I attended the planning consultation in Bourn this week regarding the proposed new town of 3500 houses on the airfield.
This it now seems is going ahead despite overwhelming opposition from residents in the local area and the coalition of Parish Councils who also opposed it.
Firstly, what is the point of these consultations? A paper exercise it seems?

Para 87 of the inspector's report states ;

'We are mindful of the significant levels of opposition to the Bourn Airfield proposal expressed by the local community and others, including fears of coalescence and traffic implications, including local traffic management issues relating to the Broadway. There is a degree of scepticism(you bet!) from the local community about whether their concerns can be adequately addressed. But there is nothing to indicate that these concerns cannot be satisfactorily addressed through the development management process and further guidance provided by SPD'

Really?????

At the consultation I asked why there was no proposed link to the new A428 dual carriageway from the new settlement. I was told that this would create too many junctions on what was going to be a busy route. This is quite frankly insane. So the plan is to send cars from 3500 homes directly onto the Broadway(and a T junction IF they turn right) when there is a recently built dual carriageway on the doorstep?
The environmental cost of traffic moving slowly on minor roads is far worse than that on a fast moving carriageway....how is this justifiable? Not to mention the backlogs that are bound to occur at the junctions coming out of the new town and onto the old St Neots Road.
There are numerous examples of other dual carriageways with junctions at similar frequencies to that which would be created here.
I am sure the cost of such a measure/the space it would take up(less for houses) are far more likely to be the real culprits here, in terms of doing what is obviously the correct thing!

My second major concern is the junction on to the Broadway. No one at the consultation had a clue what this was going to look like or how it was going to operate. You may well be able to prevent cars turning right out of the settlement but how are you going to prevent them from driving through Bourn on the way home and turning right into the new town? Will that T junction onto the St Neots Road remain as a T junction when the volume of cars is realised? Not a chance.... there will need to be a roundabout and cars will go round it and down the Broadway to our beleaguered village.

WE NEED A FULL AND VIGOROUS EXAMINATION INTO THE VIABILITY OF A DIRECT ACCESS FROM BOURN AIRFIELD ON TO THE A428.
In addition we need detailed plans and reassurances about how the Airfield/Broadway junction is going to operate to avoid rat running though our village.