Comment
Draft North East Cambridge Area Action Plan
Representation ID: 54502
Received: 05/10/2020
Respondent: Cambridge Cycling Campaign
Camcycle supports plans to ensure that development proposals create a well-articulated and varied skyline which is pleasant and attractive to travel through at street level on foot or by cycle, and contributes to making a place that is easy to find your way around. We also support the mixed-use nature of the area and individual buildings which will help ensure that people have the opportunity to make everyday journeys without driving and that the district’s walking and cycling routes have good levels of natural surveillance at all times of the day and night.
We note that the high densities in the eastern part of the site seem to have been made necessary by the restrictions made on land-use in the western part of the site. This puts pressure on the public realm; for example cycleways are unlikely to be built wider than the 2.5m minimum, even where volumes of cycle traffic would require it, and green space is more limited than it should be. Choices should never be made between pavements, cycleways and green space: these should be the aspects the site is built around and the whole area should be as mixed-use as possible to make cycling and walking the natural choice for all short journeys. Density should be determined by factors such as liveability and local typology rather than external pressures which could lead to overdevelopment of the land.
Camcycle supports plans to ensure that development proposals create a well-articulated and varied skyline which is pleasant and attractive to travel through at street level on foot or by cycle, and contributes to making a place that is easy to find your way around. We also support the mixed-use nature of the area and individual buildings which will help ensure that people have the opportunity to make everyday journeys without driving and that the district’s walking and cycling routes have good levels of natural surveillance at all times of the day and night.
We note that the high densities in the eastern part of the site seem to have been made necessary by the restrictions made on land-use in the western part of the site. This puts pressure on the public realm; for example cycleways are unlikely to be built wider than the 2.5m minimum, even where volumes of cycle traffic would require it, and green space is more limited than it should be. Choices should never be made between pavements, cycleways and green space: these should be the aspects the site is built around and the whole area should be as mixed-use as possible to make cycling and walking the natural choice for all short journeys. Density should be determined by factors such as liveability and local typology rather than external pressures which could lead to overdevelopment of the land.