News

Plans for a new TGI Fridays restaurant at the centre of Cambridge Leisure Park - strongly opposed by both Coleridge Councillors and community groups - have now been dropped.

Read more in the Cambridge Evening News. 

HAVE YOUR SAY ABOUT RESIDENTS PARKING AND TACKLING CONGESTION

Coleridge Ward Councillors want to hear the views of Coleridge residents on Residents Parking and Tackling Congestion. Come to our Drop In Exhibition:

Monday 25th July
Flamsteed Road Scout Hut (off Rustat Road)

Anytime between 7pm and 9pm

Return your Residents Parking Survey that we are delivering to half of the ward with major daytime parking problems, and find out more on City Deal congestion plans at www.gccitydeal.co.uk/congestion. We want to hear your views!

Or post your Parking Survey to County Councillor Noel Kavanagh 169 Coleridge Road, Cambridge CB1 3PN noel.kavanagh@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

International restaurant chain TGI Fridays has submitted a planning application to build a new restaurant and play area filling the cobbled 'piazza' area of Cambridge Leisure Park.

Coleridge Labour party is strongly opposed to the plans. City Council candidate Rosy Moore commented:

"I think this is a terrible plan, it will feel enclosed and overcrowded if the restaurant is built which will spoil the feeling of the whole leisure park. It really needs more trees and maybe something that uses the outdoor space regularly, like a market, street food festival, volleyball court, rollerskating rink, big screen showing the olympics.... anything that keeps the outdoor space really." 

Rosy Moore at the proposed restaurant site

Residents are also opposed to the plans. Roger Crabtree, Chair of the Rustat Neighbourhood Association said:

"We are simply appalled at this proposal. To remove some 30% of the existing open space is completely inappropriate and contrary to the original concept of a ‘piazza’ where people can congregate and socialise. It is the only open space in the area, two of the major nearby development, the Marque and the Belvedere being gated communities.

We have more than enough restaurants on this site already. Rather than coming up with crazy ideas to make more money, the owners should be fulfilling their original brief to make the area more attractive and hold events there."

You can view and comment on the proposed plans on the city council website: 16/0594/FUL.

See also the Cambridge Evening News story.

Cambridge Leisure Square viewed from Cherry Hinton Road

A successful campaign organised by Abbey Ward Councillors has led to a new bus service - the 115 - which will run from the Newmarket Road Park and Ride directly to the Addenbrooke's hospital site via Barnwell Road, Brookes Road, Perne Road, up Cherry Hinton Road to Hills Road Sixth Form College and then down Hills Road to Addenbrooke's.

Buses will run roughly every hour from 8am until 6pm Monday to Friday with a slightly reduced service on Saturdays. The full timetable for the new 115 bus service can be found on the Go Whippet website. 

The service will run initially for a nine-month trial period from Tuesday 3 May and if profitable will become a permanent service.

The trial is made possible by £95,000 of developer contributions including Marshalls, following a petition launched in 2012 by City Councillor Richard Johnson (which gathered over a thousand signatures) and a funding bid put together by County Councillor Joan Whitehead. Cllr Whitehead was successful in obtaining the funding in November 2015. Following the tendering process Whippet have been chosen to run the service. 

Cllr Joan Whitehead said: "I am delighted that the County Council have agreed to this much needed bus service, connecting one of the most deprived areas of the City directly to Addenbrookes. It is also hoped that the service will be used by peole going to Addenbrookes from outside Cambridge via the Park and Ride site.”

Cllr Richard Johnson added: “This bus route will be a vital lifeline for many residents in Abbey, especially those who are infirm or have a disability. I am very pleased that this trial service will begin and hope many as possible use it. The more people who make use of the service, the better the chance of it being permanent.

Labour City Council candidate Rosy Moore and County Councillor Noel Kavanagh welcome the new service.

 image credit: http://www.go-whippet.co.uk/

Community SpeedWatch is a scheme to help local people combat traffic speeding through their neighbourhood.

The police are running a training course on the 15th April 2016 at 7.30pm-9.00pm at Parkside Police Station.

If you are interested in knowing more, or booking onto the training course to be part a volunteer running a campaign in the city please contact:

cambridgespeedwatch@cambs.pnn.police.uk

Former Labour County Councillor Tariq Sadiq inspecting police speedwatch equipment

We are delighted to announce the selection of our new Coleridge Labour candidate - Rosy Moore - who is standing in the City Council elections on May 5th.

Read more about Rosie in our latest newsletter:

Architect's images of new bridge. Picture credit: Knight Architects

Labour County Cllr Noel Kavanagh

The county council yesterday backed a planning application to be submitted for a new £4.5 million cycle and pedestrian bridge over the Cam on Ditton Meadows.

The bridge, part of the proposed Chisholm Trail, will be funded by a combination of money from the Cycle City Ambition Fund and contribution from developers.

Labour's Cllr Noel Kavanagh, the county council's cycling champion, said:

"We do need alternative forms of transport.

The Chisholm Trail, with this bridge as a vital part of it, is really going to be a vital asset to everybody who lives in Cambridge.

More and more people are going to be drawn away from going into the centre to make their journeys, so the bridge and the Chisholm Trail are vital to the future of Cambridge."

The City Deal Board, chaired by City Council Leader Lewis Herbert and supported by the Labour Cllr team, has also agreed a further £9m to complete the important off-main road north/south Chisholm Trail.

A consultation on the Chisholm Trail is now underway. Have your say here: http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/PA5XC/

Consultation closes 30 November.

Further information:

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/New-4-5m-Ditton-Meadows-cycle-bridge-8211-good/story-28193440-detail/story.html

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Cambridge-cycling-revolution-moves-forward/story-27563105-detail/story.html

Photo credit: Cambridge Evening News

After a four-year campaign by Labour Councillors - principally Abbey councillor Joan Whitehead - the County Council has agreed to fund a new orbital bus route. The route will run between Newmarket Road and Addenbrookes, via the Barnwell area of the city, giving direct access to the hospital to some of the city's most deprived areas.

The County Council declined the route last year but following the successful Labour campaign, which included a 1000-signature petition, it was agreed the scheme should be introduced on a trial basis.

See the Cambridge Evening News article for more details.

We expect Cherry Hinton Road to be closed for the next two Sundays for resurfacing work. Please contact the City Council for further information: https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/.

Photo credit: Keith Edkins, http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/591234

WE WANT YOUR IDEAS FOR COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENTS IN COLERIDGE

We want to hear from you about your ideas for community improvements in Coleridge, including as community groups can suggest ideas to the City Council BY A DEADLINE OF 10 AUGUST as part of another round of 'S106 Funding' for either

• local community facilities 
• small-scale public art projects, or
• improvements to smaller public/open spaces, play areas, local centres and other facilities owned and managed by the council (schemes like plans consulted on recently to improve the St Thomas’s Square play area).

Please get in touch with Lewis if there is a Coleridge community project which you think would benefit from extra funding, or fill in an application and copy us in. If you need help in making your application or wish to discuss the suitability of a project proposal please get in touch and we will do our best to help.

One potential project we want views on is the potential to help St Thomas's Hall as community facilities east of Perne Road need improving. But if you have others, let us know..

Best wishes

Councillor Lewis Herbert
and Coleridge Labour Councillors
01223 721027 lewis.herbert@cambridge.gov.uk