Cambridge Science Park Station - Planning Application approved

[jopsuk]

The planning application for the station has been approved, meaning the project can proceed

The planning application for Cambridge’s second train station has been approved – meaning wheels are in motion for it to open in 2015.

Designs for the £30 million Cambridge Science Park station at Chesterton sidings were unanimously approved by the joint development control committee after a three-hour debate today.

But councillors said they still had concerns about key elements of the project, including bicycle safety and the potential use of Bramblefields nature reserve for access – and details of these will have to be signed off before construction can start.

They really do need to sort the access. One of the routes in, they had proposed a 2.5m wide shared foot/cyce pavement. This is narrower than the national recommended minimum (3m) for such paths. There's an exception f such a path would be very quiet that allows 2.5m, but this is Cambridge, there will be lots of pedestrians and bikes. Further, the road sees lots of use by HGVs, and the crossings of side roads used by those HGVs would put pedestrians and cyclists in the HGV blindspots.