A £200million off-road busway that will plough through Cambridge’s green belt and the historic Coton Orchard is facing a legal challenge from campaigners.
The coalition of villages, farmers, charities and conservationists argue that an alternative on-road solution to the Cambourne to Cambridge busway “would achieve the project’s objectives without causing environmental degradation”.
Present day view over Littlefield Barn farm without the C2C busway
Spearheading the legal challenge is charity Cambridge Past, Present and Future, which owns some of the land affected, alongside other landowners, villages and charities.
James Littlewood, CEO of CPPF, explained: “It is possible to improve bus services from Cambourne to Cambridge without building a road through four wildlife sites and our charity’s land.
“Over 22,200 people signed a petition asking local politicians to build bus lanes, not bus roads, to avoid unnecessary environmental damage. However, they have pushed ahead with their plans, and we are submitting our objection to [the] government, which will trigger
a public inquiry. We will be faced with a huge legal bill to save nature and the countryside, and we are appealing for donations to help.”
The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) plans to build the busway to improve journeys between the town and city, with up to eight buses expected to run per hour and direct services to the West Cambridge site, the city centre and the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
It would also serve the new development at Bourn Airfield, as well as Hardwick and Coton.
But campaigners are arguing for an alternative, far cheaper on-road scheme, proposed by Cambridge PPF, which would “improve public transport and cycling but avoid unnecessary destruction to an important green corridor and historic orchard”.
The GCP said it had not been formally notified of the intention to begin legal proceedings.
A Transport and Works Act Order (TWAO) application was submitted to the Secretary of State by the county council, as the transport authority for Cambridgeshire, in November. It will give the council powers to compulsorily purchase land owned by those who oppose the scheme.
The deadline to submit objections is today (8 January). However, those landowners can object to the order, which will automatically trigger a public inquiry.
The GCP, which is made up of representatives from the county council, Cambridge City Council, South Cambs District Council, the University of Cambridge, businesses and the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority, also plans to build a new travel hub at Scotland Farm off the A428.
Clive Anderson, president of the Woodland Trust, said: “The proposed new busway from Cambourne to Cambridge might, in the fullness of time, make a small contribution to combatting the global climate crisis, but it would be a great shame if this could only be achieved at the cost of making worse the biodiversity crisis which threatens the natural world as well. It is not in our long- or short-term interests to remove the mature trees of Coton Orchard, and the irreplaceable habitats which exist in and around them, which once lost, are lost forever.”
His sentiments are echoed by fellow Cambridge alumnae, Emma Thompson and Miriam Margolyes, who have also lent their voices to the campaign.
Lord Whitty, former parliamentary under-secretary for environment, added: “I do not dissent from the objective of providing public transport links between the new and expanding villages and the centre of Cambridge, but am appalled by the destruction of such a high-value biodiversity site when there is a cheaper and dramatically less nature-damaging route that could more easily be built more rapidly as well as more cheaply.”
The coalition is asking for donations to fund their legal case and professional representation at the upcoming public inquiry.
Contributions can be made via the CPPF website at cambridgeppf.org/cambourne-cambridge-busway.
The coalition trying to save the green corridor and Coton Orchard includes Cambridge Past, Present & Future, Coton Parish Council, Coton Busway Action Group, Coton Orchard, Coton Loves Pollinators and the Sadler family. Objections have also been submitted by the Wildlife Trust for Beds, Northants and Cambs, other community groups and individuals.
A GCP spokesperson said: “While there has been coverage in the media, we haven’t formally been notified by Cambridge Past, Present and Future of their intention to begin legal proceedings. Should we receive any relevant documents, we will study and discuss them with our legal representatives and respond in due course. In the meantime, we would remind interested parties we have submitted a Transport and Works Act Order application for the Cambourne to Cambridge scheme to the Secretary of State in accordance with UK legislation and anyone wanting to make a submission to the Department for Transport has until Wednesday, 8 January.”