Planning applications: Arbury Road, King's Hedges Road and Arbury Court

Apologies for missing the last few weeks. Here is a round up of planning applications in the ward.

This week there is a significant application at 110 Arbury Road, for "Outline Planning Permission for the erection of five apartments and widening of existing access onto Arbury Road following the total demolition of the former caretaker's house." 110 is the Manor school caretaker's house. Follow the link for more details. The reference is 12/0147/OUT.

Of a smaller scale there is an application in Arbury Court for "Extraction canopy and ductwork to exiting fish and chip take away", reference 12/0213/FUL.

Also I should point out an application that came up a couple of weeks ago for the "Hive" or "Triangle Development Site", on King's Hedges Road near CRC and roughly opposite Northfield Avenue. The application is partly technical involving change of use but does include change of appearance in terms of height and window arrangements. The reference is 12/0199/FUL. For more details see this page on the online planning gateway.

As always in case of difficulty contact the team.

Minor Highways issues within Kings Hedges

As you might have picked up from the minutes of the Cambridge Area Environment and Traffic Management Committee (no? It's a riveting read) Cambridgeshire Highways used to have a list of all the open highways issues in each division (split into unfunded and those with an identified means of funding) which would come to the AJC meeting, be discussed (usually added to) and then would be back in the hands of officers who would get done what they could, identifying new streams of funding if possible, and then report back to the next meeting of the AJC.

As you can see it's a fairly simple process but doesn't actually add a lot of value as a) most of the work is done by officers and (in my view more significantly) b) it encourages Councillors to get things added to the list that won't ever get done. Basically anything that doesn't have an obvious source of funding, isn't a legal requirement, or isn't part of some bigger project is just not going to happen.

The list, after a few years of b), is now pretty long and some of the the reasons why some of the items are sitting on the list have been lost in the mist of time.

Clearly it's time for a change and so the County Officers are now proposing that they spend some time in each Division with local members and prepare a list of highways issues relevant to that division.

In light of that I've been looking at the highways list we already have for Kings Hedges and the new items that people have already suggested (note that in some cases it is a problem that needs a solution rather than a solution!) and come up with the following list;

• 20mph speed limit on Northfield Avenue (outside KH Primary School), 
• Coach parking on Woodhead Drive, 
• Car parking on Lovell Road, 
• Arbury Road cycle path (specifically doing something around the Milton Road junction), 
• Verge parking on Milton Road, 
• Pavement parking across the division,
• Traffic improvements on Arbury Road outside the Manor,
• Verge parking on Hawkins Road, and 
• Cycle route on KH road (specifically around CRC junction)

That's just off the top of my head. What else do you think should be on this list?

Today's Cambridge Area Joint Committee

Earlier today the Cambridge Area Joint Committee, a mix of City and County Councillors representing the interests of Cambridge city (for which I am a substitute member) met to discuss city-wide traffic management and environment issues.

The leader of the County Council, Cllr Nick Clarke, was in attendance at his first AJC representing the Conservative-controlled County Council.

The agenda was fairly straight forward and the meeting took a little over two hours (which isn't that bad to an AJC meeting - as Cllr Clarke pointed out the room is booked for four hours for the meeting). There was nothing really contentious and so there was only one or two members of the public in attendance. Not really a surprise but given the County councils pending review of AJCs it would have been nice if more people where there as it does seem to be the only AJC in the County which is actually fit for purpose and working!

Agenda item 4a (off-street parking) was the first real item with debate. Several members raised the issue of queuing to enter Park Street being a real issue during peak periods over the weekend (with long tailbacks interfering with the bus network amongst other things), comments were also raised regarding full day charging (£25) and officers clarified that the high charges were to discourage use for long periods, and finally the "grace period" was asked about and officers revealed that the grace period isn't fixed and varies across the cities car parks and even at different times of year. You have been warned!

When the vote was taken Cllr Clarke abstained and all other members (Labour and Liberal Democrat) voted in favour.

Agenda item 4b (On-street parking account) was looking like a fairly uncontentious item right up until the point where Cllr Clarke decided to raise the issue of why the AJC was even discussing it as it had no power of control over it.

The debate was lengthy and the gist was that committee members (except Cllr Clarke) believed that as the Committee looking strategically at traffic management across Cambridge it was right that it should express its view on how the surplus in the scheme should be spent - Cllr Clarke seemed of the view that the best place for local members (by which he specifically said County Councillors - not City Councillors) to raise their views was directly at Cabinet. I think Cllr Clark doesn't understand how the City works - the interdependency across Electoral Divisions seems to elude him. For example how Kings Hedges users would benefit from a Milton Road crossing opposite Downhams Lane (in East Chesterton) or how having additional Cycle Parking and/or a disabled bay outside the Milton Road shops (in West Chesterton) would be of direct benefit, etc.

Cllr Clarke seemed to adopt the view that democracy started and ended with local members and that committees, like the AJC, were a bad thing. There is, of course, a balance to be struck but I'm happy with where the AJC puts this balance and I do believe it benefits the people of Kings Hedges for certain decisions (like Radial road/bike routes) to be taken by a joint City/County committee.

The fact is if it didn't exist we'd need too invent it.

Cllr Rosenstiel proposed an ammendement, which I supported, which asked the County Cabinet to look at (not necessarily do, just look at) using some of the scheme surplus to reintrouduce the scrapped city centre shuttle bus.

Cllr Clarke voted against this amendment, all other Councillors (Labour and Liberal Democrat) voted in favour.

To be fair to Cllr Clarke he does seem to be generally trying to understand the city (which is in many ways better than the seemingly complete indifference that preceded him) but despite doing a few good things in Kings Hedges and Arbury I still feel that he just doesn't "get" the City. And judging by the number of Conservative City Councillours I can't help but feel that he isn't alone in his party on this one ...

Cllr Clarke also agued against this item even being on the Agenda.

Other items of note; ANPR was raised as an issue and a report requested from officers regarding the entire system (to assuage privacy concerns - which officers largely did in the meeting), a tour of the highways management centre is going to be arranged so members can see what goes on there, and the (Civil Parking Enforcement) CPE deficit is currently the subject of a review by government on how local councils can move out of permanent deficit.

This nicely brought us on to item 4c which dealt with the CPE account in detail. There was some concern expressed at the numbers (as they seemed to be different from those given in the previous section!), an offer was made to send round the CPE process flow diagram to clarify what was being covered by "There has been a procedural impropriety by the council" (down from 11% to 0%), it was agreed that a clarification would be sent by email.

Item 4d (South Area Parking plan) was uncontentious except that there was a request to add the Cambridge Cycling Campaign to the list of member organisations (not just the forum), officers responded by saying that the members list was intended to just be elected members and the parking demand generators, AJC members could see this point but still felt that having the Cycling Campaign would help.

Item 5a the Ring Road and Radial Route Parking Review was next, members suggested that Milton Road and Histon Road would benefit from being in a Northern Area more closely aligned with the North Area Committee. Milton road was the only radial route in Kings Hedges mentioned and the current plan is for no stopping at peak times, no waiting, loading or unloading, no parking on footways, no parking on highway verges, and a 24-hour clearest on all bus stops. All of those things I support, and no parking on verges is something I have been after for a while!

There was a debate about priorities and it was agreed that the new Northern area would be second (unfortunately I failed to note the positions of the other schemes - that will come in the minutes).

Agenda item 5b (Regent Street Toucan Crossing Upgrade) gave Cllr Clarke another opportunity to display his lack of understanding of the city. He raised the question of why the local member had not just decided this themselves rather than it coming to Committee. Officers pointed out that the local member had been consulted and Committee Members pointed out that the proposed upgrade was on one of the arterial cycle routes and so the change would have an effect on many divisions - in fact several of the Councillors sitting on the committee had used the route within the last few days.

Cllr Clarke, to the frustration of many of the Committee members present (including me) didn't seem to deviate from his point that taking decisions like this in committee will in some way "disenfranchise" local members.

Cllr Clarke then responded, rather darkly, to a comment from Cllr Nethsingha that the Committee had spent quite a lot of time on discussion whether or not issues should come here but saying that this "would be born in mind during the review [of AJC's]".

Cllr Brown (Chairing) attempted to help Cllr Clarke understand by comparing this cycling issue to issues we had discussed around Newmarket Road (i.e. strategic - bigger than a single division).

This issue was never going to be resolved in this Committee. Chair moved us on.

Agenda item 6 (Cambridge Centre Area Quality Bus Partnership) followed. Cllr Rosenstiel raised the issue of pollution (specifically nitrogen dioxide) in the City Centre and how buses with higher Euro ratings have lower emissions and asking if there was any plan to move providers like Stagecoach and Whippet onto buses with higher Euro ratings. Past progress has been quite good;

There was major investment a few years ago and officers did stress that it was unlikely that this would continue over the next few years.

The Committee questioned the reporting officer regarding "Low Floor Buses" as the current 90% of buses entering the central area are apparently "low floor". Officers clarified that this means that the bus is not just having a physical low floor but is also suitable for buggies, wheelchairs, etc - i.e. is suitable for disabled access (Cllr Rosenstiel had raised an issue with some low floor buses having a central column in the middle of the doorway and thus not being suitable for buggies).

It was pointed out that national legislation will require all single-decker buses to be low floor buses by 2016, double deckers by 2018, and coaches (which is going to be the most interesting to see!) by 2020.

The officer also pointed out that buses on the Guided Busway must be a minimum of Euro 4 and that the one hybrid bus currently being trialled by Stagecoach will be trailed by Whippet in a few weeks. This bus cost approximately £100,000 more than the already £120,000 cost of a Euro 4 bus. The fact that London has them was raised, and the officer confirmed that Transport for London paid for them - not the operators. As prices come down I'm sure hybrid (or maybe purely electric) buses will be the solution to Cambridge's air pollution issues but clearly at these prices it's not going to be this year or next year!

The final item of note, item 7 Programme Delivery Monitoring and Issues Update, followed and officers revealed that the list was going to be ripped up and tours arranged with local members and officers so that a definitive list of Division-based issues can be assembled.

That being said I raised the issue of the "missing" slow sign (that King's Hedges School agreed to pay for) on Northfield Avenue and the fact that there seems to have been some confusion regarding no-waiting on a bend in King's Hedges - I think this refers to Woodhead Drive but the table says Molewood Close which is actually in Arbury.

After a brief discussion of future Agenda items the meeting was closed.

E-Cops - Kings Hedges Community Action Day

The Kings Hedges Community Action Day is tomorrow, Saturday 17th September 2011 between 9.30am - 3.30pm.

Local churches are working together with the City Council & other agencies to offer help in the area. Housing Officers, City Rangers, Re-cycling Officers, Police & Fire Service will be attending.

Rubbish skips will be located on The Ship car-park (Northfield Avenue) during the morning & help can be provided to collect items of bulky rubbish from people's homes. It may also be possible to offer assistance with gardening or small odd-jobs.

There will be a 'Take it or Leave it' scheme for people to recycle and exchange their unwanted items.

From 12:30 there will be a family BBQ outside the North Arbury Chapel, plus lots more........

For further information please contact:-

Reverend David Maher on 01223 351844 or e-mail vicar@churchofthegoodshepherd.co.uk

Beverley Clissold on 01223 458403 or e-mail beverley.clissold@cambridge.gov.uk

Hope to see you there.

Your North Police Team

Roadworks In King's Hedges (and across Cambridgeshire)

Cambridgeshire County Council's Highways Department are currently proposing (plant and weather permitting) to perform some surface dressing of some of the more badly damaged roads across Cambridgeshire.

I've attached the County-wide details here (PDF).

Of particular interest to residents in King's Hedges will be the work starting on the 4th June to fix up Northfield Avenue between Campkin Road and King's Hedges Road.

As you can see in this picture taken just before the last election the previous round of street repairs have left the road in a far better technical condition (some of the potholes were beginning to be real danger to cyclists) but looking less than ideal.

Hopefully the work later this week will address this. 

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...

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

A major planning application this week. At the triangle on King's Hedges Road is a proposed "Future Business Centre" (offices?) and "associated works including the provision of car and cycle parking facilities, access and circulated areas".

The triangle is the piece of land between the new EDF substation and CRC fairly near (and on the opposite side from) the Northfield Avenue junction.

The reference is 10/1009/FUL, and more details are available from the online planning tracker.

Twenty is plenty in the City Centre, but not in King's Hedges...

The new 20mph limits in parts of the City Centre is a welcome sign that the County Council are perhaps becoming more flexible in their previously rather rigid approach to speed limits.

However they are still only willing to put in such limits where the speed of the traffic is already below that limit: basically where there is less need to do so.

As a result Northfield Avenue remains off the list of possible reduced limits. This is despite the decision of the City and County's Joint Committee to look at possible options in February 2008.

(Picture shows Andy on Northfield Avenue)

Monday Planning Update: Northfield, Minerva and Milton Rd

Three application on the weekly planning list in the ward this week.

Firstly King's Hedges Primary school on Northfield Avenue are applying for a single storey extension. This is application 10/0173/FUL. I ought to point out that I am a Governor of the school on this one.

Number 412 Milton Road have applied to build "one 3-bed dwelling at rear of site". This is application number 10/0155/FUL.

Finally 36 Minerva Way has applied for a two storey extension to the rear of the building.

As always more details from the City Council website, or by contacting the team.

King's Hedges primary planning application

Another planning application with a connection to a local Councillor! This time it's me who is connected as a governor of King's Hedges Primary school on Northfield Avenue.

As part of a very exciting project to support the learning of speech and language they have put in a planning application for the "Erection of language centre with decking area and ramp". The application number is 09/1131/FUL.

As always more details on the proposal can be obtained from Development Control at the City Council. The plans can be seen at City Homes offices on Arbury Road, or other places. See the how to look in person section of the City Council site for more details.

Speed Survey: Northfield Avenue

At the last North Area Committee it was agreed that Northfield Avenue along with King's Hedges Road would be subject to a "speed survey" sometime in the near future. Once the survey has been completed we will have one whole weeks worth of traffic data for these two main roads which will enable us to put a much stronger case to the Conservative-controlled County Council for some form of speed reduction/ traffic calming in this area (as requested by numerous local residents).

Watch this space ...

PS. You can still sign the petition to have a 20mph speed limit on Northfield Avenue outside the school. The link is here. The more signatures the more weight we have with the County Council!

Road works on Northfield Avenue

The Cambridge Water Company have written to local Councillors to warn us of long term road works on Northfield Avenue.

The letter informs us that the work will begin in January and run for about 18 weeks (which is until the middle of May).

The work, to renew the mains water supply, will eventually involve Northfield from the turn into Cameron Road as far as King's Hedges Road.

They say that any interruption to water supply will be "kept to a minimum" and that you should get advance warning. If you have any concerns you can contact Cambridge Water on 01223 706050 or get in touch with us and we will see if we can help.

Delay on Ship recycling centre

A legal problem has arisen with the improvements planned for the Ship recycling centre on Northfield Avenue. This means that work has been stopped until the problem can be resolved. We hope that a solution can be found, but watch this space.

Ship recycling centre update

The plans for the proposed improvements are available online.

If you have any comments get in touch with Neil McGovern in the usual way.

Northfield Avenue Recycling Centre

At North Area Committee we were presented with plans for improvements to the recycling centre at the corner of the Ship's car park in Northfield Avenue. This is an area in great need of improvement!

We hope we can put the revised plans on our blog to allow residents to comment, but if you want to be kept informed contact Neil McGovern, who is the scheme's champion, to register your interest now.