Future of road and motorway network around Cambridge

[qwertyK]

The government has announced their commitment to a Development Corporation in Cambridge, to oversee the construction of some 150,000 homes to be built between now and 2050 in and around the city. With it being estimated as 2.4 people for each home, that would add 360,000 people to the population of cambridge, already at circa 146,000, meaning the future city could have just over 500,000 people. This would make it around the size of Bristol or Edinburgh, making it one of the biggest cities in the UK, probably well within the top 10. Obviously I suppose the government will be hoping there will be greater reliance on public transport, but with essentially a large city being added onto to an existing city, surely the M11 and surrouding roads will either need major upgrades, or entirely new motorways/A roads will have to be built?

[roadtester]

As a local, I find this subject fascinating.

As I’ve said before, although as far as I know this isn’t the plan, I think the now under-used old DC A14, now A1307, heading out towards Huntingdon represents an irresistibly tempting corridor for development.

I’m very much in favour of Cambridge expanding to fulfil its true potential as a tech centre, and not just because it will probably make my unremarkable house in lovely nearby Ely much more valuable. It’s a really exciting project - bring it on.

[qwertyK]

As a local, I find this subject fascinating.

As I’ve said before, although as far as I know this isn’t the plan, I think the now under-used old DC A14, now A1307, heading out towards Huntingdon represents an irresistibly tempting corridor for development.

I’m very much in favour of Cambridge expanding to fulfil its true potential as a tech centre, and not just because it will probably make my unremarkable house in lovely nearby Ely much more valuable. It’s a really exciting project - bring it on.

I think the best solution for the A1307 could be part road but also running a tram or some other kind of rapid transit system along it, even if they retained the DC instead of narrowing it.

I think it would be a decent idea if the Cambridge-Oxford expressway was also built. I don't know much about the original proposals, but it could follow the A428 or something like that, before following the A421 to the M40 via the M1, and then down onto the A34 near Oxford.

It's an interesting proposal as the designs suggest it will be very in keeping with Cambridge currently, like a lot of the designs look like 19th century buildings or older. I wonder how much will actually be built in the immedieate area around Cambridge or further afield, as now they're talking about a "Greater Cambridge". There's also talk of devolution, you wonder if it will end up like Greater Manchester. What are locals saying, as the plans seem very radical? As long as they don't end up like the likes of Northstowe I think it would be a good idea.

[AnOrdinarySABREUser]

Building 150k homes is an ambitious target - let’s hope that they don’t build more sprawling single family suburbia as is the trend at the moment. Agree with QwertyK though I think that a rail link between Cambridge and Huntingdon would be more desirable than a tram which would have limited capacity. This could run in parallel with the A1307 until Godmanchester and intersect with the ECML at either a standard at grade junction or a flyover. This would spur more sustainable (i.e. walkable/cyclable) development.

[qwertyK]

Building 150k homes is an ambitious target - let’s hope that they don’t build more sprawling single family suburbia as is the trend at the moment. Agree with QwertyK though I think that a rail link between Cambridge and Huntingdon would be more desirable than a tram which would have limited capacity. This could run in parallel with the A1307 until Godmanchester and intersect with the ECML at either a standard at grade junction or a flyover. This would spur more sustainable (i.e. walkable/cyclable) development.

A compromise could be a light rail, DLR type system. I don't know if that would have sufficient capacity though.

It's less the number more the timeframe , we're talking about 6k homes a year for 25 years. In itself the numbers would constitute a city larger than places like Southampton etc. I think given the have admitted average number of persons in a dwelling is 2.4, most will be flats or small houses. As for the trend, I really think it depends on where you are. In London it's basically unheard of for family houses to be built these days unless you're on the outskirts. Then you have outliers like Woking in Surrey which tried to replicate Singapore and became bankrupt in the process.

[ravenbluemoon]

We can at least pray that the M11 gets widened to three lanes before Cambridge expands much more. It's already awful between about 06:00 onwards.

[B1040]

The new A14 seems to clog up round Bar Hill whenever I head that way for work at 7.30 am or thereabouts. Building homes further out seems a bad idea.

There are lots of questions. The Governments comments about water supply seemed to be more about encouraging us to use less water (not necessarily a bad thing) rather than getting better supply. The outskirts of Cambridge are being filled with estates with blocks of flats and tightly squeezed houses. I'm not sure there's much more in the way of bus service, but they don't need to improve the roads as this will encourage "active transport".
I'm a believer in cycling, pretty much all my travel inside Cambridge is by bike. There is a lot of congestion, my bike is faster than any motorised vehicle at peak times (and I'm old!) yet many people still calculate that a car is a better option.

Not all of the homes are high quality, a load are being demolished at Darwin Green. https://www.geplus.co.uk/news/demolitio ... 0-01-2024/
Even out in Ramsey, we have more houses being built than jobs the local economy will deliver. No improvements to the road network or to public transport.
Where will other homes go? On top of good quality agricultural land? In the areas of decent landscape value?
Will there be enough jobs delivering money for folk to be able to live in these new homes?

[AnOrdinarySABREUser]

The new A14 seems to clog up round Bar Hill whenever I head that way for work at 7.30 am or thereabouts. Building homes further out seems a bad idea.

There are lots of questions. The Governments comments about water supply seemed to be more about encouraging us to use less water (not necessarily a bad thing) rather than getting better supply. The outskirts of Cambridge are being filled with estates with blocks of flats and tightly squeezed houses. I'm not sure there's much more in the way of bus service, but they don't need to improve the roads as this will encourage "active transport".
I'm a believer in cycling, pretty much all my travel inside Cambridge is by bike. There is a lot of congestion, my bike is faster than any motorised vehicle at peak times (and I'm old!) yet many people still calculate that a car is a better option.

Not all of the homes are high quality, a load are being demolished at Darwin Green. https://www.geplus.co.uk/news/demolitio ... 0-01-2024/
Even out in Ramsey, we have more houses being built than jobs the local economy will deliver. No improvements to the road network or to public transport.
Where will other homes go? On top of good quality agricultural land? In the areas of decent landscape value?
Will there be enough jobs delivering money for folk to be able to live in these new homes?

I reckon that a straight line of housing developments along the A14 and A1307 corridor will prop up as part of this plan with active transport being an afterthought. Something very similar is happening in Kent with Medway and Swale, though some new developments have given some thought to NMUs. It's not a good outlook. Is any affordable housing being considered to actually solve the housing crisis? What about services and jobs? I only know one developer who's taken this into account when building houses and not just profiting from all the sales.

C'est affreux.

[B1040]

A couple of years ago, there was talk of a wideranging congestion charge covering pretty much everywhere inside the city, with the funds raised going to support public and "active" transport. Predictably, there was a hoo ha and electoral rebellion and nothing happened. The first mayor had all sorts of plans for metros that seemed unaffordable. The latest mayor is embroiled in distractors, and represents the Labour party, so funding will be unlikely to come our way (until the Government changes).

I will be working in Cambridge for another 7 months, then we relocate, so I have no skin in the game. They've built a bike lane to my workplace!
In morning and (some) evening rush hours it feels as if Cambridge can accommodate no more motor vehicles. I'm bemused where they all park (but they wouldn't fit on the bus anyway). I'm guessing they don't work or have business within walking distance of the bus station or they have a journey that can't be done on bus or bike. The vulnerable youngsters with whom I work have to be brought by taxi for the most part.
I read on a display board at the Grafton centre that they are deliberately not enabling enough parking for the workers in the new labs to get them using active transport. Most of them will probably be travelling several miles (which is not an issue for me) but combine that with childcare pick ups and life gets complicated.
The new township at Northstowe ought to have good busway links to Cambridge, but at 8am you often have to wait for several buses before one with standing room comes along. It then often takes longer than an overweight bloke on his bike to get to the city centre. Unsurprisingly, the road out of Northstowe is jammed with cars.
Cars should not be the best solution, but few are going to vote to lose the independence cars give. While I do not consider the bus companies to be hostile to me, they are not commercially capable of delivering services that move a city's worth of people to their work, business, leisure and the like. Bikes are OK for me going to my dress down place of work, but for someone wearing a suit, or going to a black tie dinner?

[Bryn666]

Are people sure it's 150,000 houses? That's a fairly sizable new city. I'd have thought 15,000 would be more realistic and that's on the high side. There simply isn't the infrastructure to handle either number - and just building more roads is certainly the wrong, wronger, and wrongest way to go about it.

[Big L]

Are people sure it's 150,000 houses? That's a fairly sizable new city. I'd have thought 15,000 would be more realistic and that's on the high side. There simply isn't the infrastructure to handle either number - and just building more roads is certainly the wrong, wronger, and wrongest way to go about it.

Here’s a link stating 150,000.

[AnOrdinarySABREUser]

Are people sure it's 150,000 houses? That's a fairly sizable new city. I'd have thought 15,000 would be more realistic and that's on the high side. There simply isn't the infrastructure to handle either number - and just building more roads is certainly the wrong, wronger, and wrongest way to go about it.

Here’s a link stating 150,000.

Eye watering.

[Steven]

Are people sure it's 150,000 houses? That's a fairly sizable new city. I'd have thought 15,000 would be more realistic and that's on the high side. There simply isn't the infrastructure to handle either number - and just building more roads is certainly the wrong, wronger, and wrongest way to go about it.

Here’s a link stating 150,000.

150k new homes would just utterly overwhelm everything in the area. It's a larger addition than even those envisaged for the largest New Towns of Milton Keynes and Telford.

Utterly mad to try to put that lot in one place, especially not a relatively small city like Cambridge.

[roadtester]

I don’t think 150K extra houses is unlikely at all. The growth in Cambridge is amazing, especially at the biomedical campus. For years the sky has been full of cranes down there.

Massive growth in housing is already an established fact of life in the area - it just hasn’t mainly been in Cambridge itself so far, with most of the surrounding villages expanding beyond all recognition.

Ely, where I live, roughly doubled in size between the 1991 and 2011 censuses - and this, to some extent provides an encouraging precedent for Cambridge. Ely has a strong established historic centre that has been almost completely unaffected by the growth in housing on the outskirts, and the quality of new development has been quite good too. The houses themselves are mostly standard mass housebuilder designs but the street layouts, provision of green spaces, cycling and pedestrian provision and so on have been done well.

I can equally see the historic, mainly pedestrianised centre of Cambridge remaining largely undamaged by big development in the area.

I don’t think there’s much alternative to big growth in Cambridge. If we try to stop it, the investment won’t go to Manchester or Newcastle or whatever. It will go to California or Munich.

[trickstat]

I do remember reading something somewhere maybe 10 to 15 years ago which talked about the possibility of Cambridge expanding by something like this degree (no pun intended).

Here in Letchworth, and in other nearby towns, we could be considered to be something of a sweet spot for households wanting easy transport links to both Cambridge and London.

[roadtester]

I do remember reading something somewhere maybe 10 to 15 years ago which talked about the possibility of Cambridge expanding by something like this degree (no pun intended).

Here in Letchworth, and in other nearby towns, we could be considered to be something of a sweet spot for households wanting easy transport links to both Cambridge and London.

Letchworth has very attractive housing as well - they're not doing it to that standard or generous density any more!

[doebag]

Ely, where I live, roughly doubled in size between the 1991 and 2011 censuses - and this, to some extent provides an encouraging precedent for Cambridge. Ely has a strong established historic centre that has been almost completely unaffected by the growth in housing on the outskirts, and the quality of new development has been quite good too. The houses themselves are mostly standard mass housebuilder designs but the street layouts, provision of green spaces, cycling and pedestrian provision and so on have been done well.

All the development seems to be on the north side up towards Littleport, the A10 is slowly tuning in to a distributor road, not a by-pass.

[qwertyK]

Are people sure it's 150,000 houses? That's a fairly sizable new city. I'd have thought 15,000 would be more realistic and that's on the high side. There simply isn't the infrastructure to handle either number - and just building more roads is certainly the wrong, wronger, and wrongest way to go about it.

Yeah its a huge number. It's a new city in its own right, and a bloody big one. I just wonder what the map will look like. As in, whether cambridge will have some massive urban area like Greater London, or whether there will just be a dozen or so periphery towns within a few miles of the current city boundaries but with good connections to the city centre.

IMO they'd have to either massively upgrade the M11 or build another motorway. Maybe an M10.

What's more surprising is the timescale - 25 years. That's 6,000 homes a year. It was actually going to be 2040 at first.

Considering in my town a new garden suburb with about 4k houses is going to take like 20 years to build it does make you wonder.

I think in the 70s they planned to build a new city or extension of southend around maplin airport which would have had a whopping 600k people. This new cambridge will have about 500k, the maplin sands plan envisaged two new motorways being built.

[qwertyK]

I don’t think 150K extra houses is unlikely at all. The growth in Cambridge is amazing, especially at the biomedical campus. For years the sky has been full of cranes down there.

Massive growth in housing is already an established fact of life in the area - it just hasn’t mainly been in Cambridge itself so far, with most of the surrounding villages expanding beyond all recognition.

Ely, where I live, roughly doubled in size between the 1991 and 2011 censuses - and this, to some extent provides an encouraging precedent for Cambridge. Ely has a strong established historic centre that has been almost completely unaffected by the growth in housing on the outskirts, and the quality of new development has been quite good too. The houses themselves are mostly standard mass housebuilder designs but the street layouts, provision of green spaces, cycling and pedestrian provision and so on have been done well.

I can equally see the historic, mainly pedestrianised centre of Cambridge remaining largely undamaged by big development in the area.

I don’t think there’s much alternative to big growth in Cambridge. If we try to stop it, the investment won’t go to Manchester or Newcastle or whatever. It will go to California or Munich.

There's talk of a new "urban quarter" though, which implies it will be some kind of extension to the city centre. But it says they haven't agreed on where this will be.

Cambridge is a very interesting place, regionally the East is the fastest growing region of the country but it just doesn't have the infrastructure to support it. Water is one thing yes, but also roads. I wonder if they are choosing cambridge partially because of the vulnerability of the east coast to flooding, to better justify money spent on flood defences etc.

This new Cambridge would have about the same population as Sheffield, give or take.

[KeithW]

OK so I dug a little deeper

1) The link takes you NOT to a government policy press release but to a Building company
https://www.building.co.uk/news/new-dev ... 67.article

So I dug a little deeper into the government targets here.
https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov ... sults_.ods

The desired increase in houses was very high BUT the government and Cambridge Council recognised that as things stand there is simply no way they can source enough water in the region to serve that number of houses and there are no plans to make such increases, what we actually have is what the Americans call 'boosterism' where insanely high numbers of properties are suggested which would allow them to get away with building about 10% with little protests. Meanwhile in the real world they have pretty much built out to the existing limits of Cambridgeshire City and South Cambridgeshire would undoubtedly oppose it. So now they are suggesting building in what they call Greater Cambridge along what was previously referred to as the Oxford Cambridge Expressway rehashed from 2019. This is an area bounded as shown.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-c ... e-66292309

It is no coincidence that this has reappeared in an election year but comparisons with Boston Mass are ridiculous.
City of Boston - population 675,647
Cambridge - population 146,200

But if you must compare it I used to work in Boston for a while and the drive from the outer suburb of Danvers (renamed from Salem settlement after the infamous witch trials) where I had an apartment is 25 miles by car but you will be lucky to do it in under 50 minutes each way and there is no viable public transport option.