Introduction

Cambridge is one of the most beautiful and distinctive cities in the country. Its contribution to the UK economy – taken together with the surrounding sub-region – runs well ahead of the national average. And it is set to grow even more.

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Joint Structure Plan, the East of England Regional Assembly’s Regional Spatial Strategy 14 proposals and central government, have all recently paved the way for substantial increases in new housing provision to take place in and around Cambridge within the next 16 years to meet the economic growth. This poses immense challenges in terms of deliverability and the ability of the existing transport infrastructure to cope with the envisaged expansion of the population, jobs, houses and facilities.

Compounding this situation there are already considerable current transport infrastructure problems:

• Lack of capacity on the A14 and other routes to Cambridge causing delays and poor road safety records
• Limited platform capacity at Cambridge Rail Station
• Limited capacity at Cambridge Bus Station

As a result there is already

• High car usage
• Limited sustainable travel options

This in turn leads to

• Poor travel choices
• Environmental damage

Taken together, these existing and potential problems pose immense challenges to the infrastructure that will be needed in future to accommodate growth in Cambridge and the surrounding sub-region.

RLW Estates – a consortium comprising of The Royal London Group, Turnstone Estates and St John's College, with long-term development interests in the area – believe that work must be undertaken to secure the future transport infrastructure for the region. The consortium’s work will supplement the schemes proposed in the Structure Plan and will complement the efforts of Cambridgeshire Horizons.