Cambridge Past Present And Future

17:10 Thursday 2nd June 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: Plans to close key commuter roads in Cambridge during peak hours have passed their first hurdle. The proposals have been approved by business leaders and councillors at today’s City Deal Assembly. Our political reporter Hannah Olsson was there and joins me in the studio now. Hannah evening.
HANNAH OLSSON: Hello Chris.
CHRIS MANN: Remind us what was being discussed today.
HANNAH OLSSON: Well Chris it was the eight part plan to tackle congestion in Cambridge that I told you about last week. It was outlined by City Deal officers. It includes as you say peak-time road closures in some key roads in the city, including Hills Road and East Road, charging some of the larger businesses in the city for commuter parking spaces, and increasing the number of park and ride and residential spaces. What it doesn’t include is a congestion charge, an idea that lots of people believe is the solution to Cambridge’s traffic problems, but that the City Deal officers say wouldn’t necessarily work, and would be unfair to people who live outside the city. Changes to Milton Road and Histon Road were also discussed today. They proved very controversial, because widening Milton Road involves cutting down the trees that line each side of it. Now if you travel up and down there at the moment, of course it’s near our studios here, you can see people have tied yellow ribbons to all the trees. Have you seen those Chris?
CHRIS MANN: Absolutely.
HANNAH OLSSON: Yes. The people that are campaigning to save those trees.
CHRIS MANN: So what was the point of today’s meeting?
Continue reading “Discussion curtailed on destruction of Milton Road trees”

08:07 Thursday 3rd October 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: The former leader of Cambridgeshire County Council says Cambridge’s economic success will grind to a halt unless the planning system changes to allow growth and development. It comes a day after City planners rejected a hotel’s application to expand, after a campaign run by residents keen to protect an historic town house next door, not a listed town house, just historic. Nick Clarke, who lost his seat on the County Council in the May elections says a balance between encouraging growth and protecting heritage has to be struck, but that at the moment, the system just isn’t working.
(TAPE)
NICK CLARKE: Nobody wants inappropriate development. But the city needs hotels. The city needs a new rail station, which is going to go ahead. But I’m also aware that the same discussion will take place about the rail station soon. The City Council would like gold plating on it. It’s not for that. It’s about a rail station at the moment. That’s what’s desperately needed. We saw it with Marshalls, and we’ll see it again elsewhere. And you’re right. There’s something about holding a city in aspic, and you can’t do that.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Well at the moment there are campaigns ongoing against the expansion of another city centre hotel. There’s also fierce criticism of the building of a Premier Inn and a Travelodge on Coldham’s Lane. Well Shara Ross from the Cambridge Hoteliers’ Association says people don’t realise that it’s all having a negative effect on the city’s future.
(TAPE)
SHARA ROSS: It’s about nimbyism. It’s about people just suddenly taking it upon themselves to protect a property that they’ve never held in any high regard before. And all of a sudden it becomes important to them. And they don’t think of the larger picture, and the growth of the city. And also not only the growth, but the sustainability of the city.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: But it’s not just the development of hotels that is meeting with opposition. Campaigners are also having a go at several planned housing developments. We asked people in Cambridge which is more important, growth or heritage.
(TAPE) (VOXPOP)
PUBLIC ONE: I think expanding’s difficult. It’s already a crowded city, and expanding ten, twenty per cent is (such) a huge amount of expansion, that it seems like it will be hard for the city to manage that many more people.
PUBLIC TWO: I think we have to move with the times, and not be too nimbyist about it, but having said that, there are certain things which should be preserved. I’m thinking particularly of Grantchester Meadows. There was talk in the past of building on that, which I think that would be sacrilege.
PUBLIC THREE: Probably not too much more. With kids, I go to lots of groups. There’s lots of things on for small children, which is an amazing thing about Cambridge. I like to be able to get places really easily, on foot, by bike, so that would be lost if it got much bigger.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Well let’s speak to Carolin Göhler. She’s the Chief Executive of Cambridge Past Present and Future, a charity that champions the protection of green open spaces and sustainable development in the city of Cambridge. Morning.
CAROLINE GÖHLER: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: Are you holding back the future of Cambridge?
Continue reading “Carolin Göhler From Cambridge Past Present And Future On Development In Cambridge”