Cambourne - Coton - Cambridge Busway
Helping to save Coton Orchard Wildlife Site and the Coton Green Corridor from being destroyed by a new bus road through the countryside. We are campaigning for a greener solution to improve public transport and active travel.
Protect Our Countryside: There is a better way
For nearly a decade, conservationists and the local community have been making the case that it is unnecessary to destroy Coton Orchard Wildlife Site and the landscape of Madingley Hill in order to improve public transport between Cambourne and Cambridge.
Our case is that public transport should be improved by building a bus lane next to the main road between Madingley Mulch and Cambridge, rather than a new road through open countryside.
We have asked those in charge of this project to properly assess this alternative and compare the pro’s and con’s of both options. Disappointingly, they have not, and so our last chance is to make our case to the Planning Inspectors that have been appointed by the government. Starting on 16 September 2025, the Inspectors will spend several weeks assessing the application that has been made by the Greater Cambridge Partnership to build the Cambourne to Cambridge Busway. They will be hearing evidence from those in favour and those against.
What is at stake is not just a landscape. It is the principle of how we grow Cambridge. Do we grow responsibly and sustainably, or do we sacrifice irreplaceable habitats and the climate they support for the sake of saving a few minutes on a journey? The Planning Inspectors will give their view to the Secretary of State, who will make the decision.
It might seem a simple argument, but the detail is complex. Over 800 documents have been submitted to the inquiry as evidence. To make the best case we can to save the Orchard and its wildlife we we have secured the services of a solicitor, a barrister, an ecologist, two transport professionals, an engineer and an academic with an interest in carbon emissions. Our team has been working all hours to pull together their evidence to the inquiry, which was submitted in August and is publicly available on the inquiry website.
There is a considerable cost associated with this and there has been an amazing response from the public to raise the funds needed, so far £133,000 has been pledged towards the target of £140,000.
Significant donations have been provided by the Coton Busway Action Group who have raised over £21,000. Their fundraising efforts have included a lottery, a cello concert, annual art shows and £5,000 has been raised by the sale of fruit, vegetables and flowers grown by members of Coton Allotment Society and other villagers.
Other people have also been helping by making a toast to the campaign with a glass of Blue Barrel Cider which is made from apples from Coton Orchard and has been nominated for a Great British Food Award. The cider is set to feature on the menu of Cambridge’s two-star Michelin restaurant Midsummer House, with chef Daniel Clifford commenting that “It reminded me of the apples I grew up with. This kind of quality produce is gold dust. We should be supporting it, not bulldozing it.”
Public support will matter in another way too. Attendance at the inquiry is open. Members of the public are welcome – not only to show support, but to bear witness to the arguments made on both sides. The inquiry takes place at the Cambridge Belfry Hotel, Cambourne or it can be watched livestreamed on YouTube.
This may not appear to be everyone’s fight. Yet what happens here sets a precedent for how Cambridge grows: whether the city builds by consuming what little remains of its natural heritage, or whether it chooses to protect and regenerate the green spaces on which its future depends.
What is being proposed?
Their preferred option is to construct a new road for buses through the countryside. From Cambourne it would run either alongside, or on, St Neots Road and then east of Hardwick village it would go across the countryside on the side of Madingley hill close to Coton village, through a traditional orchard and other wildlife habitats and over the M11 on a new bridge before going through the University West Cambridge Site, and then across countryside again (known as the West Fields) and along what is currently a farm track beside the rugby club to reach Grange Road, on the edge of Cambridge.
Details of the scheme can be found on the GCP website.
This scheme would run through the Green Belt countryside and would be very damaging for habitats, landscape, views and local communities and so we have been campaigning for alternative routes that would deliver the much needed public transport benefits but without the damage. The video below gives a drones eye view of some of the habitat that would be destroyed at Coton Orchard Wildlife Site.
We estimate that 1/2 mile of wildlife habitat would be destroyed; this is trees, meadow, scrub, orchard and hedges, not arable farmland.
A new East-West Railway connecting Cambridge to Bedford is also being progressed and will be routed via Cambourne. The railway would provide the mass transport system for the west of Cambridge which many people have been arguing is needed.
CambridgePPF commissioned a report that demonstrated that there is another solution
which delivers similar transport and economic benefits and can be achieved quickly, at significantly less cost, with less impact on the environment, green belt and local communities. This alternative is also much better options if East-West Railway goes ahead.
We are campaigning for this alternative scheme (an in-bound bus lane) to be compared against the GCPs proposal to build a new road through the countryside. Over 23,000 people have signed our petition asking for this. Click here to add your name.
It is also worth considering that:
- There would be significant cumulative impacts of a new railway, new busway, new cycleway and expressway (A428) on the western approaches to Cambridge.
- Although a new active travel route is proposed alongside the bus road from Coton to Cambourne it would mean cycling up a very long steep hill and then cycling next to the road. There is a much better cycle route that could be provided instead. This would use the bridleway from Coton to Bourn Airfield, along the valley and away from traffic. This is already being progressed half-way through the GCP’s Comberton Greenway project and is also recommended by Cambridgeshire County Council.
- A third of the traffic congestion on the A1303 is caused by vehicles wishing to reach the M11 from the A428, due to the absence of an access road at the Girton Interchange (junction 14). This junction is part of the the main road infrastructure for the government’s OxCam Arc growth corridor and will surely eventually be made “4-ways” – and this would reduce congestion on A1303 by 30%.
- Compared to an in-bound bus lane on the A1303, the proposed bus road would only save a few minutes off journey times into Cambridge. Therefore the damage and costs of the GCP scheme are not justified.
- Between 2018 and 2021 the busway was being proposed as a future metro route, with tunnelling under Cambridge – but so far there is no evidence of sufficient funding being available for this and following a change of Mayor the metro idea has been abandoned. This means buses will arrive at Grange Road and enter central Cambridge traffic, the same as they would if a bus lane was created instead of a bus road.
- Several less damaging alternative route options have been proposed and an Independent Audit in May 2021 confirmed that these were viable. The GCP is unwilling to use one of these options as a comparison with their proposed bus road route – and instead are comparing it with doing nothing. No-one believes that doing nothing is an option.
Initial proposals for the bus road scheme included a park and ride car park on top of Madingley Hill which would have had a significant impact on the landscape and local habitats. CambridgePPF lobbied strongly against this and the preferred option is now to locate a park and ride car park at Scotland Farm near Hardwick, which we feel is the better option if a park and ride is really necessary.
We have also managed to persuade the GCP not to destroy a row of mature trees and a meadow at Madingley Mulch, by proposing an alternative route around them.
Madingley Hill is one of the few high points in Cambridge and has locally significant landscape and nature conservation value. Part of the GCPs proposed bus road would go through land purchased by our charity in the 1930s, and protected by the National Trust, to preserve the historic setting of Coton and Madingley villages, and the valued landscape around them. Our councils have said they would Compulsory Purchase this land in order to build on it.
Today we are continuing our founders’ efforts by opposing the route proposed for the new bus road, and pressing the GCP to choose one of the many alternative routes proposed, such as an eastbound only bus lane alongside the A1303 and a cycle route along the valley.
Our trustees, volunteers and staff are working hard on this in alliance with local communities and protest groups.
Griff-Rhys Jones gives support
In summer 2018, Griff-Rhys Jones visited Cambridge and we took him to see the countryside which would be affected. He said “Having visited the site I hope that decision-makers will work with the local community and avoid damage here. Let’s plan for our great, great grandchildren. Something better and more visionary is needed”.
What might the busway look like?
So far the GCP has not produced mock-up images showing what the busway might look like on the areas affected (we have asked them if they would). These photos, with super-imposed images of the Cambridge Guided Busway, might give you an idea. Can you see why we are objecting?
Who do I give my views to?
If you would like to make your views known to decision-makers, then you can write to the leaders of the councils that make up the voting members of the GCP Board (local politicians representing the councils of Cambridge, South Cambs and Cambridgeshire) and ask them to carry out work to seriously look at the less damaging alternatives.
Here are their email details:
Cllr.BridgetSmith@scambs.gov.uk (Cllr Bridget Smith, South Cambs District Council, Lib Dems)
cameron.holloway@cambridge.gov.uk
(Cllr Cameron Holloway, Cambridge City Council, Labour)
lucy.nethsingha@cambridgeshire.gov.uk (Cllr Lucy Nethsingha, Cambs County Council, Lib Dems).
If you are not sure what to say, then something along the lines of: The Cambourne-Cambridge Independent Audit and CambridgePPF’s report shows that there are viable and less damaging alternatives to the scheme you are pursuing. Please instruct your officers to carry out work to properly assess these alternatives and compare them to the scheme you are proposing, so that you can judge whether the damage that will be caused by your support for this scheme is really justified.