Lib Dems: Transport strategy must be more ambitious for residents

Lib Dems: Transport strategy must be more ambitious for residents

Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats have welcomed the publication by Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority of the draft Greater Cambridge Transport Strategy but say it must do more to improve everyday life for residents and provide greater confidence that congestion and road safety challenges will be addressed.

The strategy sets out proposals for public transport, active travel (cycling & walking) and future mass rapid transit across Greater Cambridge over the coming decades.

Cllr Alex Beckett, Chair of Cambridgeshire County Council’s Highways and Transport Committee, said:

“Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire need a transport network that works better for residents, businesses and visitors alike. The draft strategy contains many positive ideas, particularly around public transport and active travel, but it needs a lot more concrete detail about how it will improve everyday life for people across our communities.

“Residents want to know how this strategy will make it easier to get to work, school, healthcare appointments and local services. Those outcomes need to be front and centre.

“Road safety also needs to be a bigger part of the conversation. Around three quarters of the county’s collision cluster sites are located in Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire. Behind every statistic is someone whose life has been changed by a serious collision.”

Cllr Tim Bick, Cambridge City Council’s representative on the Combined Authority’s Transport Committee, said:

“The acid test on this strategy for me is whether it enables the transport improvements we badly need to support new homes and jobs in Greater Cambridge and whether it recognises the poor starting point from which people suffer every day. We need the strategy to provide a consensus of direction and a confidence that improvements will actually come, rather than ducking key choices, hanging everything on unrealistic long term dreams or bogging us down in eternal dispute. I am keen to check that it stacks up to that challenge.”

Cllr Brian Milnes, South Cambridgeshire’s representative on the Combined Authority’s Transport Committee, added:

“What matters to me is that the strategy provides for meaningful improvements spread across the short, medium and long term - and that they build on each other seamlessly to give us a comprehensive transport network over the next 10 to 20 years. It’s therefore important that we see the financial assumptions which this will need to depend on. Our area badly needs a convincing new strategy that can deliver on all of this.”  

The Liberal Democrats will continue to engage constructively with the consultation and work with partners to press for the final strategy to deliver better transport choices, safer roads, reduced congestion and improved quality of life for residents.