OBJECT

It is proposed in Policy S/SH that Cottenham should be reclassified as Minor Rural Centre. The reason for this reclassification is because Cottenham does not have a high quality public transport in the form of a segregated transport route i.e. access to a Greater Cambridge Partnership scheme or the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway. Cambridge District Oddfellows object to the reclassification of Cottenham when the village has all of the other attributes of a Rural Centre, and the existing bus services are good and the Greater Cambridge Partnership is bringing forward a project to improve the services and connections.

Cottenham has a good range of services and facilities including a supermarket and convenience stores, post office, doctors surgeries, dentist, library, public houses, restaurant/takeaway, bank, primary school and secondary school, village hall and meeting spaces. Cottenham is currently connected to Cambridge by frequent bus services. The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway stop at Oakington is approximately 3.5km from the centre of Cottenham. The Greater Cambridge Partnership’s Making Connections project proposes substantial improvements to the bus services for Cottenham, including a bus every 10 minutes to Cambridge via Histon, a more frequent service to Oakington (including the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway stop), and a more frequent rural service to Chatteris via Wilburton, Haddenham, Sutton and Mepal. It is acknowledged that the public transport routes from Cottenham are not segregated, but the current bus service is good and the Greater Cambridge Partnership’s Making Connections project will improve the quality of the bus services from the village including connections to the Cambridge Guided Busway at Oakington. The Making Connections project has not been taken into account in the decision to reclassify Cottenham in the settlement hierarchy. The frequency of the bus services from Cottenham to Cambridge would be equivalent to those on a segregated bus route. For all these reasons, Cottenham should remain as a Rural Centre.

Requested Change

It is requested that the status of Cottenham in the settlement hierarchy is not altered, and it remains as a Rural Centre.