Draft Greater Cambridge Local Plan for consultation

Comment

Representation ID: 208755

Received: 30/01/2026

Respondent: Cambridge Connect

The draft Local Plan identifies a Strategic Priority to "Plan for transport, water, energy and
digital networks; and health, education and cultural facilities; in the right places and built at
the right times to serve our existing and growing communities." This is an aspiration, not a
strategy. There is a need to define what is meant by the 'right' places and times.

Comment

Representation ID: 208756

Received: 30/01/2026

Respondent: Cambridge Connect

The Local Plan should be realistic about the poor to mediocre quality of the public transport
network and services in the region, and recognize this is a significant reason why people choose to
drive private vehicles, congestion persists and productivity is unnecessarily depressed.
High quality matters. It is essential to change behaviour and drive modal shift. Public transport
must be a genuine alternative to the private car, and must be attractive, frequent, reliable, fast,
affordable, spatially and multi-modally integrated, and practically accessible. There is a large
body of evidence and practical examples throughout Europe demonstrating that frequent and reliable
light rail mass transit, which is of genuine high quality, attracts more people out of cars and is
more successful at generating much-needed modal shift.

Object

Representation ID: 208757

Received: 30/01/2026

Respondent: Cambridge Connect

Legally compliant? Not specified

Sound? Not specified

Duty to co-operate? Not specified

Cambridge Connect opposes the C2C route on both strategic and environmental grounds. The Local Plan should include a policy stating that further transport improvements should, to
the extent practicable, be aligned along existing transport corridors as the first preferred
option. This policy would help reduce or avoid continued fragmentation of the countryside and Green
Belt by new transport infrastructure where this is not necessary.

Comment

Representation ID: 208758

Received: 30/01/2026

Respondent: Cambridge Connect

The Local Plan should consider how mass rapid transit can be spatially integrated into the
historic city, and at a minimum should review international case studies for strategic guidance. A
tunnel is only likely to be viable for mass rapid transit such as metro or light rail. Buses and
busways will never attract finance for a tunnel.
In anticipation that a tunnel is vital to an integrated Cambridge mass rapid transit strategy -
which we suggest is the case - then further substantial investment in busways is misplaced.
Numerous studies over many years have supported this conclusion (e.g Cambridge Futures, Mass
Transit Options Study, CAM reports, Cambridge Connect and university academic technical reports
etc). The Local Plan should include consideration of a city tunnel in its strategic vision.