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Calls for a planned travel hub to be “mothballed or dumped” have been ignored as proposals move a step closer to a formal planning application.

But parish councillors say they will “continue the fight” against the Foxton Travel Hub plans after the “disappointment” of the Greater Cambridge Partnership’s (GCP) decision.

Parish councillor Andy Brown told the GCP’s executive board: “Should a true and correctly-designed travel hub be proposed then we might support it. But unfortunately, I don’t think we’ve seen that yet.”

The travel hub is planned for land next to the A10 near Foxton railway station and aims to encourage more people to use the rail network to travel into Cambridge. The scheme is currently estimated to cost just under £9million.

But campaigners calling for a rethink of the plans say it poses a danger to pedestrians and cyclists crossing the A10 to and from the car park. There are also concerns that the proposal will result in an increase in traffic delays and lengthy tailbacks for vehicles on the A10, bringing with it higher levels of air pollution.

“Our biggest concern is safety,” Cllr Brown said. “I note that allegedly it is safe, but if you’ve ever tried crossing the A10 at Foxton with a wheelchair, don’t do it. It’s a nightmare and to ask people to cross the A10 on the level – OK with a 30mph speed limit – it’s going to be

The travel hub had been planned to offer 500 car parking spaces and 150 cycle spaces but, following concerns, this has now been reduced to 200 car parking spaces and 100 cycle spaces, alongside better bus services and connections to the active travel network to promote walking

This move has also raised concerns about its long-term viability.

Cllr Brown said there is a worry that if the travel hub is built as planned, there would be nowhere for a potential road bypass to be built.

A new A10 bypass to cross the railway line has been proposed in previous years as an alternative to the current level crossing, but is not included in any current proposals.

Cllr Brown branded the current rail crossing “a disaster at the best of times” without having a travel hub next to it.

He continued: “You’re also asking them to cross on the level without any traffic lights or anything at the end of Station Road where there are always queues of traffic and cars that cannot be safe.

“Similarly you are asking pedestrians to cross two cycle paths at right angles and then, with a gap of about one and a half metres, to then try and cross the road and then another road: I won’t do it.

“It’s going to cause chaos and people are going to get trapped on the level crossing when the gates come down, it happens already.

“The parish council would like to ask you to consider mothballing or dumping this scheme because, apart from the fact it’s an accident waiting to happen, we don’t think it is a proper multimodal travel hub.

“There’s some provision for cycling and so on, but the idea is to take people out of their cars not to encourage them to use their cars, and provision of cycle routes to our neighbours such as Barrington and Fowlmere is a must if you want to get people to cycle and then get on the train, for example.

“We don’t think that the scheme is fit for purpose and we would ask you to either mothball it or redesign it, or dump the whole scheme please.”

His concerns were echoed by Cllr Ali Hope from Barrington Parish Council, who questioned the GCP: “We want to ask you whether you’re confident that the safety case that has been proposed for this hub is actually robust.

“Has it actually looked at the risk of fatality or serious injury which has already been mentioned about people crossing a main road with heavy traffic in, potentially, wheelchairs?”

GCP transport director Peter Blake said the scheme is designed to promote sustainable modes of traffic, not “moving the problem traffic to a bypass”.

Mr Blake continued to stress that the proposed crossing has been designed in accordance with the relevant safety standards.

He added that proposals before the board were not the final decision on the scheme, but “simply” a recommendation to progress to a formal planning application and that the final business case will be put before the partnership later on.

Cllr Neil Gough, vice chair of the executive board and deputy leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council, presented amendments to the proposed recommendations.

His aim was to address the issues of the safety of the A10 crossing, and the ‘multi-modal’ plans for the hub directly in the recommendations.

“What I would like to do is propose that we address those issues explicitly in the recommendations. They are implicit. I would like to make it more explicit,” he said.

The newly-worded recommendations called on members to “agree that a planning application is made for the scheme, emphasising its multi-modal nature and providing assurances on associated road safety issues”.

And it asked them to “approve the development of a bus service agreement with the Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority on the GCP’s behalf that would provide regular bus services to the travel hub between the hours of 7am and 7pm to and from the surrounding villages”.

Cllr Gough said he hoped people who had raised concerns recognised the changes that had been made to the scheme, including reducing the number of car parking spaces.

He said he wanted the amendment to be very specific about the accessibility by buses to the travel hub from the neighbouring villages which, he argued, if used would hopefully mean a reduction in the amount of traffic in the area.

Cllr Elisa Meschini, deputy leader of Cambridgeshire County Council, said: “I think this is really helpful and I think it is really important that we give the message at this point that we take these issues very, very seriously and we don’t want to give the impression that we’re not going to address those and that they won’t be looked at as part of the next stage, should this go forward.”

The executive board meeting was held on December 9.

The GCP will now submit a planning application to construct the travel hub and develop a bus service agreement with the Combined Authority. Foxton Parish Council, who said it was disappointed at the decision, has said it will fight any forthcoming planning application.

Foxton travel hub plans scaled back by GCP following public feedback

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