitrum building
22/05108/SCRE | EIA screening opinion under the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 for the proposed development to provide up to 12,442 sqm of employment floorspace in a building up to 34 metres in height with associated car parking, cycle parking and landscaping. | Vitrum Building St Johns Innovation Park Cowley Road Cambridge Cambridgeshire CB4 0WS
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Election campaign 2023
It is important that we engage with the candidates at each election, scrutinise their views, and press for their commitments to cycling.
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Route for Festive Lights Ride 2022
We need to finalise the route for the Winter Lights ride on 10th Dec
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Dangerous to cross Milton Road diagonally at Toucan crossing
As the bridleway crosses Milton Road, it swaps sides of the busway, so most pedestrians and cyclists want to cross diagonally. However the toucan crossing only protects people crossing Milton Road. It doesn't stop busway traffic.
This is confusing and dangerous. When the road traffic stops at red lights, and the Toucan crossing turns green, it feels very safe to cross the busway. Yet buses can come from three directions (busway west, busway east, Milton Road south) at speeds of 30 mph.
Cyclists in particular are tempted to cross diagonally from north west to south east. Last week I saw a near accident.
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East Cambridgeshire campaigns
Campaigns to improve active travel provision in East Cambridgeshire.
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22/02520/FUL | Installation of 11 sculptures and 5 benches (temporary)
Proposed temporary installation of art structures than in some cases will create conflict and cause narrowing at certain points in the Cam tow path towards Waterbeach.
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Fen Rivers Way north of Bottisham Lock
Google Maps suggests that Fen Rivers Way from Bottisham Lock to the A1123 is cyclable. It isn't.
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Merlin Place – North East Cambridge
A developer called Kadans Science Partner is proposing to redevelop the Merlin Place site (currently home to the Taylor Vinters building) as part of the North East Cambridge scheme.
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Removing exclusionary barriers across Cambridgeshire
Camcycle's time and energy is consistently taken up removing exclusionary barriers (e.g. Biomedical Campus, A14 active travel bridges, Warren Road). We need to consider long-term ways to prevent new barriers going in and remove existing ones which prevent people of all ages and abilities cycling.
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Tagalongs, FollowMes and child-adult tandems/triplets
I'm writing an article for the next Camcycle magazine on family cycling options with pedalling kids (so FollowMe, Tagalong and tandems/triplets). Could anyone share their experiences of using these?
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Delivery robots
A pilot of delivery robots may be coming to Cambridgeshire.
What are our views/policies about delivery robots?
What do we know about other places they have been trialled?
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Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority
A new thread for discussions related to the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, the strategic transport authority for our region.
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21/04625/FUL Waterbeach - A10 bridge & Landbeach link
Change of use from agricultural land for the construction of an A10 bridge structure with associated earthworks embankment bridge landing, construction of a shared use route for non-motorised users between the Waterbeach Barracks site and Green End including a 3m shared footway cycleway and 2m grassed verge for equestrians and 1m grassed verge, hard and soft landscaping, lighting, construction compound and temporary haul roads
Land Between Green End And The Waterbeach Barracks Site Waterbeach Cambridge Cambridgeshire CB25 9PA
South Cambridgeshire
Application reference : 21/04625/FUL
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21/03983/FUL: alterations & change of use to 6 bed HMO (Sui Generis), 7 Kent Way
Part demolition of outbuildings, erection of single storey annexe and change of use to 6 bed HMO (Sui Generis) for 6 persons
7 Kent Way Cambridge CB4 2QY
Cambridge
Application reference : 21/03983/FUL
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Science Park road layout
Before the pandemic you could turn right here, now, any cyclist ends up on car-repelling paint with nowhere obvious to go.
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Open space S106 funding
Residents in particular parts of Cambridge are being asked to put forward proposals for improving open spaces and play areas via Cambridge City Council’s 2021 S106 funding round.
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Core Site - North East Cambridge
Anglian Water and Cambridge City Council, working with U+I and TOWN, are exploring the vision for a new sustainable urban quarter at the heart of the proposed new district of North East Cambridge.
The project is currently called the Core Site, North East Cambridge (shown on the attached map). The aim is to deliver over 5,000 new homes on the Core Site over the next 20 years, along with shops, workplaces, education, community and leisure facilities, and open spaces. This opportunity is enabled by the proposed relocation of Anglian Water’s Cambridge Waste Water Treatment Plant, with the support of Homes England, and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.
Cambridge City Council is currently bringing forward an Area Action Plan (AAP) for the wider district, within which the Core Site is located, which could deliver a total of 8,000 new homes in ‘an inclusive, walkable, low-carbon new city district with a lively mix of homes, workplaces, services and social spaces, fully integrated with surrounding neighbourhoods’. The Core Site has a key role to play in delivering this vision.
The landowners of the Core Site - Anglian Water and Cambridge City Council - have selected U+I, in partnership with TOWN, as master developers for the site will be working to bring forward proposals for the site and, eventually, a planning application.
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(A10 pedestrian and cycle route) of planning application S/0559/17/OL
The plans for the improved shared pavement between Waterbeach and Milton have been added to the planning portal. Planning application: S/0559/17/COND29
Also please note the A10 SLO for a reduction of the speed limit on these sections from 50mph to 40mph.https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/travel-roads-and-parking/roads-and-pathways/traffic-regulation-orders/permanent-traffic-regulation-orders#proposed-slo--reference-number-pr--------a---and-some-surrounding-roads-in-the-vicinity-of-milton--landbeach-and-waterbeach-18-0
From looking at the plans my main concernsNarrow sections - less than 3m wide, which is not LTN 1/20 compliant and very unambitious seeing as 11,000 homes are being built in Waterbeach.
The separation from the carriageway is also very unambitious at 0,5m and not a properly segregated verge. 0,5m is the absolute minimum suggested in LTN 1/20. 1m is the minimum recommended.
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Impington Village College Cycle Access
Access to Impington Village College has not been looked at in any detail since the college opened in 1939. What issues are there for cycling to the college? What opportunities are there to make improvements?
This map shows all issues, whether points, routes, or areas:
The most popular issues, based on the number of votes:
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Regional Campaigning
How can we support the growth of local initiatives ?
How can we overcome the division urban and rural cycling?
Would it be useful to establish a network of regional groups?
Could such a network become an interesting partner for the county planners?
Would politicians be able to hear us better if we speak from a position of regional awareness, a a group of groups?
Would it help the elected to understand that things are changing on our roads?
Could such a network support constituent groups, facilitate exchange between these groups, become a more important player in the national context?
Could such a network attract its own funding?
What would be a good name for such a grouping (NAMES ARE IMPORTANT)
We have CTC, Ely, A10 Corridor, Martin T thinking about something in Bury St Edmunds, "Routes around Chatteris", Wisbech forum (set up by the County), - anything else ?
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Rumble strips instead of paint
Complete separation of cyclists and cars can't always be achieved. To make sharing of the road safer I would like to propose using rumble strips instead of flat paint to separate the bike lane from the rest of the road. It would act as a physical reminder for car-drivers that they are encroaching the bike lane. This happens particularly near pinch points like road bends or crossroads. So even just a selective application of rumble strips could have a very positive effect, I believe. What's the view of the cycling community? Has it been tested?
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Injustices for the peace.
What to do about disgraceful decisions like this:
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Driver-ran-Cambridge-cyclist-mistakenly-thinking/story-24555273-detail/story.html ?Clearly, the magistrate erred seriously in matters of both fact and law - all the prosecution had to prove was that the way he drives falls below what would be expected of a competent and careful driver.
Equally clearly, it did - nobody who could possibly be described as "competent and careful" would run over something the size of a cyclist without even being aware of it. He even admitted that he was talking on the phone at the time.
It staggers the mind to think what on earth the magistrates were thinking - or what with. Maybe they slept through the case, so didn't hear the prosecution, but were woken up for the defence (how there can be any defence for that is beyond me). Maybe they are dangerous drivers themselves, so sympathise with others of the same ilk instead of adequately discharging the responsibilities they are charged with? Mark Tyler also deserves complete contempt for not pleading guilty, and so preventing this gross miscarriage of justice. He should have been thanking his lucky stars that the police and CPS are so incompetent as not to pursue Dangerous driving, which it equally clearly was.How can we get rid of incompetent idiots like Phil King (the lead magistrate in this case) who asserted that "there were “significant gaps” in the evidence". It is obvious to me that this dangerous idiot is perverting the course of justice by remaining in his position.
Presumably his colleagues on the bench conspired with him in this perversion - they could (and should) have over-ruled him unless they were parties to the conspiracy, surely?The evidence was all there - there was a cyclist in front of him - whether the cyclist was upright or on the ground is irrelevant. Mark Tyler drove over him. Neither of those facts were in dispute. That is not the action of a competent and careful driver, and it should be beyond question that a person being in front of the vehicle is something which the driver should be expected to be aware of, which means the test in s3ZA of the Road Traffic Act is satisfied, and the accused is guilty.
The evidence also meets the test in s2A (Meaning of dangerous driving) so there is no excuse whatsoever for clearing him of even the lesser offence of careless driving. With driving like that, it is clear, beyond reasonable doubt, that he should not be in possession of a driving license, and the magistrates failed in their duty to relieve him of it.As long as dangerous criminals like Phil King are allowed on the bench, the roads will never be safe for anyone.
As a footnote, from the report is appears that this dangerous character commutes from Whitchurch, Hampshire to Clifton Way, Cambridge. What length does that make his effective working day?
It's about 120 miles each way, so at least 4 hours driving (considerably more if in the "rush hour") on top of a full workday. It's utterly moronic to make a commute like that - when I worked anywhere near that far away, I commuted weekly. But this happened on a Wednesday.