Question 38d

A balanced approach is required recognising the accessibility of the site by non-car modes but also the need to provide appropriate levels of operational car parking. Further modelling work should be undertaken to inform the car parking standards for each of the land-uses proposed on the CNFE site.

Savills Planning Team in Cambridge are instructed on behalf of St John's College, Cambridge to submit responses to the Issues and Options Report on the CNFE having regard to the College's landholdings and land interests at St John's Innovation Park west of Cowley Road and east of Milton Road.

It is entirely appropriate for the Plan to acknowledge that car parking in and around a new CNFE area will be an important part of any new development. This is particularly the case with instances where existing employment areas have established patterns of movement and car parking which seek to meet the needs and users of the existing employment areas. It is important that any new developments that do come forward do not compound any existing problems and to that end, it is acknowledged that landowners such as St John's College along with the tenants and their existing buildings will perhaps need a more stringent car parking management system in place to ensure that there is no abuse of the spaces within their control.

It is entirely appropriate for the Plan to acknowledge that car parking in and around a new CNFE area will be an important part of any new development. This is particularly the case where existing employment areas have established patterns of movement and car parking which seek to meet the needs of users. We acknowledge that owners and tenants of existing buildings will perhaps need a more stringent car parking management system in place to ensure that there is no abuse of the spaces within their control.

As noted above, car parking provision has a strong relationship to traffic generation and careful consideration will need to be given to balancing operational needs of the site, with encouraging high levels of access by non-car means and supporting sustainable transport access to the site, and thus ensuring that any residual impacts on the highway network are not severe. The County Council therefore considers that more detailed consideration of parking numbers, and the approach to parking provision, will be required including inter-alia detailed assessment of non-car trip patterns, mode split targets, the relationship to standards, the potential for shared use of parking across different land uses, and impacts of vehicular traffic on the highway networks

All the options fail to consider pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users, including disabled on buses, by placing a Multi-storey carpark right next to the station. This replicates the horrendous conditions at Cambridge railway station where vehicles pick up and deposit people just a couple of metres from the front door, creating a fume-filled and dangerous approach, frequently gridlocked and preventing buses from completing a turning round a small roundabout. This delays the buses from arriving at their stops, delays the public travelling on them and makes it the poor relation.

The carpark should be sited a minimum of 100 metres away - a covered walkway could be provided, if one is also provided from public transport users - but priority must be given to pedestrians and users of public transport (excludes taxis). Similarly, a taxi rank should not be any closer than 100 metres to allow space for ordinary and guided buses.

One would hope that after so much publicity cyclists would be considered too and allowed a traffic free approach where the interaction with LGVs/buses is eliminated. This is the chance to prevent the distressing and needless deaths one sees so often in London and the cities.

Consideration to be given to reflect sustainability of location.

No preference on the three options but it is relevant that car use can be further discouraged by ensuring sustainable links are secured to existing and planned communities, including Waterbeach New Town. A relationship between accessibility and parking provision is a sensible and pragmatic approach. Any adopted parking standards need to consider the volume of vehicles that this could in turn generate and the implications for traffic and transport along the important Milton Road corridor.

Turnstone agrees that appropriate levels of car parking must be planned for as part of the CNFE development. However, parking associated with the railway station must not, under any circumstances, interfere with the need to create a proper entrance/arrival point to CNFE, and therefore parking should not be delivered for cars at the expense of high quality provision for bicycles, bus interchange and public realm. In general terms, and subject to detailed designs, Turnstone would tend to support the view that a more efficient use of land can be made if a multi-storey car park is provided, although this should not visually dominate the station area.

See attached document