Patchwork repairs on Northfield Avenue

The Conservative run County Council's attempts to save money by doing work cheaply and inadequately is illustrated in the picture of Northfield Avenue below:


The resurfacing work on King's Hedges Road, despite the disruption, is much more welcome. After years of the Focus team requesting the repairs the County have finally agreed the road was one of the worst surfaces in the County. It will be interesting to see whether the repairs on Northfield Avenue survive the winter, and to compare the costs of repairs to it, with the costs on King's Hedges Road.

The state of Cambridge's roads is reaching a crisis: one ignored by the Conservatives. Only the Liberal Democrats have campaigned for better maintenance and made proposals in their alternative budget this year.

Meanwhile the County have found money to resurface the member's carpark at the Shire Hall...

Illuminated bollards on King's Hedges Road

Many of the illuminated "keep left" bollards on King's Hedges Road are not lighting up. A resident came to me saying that despite reporting it to the County they hadn't been fixed.

We are now on the case and will try to get the County to fix them.

There seem to be a number of problems: not least that the County don't seem to have half of them in their system which makes getting repairs ordered tricky.

These bollards are important in highlighting the locations of the junctions off King's Hedges Road. As many residents have told us, King's Hedges Road is one of our local hot spots for speeding.

Getting things fixed: Northfield Avenue junction

Please do report problems in your area to us if you don't have any joy when you report them yourself.

As an example, a resident wrote to us about a problem with the road surface on the new layout to the Junction of Northfield Avenue and King's Hedges Road. The surface was not properly laid and floods when it rains. The resident had tried to report it to the County Council but heard nothing back.

I have chased up the County and have been assured that the surface will be properly relaid. Watch this site for any more updates.

Planning application on King's Hedges Rd

There is one application this week.

The address is 6 King's Hedges Road and it appears to be for something connected to a mobile telephone network. The reference is 10/0513/TELDET and more details can be found from the online application tracker of the City Council, which has been much improved, or in person.

As ever any issues contact the team.

Planning applications: Campkin Road, Arden Road and King's Hedges Road

After weeks with no applications this week we have three!

1. 12 Campkin Road has applied for a "single storey front extension" (application 09/1084/FUL)
2. 18 Arden Road has applied for a "two storey front extension and dormer" (application 09/1137/FUL), and finally
3. 36 King's Hedges Road has applied for a "single storey front extension" (application 09/1151/FUL)

The application on Arden Road is already down to come to a planning committee.

As always you can find out more information from Development Control at the City Council including details of how to inspect plans in person and online, and how to comment.

As always in case of difficulty let us know.

County council ignores pleas for action to save lives

The whole team here fear someone will be killed in the King’s Hedges area unless the county council changes its priorities to include the safety of city residents.

The Conservative run Cambridgeshire County Council has refused our ideas for cutting drivers’ speed on King’s Hedges Road. Speeding drivers are also putting lives at risk in the Northfield Avenue area.

Yet again, there's been two crashes on King's Hedges Road, supports our fight for traffic calming measures.

Councillor Mike Pitt said: “All the ideas I have put forward to try to cut speed and save lives on this road have been turned down by the county council.
“It is only a matter of time before someone dies on this dangerous stretch of road and yet the county council seems oblivious to that fact. Its priorities have been set up to exclude Cambridge city residents and their concerns for safety.”
Mike has suggested better signage, temporary or fixed speed cameras, painting the 30mph limit on the road and even moving the 30mph sign at the Histon Road end to make it more visible, and all of these have been turned down.

Campaigner, Andy Pellew has also been fighting for traffic calming measures in the area. He wants to see action taken in Northfield Avenue especially on the stretch between King’s Hedges Primary School, The Red Hen House and The Ship.

He said: “There have been accidents on this road and traffic regularly speeds along this stretch. I believe it is only a matter of time before there is another serious accident.
“The county council must start listening to the people of Cambridge and realise that speeding traffic in this area is a real threat.”

Worried about speeding on Northfield Avenue, or anywhere in King's Hedges? Please get in touch!

Road Closure featured in Cambridge News

In a report by John Downing, the Cambridge News has helped raised awareness of the closure of King's Hedges Road.

We'd like to thank them for raising awareness of the issue, and putting pressure on the County to improve lines of communication. Thanks also to Stagecoach for agreeing to put publicity on their buses.

King's Hedges Road Update

I have managed to find someone who knows about the road closure.

A County Councillor Officer has replied to the team to inform us that the closure is due to EDF's substation building works. He assured me that "EDF Energy have informed everyone affected by the closure."

The dates were chosen to coincide with CRC's Easter vacation, and the bus companies and emergency services have been informed.

It is a shame that the signs couldn't have been put up earlier, and the courtesy extended to residents of King's Hedges Road. I have made this concern known to the County Council, and I hope they can improve next time.

King's Hedges Road Closing?

Like many of you I've seen the signs concerning the closure of King's Hedges Road for two weeks soon. The situation is somewhat confused.

Cllr Mike Pitt has written to the highways department at the County, but the person replying has not heard about the closure. Further investigation is underway and we'll update as soon as we hear anything.

It seems odd that King's Hedges Road residents like myself have not been warned by the County Council about the possible closure, and neither have the City Councillors.

Even the the road closure website for the Guided Busway works, as well as the main County Council road closure website seem unaware of this development.

Verge damage on corner of Kirkwood Road

Just a short note! On the corner of Kirkwood Road and King's Hedges Road the verge has been damaged.

I have contacted the County Council and they are chasing the responsible party to make repairs. I will chase the County until then!

Building the substation on King's Hedges Rd

Following a complaint about the noise from the building of the substation on King's Hedges Road (the big metal structure just next to CRC) I arranged a meeting with Mr Hoyle, the project manager, and a resident of the Armitage Way estate.

The good news is that the noisiest part of the construction is now drawing to a close. Mr Hoyle assured us that the use of the air-gun tool will be finishing this week (assuming that the weather holds and no unexpected problems crop up).

It also seems that Mr Hoyle's efforts at passing on the complaints may have had an effect as the resident told us that the noise had reduced.

He is keen to be a good neighbour, so if there are big problems with noise from the site do get in touch and I will pass them on to him.

Pinch points on King's Hedges Road

The work on the pinch points on King's Hedges Road (as advertised in the last paper Focus) are well advanced now. If there are any problems/thoughts let us know!