A Company Limited by Guarantee. Company Number 6729377. Registered in England. Registered Office: Trumpington Pavilion, Paget Road, Trumpington, Cambridge CB2 9JF. www.trumpingtonresidentsassociation.org Contact: [email protected] M11 J11 Park & Ride Engagement Group: access / egress concepts longlist RESPONSE Further to our Initial Response of 28th February 2018, the Trumpington Residents’ Association (TRA) has now reviewed the longlist of access / egress concepts put forward by the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) in light of our representative’s meeting with your officers on 6 th March and the meeting of the Engagement Group on 8th March. Our assessment of the longlist of concepts has now concluded and is given below. A summary is shown at the beginning followed by more detailed comment on each GCP longlisted option. A variant of the Purple option which relocates the new bus bridge away from the Junction 11 roundabout is recommended (see “Green”). This assessment is of outline concepts and, for that reason, is not informed by the critical detail essential to firm judgement. In particular, essential design and appraisal information will not be available until the next stage of the outline programme for the business case’s development. Our comments should be read in this context. With one exception explained below (see “Green”), the colours refer to those given in part 3, “Access / Egress Concepts”, of the “Business Case Development 2018” presentation by Mott MacDonald on 13 th February. SUMMARY In summary, the TRA: • Urges the Greater Cambridge Partnership to include a variant of the Purple option for further assessment. This relocates the new bus bridge to the north of the congested Junction 11 roundabout and above its slip roads, leaving the agricultural bridge for its current use as a cycle / footpath and direct access to the southern part of the Trumpington Meadows Country Park – thereby avoiding unacceptable harm Page 1 of 7 DP/19.3.18 v4 to either the attractive entrance to the Country Park or to the coprolite ponds within the Park, or both. It is recommended that this should be a two lane bus bridge. This is shown as Green in the detailed comments below. • Rejects the White , Yellow and Black concepts which rely on use of the agricultural bridge because it has been established to our satisfaction that there is not a design solution capable of avoiding or significantly mitigating unacceptable harm to the southern part of the Trumpington Meadows Country Park and to the existing cycle / footpath on which the proposed Melbourn Greenway relies. Initially, we kept an open mind on use of the agricultural bridge pending information on a design solution to these issues. We are now persuaded that there is not such a solution. • Objects to concepts which intrude into the northern part of the Trumpington Meadows Country Park north of the agricultural bridge - and into the Green Belt open fields between the M11 and Hauxton Road (A1309) by cutting across them or running behind the bunds next to the agricultural bridge – these are the Yellow , Black and Orange concepts - subject to possible modification of Orange to remove the intrusion. (See also the comments on White ). For this reason also the M11 southbound slip road should not exit before the agricultural bridge. If the peak time tailbacks on the M11 are so great as to warrant the slip road exiting before the agricultural bridge and subject to seeing the design detail, the TRA would prefer a modest extension of the bridge span to allow the slip road to exit under the bridge rather than diverting into the Country Park which would be unacceptable to us. Our opposition to the cross open fields route from the agricultural bridge to the Trumpington Meadows estate / Hauxton Road in the Black concept is total; it is entirely unacceptable. • Is very concerned that the longlist concepts which rely on use of the M11 Junction 11 roundabout for general traffic and buses are likely to exacerbate its current congestion and delays. If that is the case we will object to these concepts. For this reason the concepts require thorough assessment of their potential effects in this regard to inform decisions to be made at a subsequent stage of the business case’s development. We recommend that concepts which would worsen congestion and delays should not be short listed for more detailed assessment and public consultation. The concepts which rely on use of the roundabout are Blue , Purple and Orange: Red also which is entirely unsuitable because it simply would not work. • Recommends t hat the County Council exercises its option on the GCP Executive Board’s chosen site for the new Park & Ride (site D) for the whole of the site not just that part required for the P&R itself. This would allow the Council to give its firm assurance that no development will be allowed to take place on the remainder of the site and to undertake that active consideration will be given to extension of the Country Park in consultation with local interests. Page 2 of 7 DP/19.3.18 v4 CONCEPTS LONGLIST: DETAILED COMMENTS Red: EXCLUDE from further assessment. This concept is not adequate and would not work even at the most minimal level. There is no bus priority and the general traffic access/ egress provision is grossly inadequate. There would be significant additional congestion on the A10 and the Junction 11 roundabout - with tailbacks on both the M11 northbound and southbound. As Niall O’ Byrne, Chair Harston Parish Council, said at the Engagement Group’s meeting on 13 th February, "That would not work." Blue: KEEP IN for further assessment – subject to assessment of its effects on congestion and delays on M11 roundabout and slip roads. In our June 2017 position statement, the TRA said “… it is essential that ready access to and from the M11 is afforded without reliance on the already heavily congested Junction 11 roundabout.” [“Park & Ride – The TRA’s Position”, 27 June 2017, page 2] For this reason we continue to favour a solution which does not entail this reliance – as the Blue , Purple and Orange concepts do appear to entail – to a lesser degree in the case of Purple and Orange . Nevertheless subject to the specific comments made on these concepts, we do support their progression to the next stage of the business case development as they are a clear alternative to access via other routes which are not reliant on use of Junction 11. To be assessed effectively it is particularly important that their impact on traffic volumes and delays on the roundabout, its access / egress points, including the M11 slip roads, and the A10 and A1309 are estimated thoroughly and the results shared with the Engagement Group. If the traffic assessments show there would be adverse effects on congestion and delays for general traffic and buses, the TRA will object to these concepts. Purple: KEEP IN for further assessment. See the comments for Blue which also apply to the Purple concept. The Park & Ride’s intended interaction with the general traffic route via a tunnel from the M11 northbound and via a bus lane and bridge across the M11 need careful appraisal and sharing of results. Below the TRA recommends assessment of a variant of this option to relocate the new bus bridge in between the M11 roundabout and the agricultural bridge. See Green . Page 3 of 7 DP/19.3.18 v4 White: EXCLUDE from further assessment. This concept relies on use of the agricultural bridge, a feature it shares with Yellow and Black. The comments made here concerning use of that bridge apply to all three of these concepts. Clearly, the bridge in its present form is not suitable as a bus bridge in addition to its current use as a cycle/footpath. In light of this we have already asked for and been given the GCP’s assurance "… that if the agricultural bridge is used, the existing cycle/pedestrian path would be replaced." [Notes of Initial Briefing meeting, 13 December 2017] The bridge and part of the proposed route to it on the western side of the M11 are within the southern part of the Trumpington Meadows Country Park and immediately next to an important entrance into the Park. The route is also immediately next to and passes between the small and large coprolite ponds which form an important historic and environmental part of the Park. For these reasons the TRA has opposed use of the agricultural bridge to date. We understand the advantage of having a separate access and egress point for buses to the new P&R site which is not reliant on use of the A10 and the Junction 11 roundabout - as the Red , Blue , Purple and Orange concepts are to a greater or lesser degree. However, as far as the White , Yellow and Black concepts are concerned, we are not at all persuaded that it is possible to reconstruct the bridge as a combined busway and cycle/ footpath without unacceptable harm to the Country Park in its impact on the access to the Park, to one or both of the coprolite ponds, or to both of these. To date in this round of engagement we have kept an open mind on the concept pending a detailed design proposal and appraisal at the next stage of business case development, if shortlisted. However, it is now clear to us from discussions to date that no design solution is possible which would not involve significant harm to the Country Park. Therefore, we strongly oppose use of the agricultural bridge and its further development as an option.