Minutes - General Purposes Committee 15Th March 2016

MILTON ROAD LOCAL LIAISON FORUM: MINUTES

Date: Tuesday 13 June 2017

Time: 18.00-21:00

Place: Chesterton Community College, Rex Freeman Hall

Present: County Councillor Jocelynne Scutt, Arbury (Chair), City Councillor Gerri Bird, East Chesterton (Vice-Chair) City Councillor Margery Abbott, East Chesterton City Councillor Ysanne Austin, West Chesterton City Councillor Nigel Gawthrope, King’s Hedges City Councillor Kevin Price, King’s Hedges City Councillor Mike Sargeant, West Chesterton City Councillor Martin Smart, King’s Hedges County Councillor Ian Manning, Chesterton County Councillor Anna Bradnam, Waterbeach County Councillor Elisa Meschini, King’s Hedge Charles Nisbet, Milton Road Residents Association Michael Page, Hurst Park Estate Residents Association

Apologies: City Councillor Peter Sarris, East Chesterton Michael Bond, Old Chesterton Residents Association

Officers: Greater Cambridge Partnership Chris Tunstall Director of Transport Paul van de Bulk Major Infrastructure Project Manager Richard Preston Project Manager Livia Oldland Communications Manager Emma Case Communication and Engagement Officer

WSP Neil Poulton Associate Director – Development Planning

1. MEETING AND MATTERS ARISING The minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 9 May and Wednesday 8 February 2017 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair. There were no matters arising.

2. CHAIR’S UPDATE The Chair introduced the Councillors and Officers present.

At the previous Milton road LLF the ‘DO OPTIMUM’ option was presented for the Milton Road scheme and was considered with comments made by Members and question responded to by officers.

Public questions were asked and the order or the LLF meeting was stated following the agenda outlined.

1 3. LLF RESOLUTIONS Officer responses to the LLF resolutions were presented in the previous LLF on the 9th May 2017.

4. PUBLIC QUESTIONS The Chair agreed that public questions would be asked at appropriate times throughout the presentation.

5. OFFICER UPDATE ON APPRAISAL OF ‘DO OPTIMUM’ Chris Tunstall, Interim Transport Director for Greater Cambridge Partnership, led this element of the meeting using presentation slides and Appendix A. The main points discussed included:  The options presented will be concepts and not a final design.  There will be further engagement in the future to define details.  The Greater Cambridge Partnership Executive Board agreed the project objectives including: a bus priority scheme, safer and improved walking and cycling on Milton Road, improving the environment and public realm, improving capacity on Milton Road, increasing in bus patronage and reducing general traffic levels.  The Greater Cambridge Partnership Executive Board want to maintain grass verges and trees within this project.  The project is not looking to provide double busways or a fourway highway and is looking to remove the banned turns, these objectives are in line with the agreed ‘DO OPTIMUM’ design.  The options being presented have taken on board the feedback and work that the LLF provided; designs and principles have been modelled and modified to design for 2031.  Officers have looked at providing sufficient infrastructure – 200m more bus lanes – working with operators to find the optimum length, whilst maintaining access to the junctions.  Tree planting scheme along Milton Road will take into account the driveways and access points.  Junction solution and options are provided that don’t require the closure of Union Lane.  This work will affect the current trees and officers are looking at replacement of the trees with semi-mature trees that suit an urban environment, so cycleways and pavement are not uplifted. This will be worked through in a workshop with the LLF.  The existing Elizabeth Way roundabout has access points and this factor needs to be considered in designs.  There are a lot of informal access points off of the highway and this scheme will align with these and provide access points where needed.  Visuals are presented of each north of George Street, Ascham Road, Downhams Lane and Ramsdem Square.  The presentation slides are available on the Greater Cambridge Partnership website: www.greatercambridge.org.uk  6. PUBLIC QUESTIONS Q. Is there a kerb on Ascham Road next to the cycle lane or a white line? A. Yes there is a kerb adding in some level of segregation. 2 Q. Looking at the concept as a whole, what impact will the north Cambridge railway station have on Milton road and what measure will be taken so local residents will have easy bus access to the north Cambridge railway station?

A. We do not know what level of impact this will have as the station is not running at full capacity as of yet, this question will be responded to in full in writing. This sounds a bit odd.

Q. If you remove the two way cycle lane, have you modelled the change in cycling behaviour? A. The concept include several sections of two way cycle lanes. The aim is to provide good quality cycling provision that encourages all cyclist to use it as intended

Q. What are the actual numbers you are predicting to come down Milton Road in terms of modal shifts? A. The modal shift objectives and projections are consistent with the overall City Deal proposals and those for the Cambriudge Access Study. We are not working to a specified target for change in travel modes, but clearly to achieve the objectives to cater for ‘maintaining or reducing general traffic levels’ the means of delivering this are for people traveling along Milton Road and from the area to travel by cycle, walk and bus. Travel demand is predicted to grow by around 30% by 2031 and therefore proposals reflect accommodating this via non-car modes. The specific objectives agreed by the City Deal area:

Q. Will the cycle paths be two way? A. Yes, there are sections of two way cycleways.

Q. Are you going to employ a qualified landscaper for Milton Road? How do greenery and trees fit into the minimum amount of air quality and how does this fit into this scheme? A. Putting in greenery helps the environment, Mitcham's Corner has high pollution levels above the European standards, and there will be a workshop on landscaping and trees which will go into greater detail.

Q. If you don’t think people will stop using their cars and use the train, then why has Cambridge North station been built and why are you bothering with bus lanes? A. This station is being used, but for people to shift modes from car to train or bus the journey must be easier than using the car. Bus lanes will encourage use of buses as they will allow buses to get to their destination quicker and more regularly.

Neil Poulton, Development Planning from WSP, talked through the modelling of the ‘DO OPTIMUM’ and noted that the design changes in DO OPTIMUM have been modelled on 2016 levels. Proposed options have been modelled by WSP for future levels (2031), along with journey time, average bus journey times, performance of key junctions and comparisons with the existing scenario. Each junction is presented along with presentation slides which can be viewed on the Greater Cambridge Partnership website: www.greatercambridge.org.uk. Public questions were asked after each Junction.

3 7. FUTURE ENGAGEMENT WITH LLF Paul van de Bulk, Project Manager for Milton Road, talked through the future programme.

Officers will meet with Matthew Danish from Cambridge Cycling Campaign to talk through the details of the concepts presented.

Any comments and issues can be sent to the Greater Cambridge Partnership email: [email protected]

There will be a stakeholder briefing open to the public in July with the date to be confirmed.

There is the Joint Assembly and then the Greater Cambridge Partnership Executive Board 22 July, the report and resolutions will be presented to this board.

If the board agree the concepts and recommendations then the project will go through the final design stages and there will be LLF design workshops especially working up the tree designs with tree officer and experts present and other workshops to ensure that all comments are taken on board.

Further LLF meeting will happen when required.

Early in 2018 the Greater Cambridge Partnership Executive Board would consider the details designs and if approved there would then be a full public consultation.

8. ANY OTHER BUSINESS The Chair highlighted there is a questions process to ask question at the Executive Board and Joint Assembly and attendees are asked to collect the documentation on this process if they wish.

There was no other business.