Biodiverse habitats ‘will be destroyed by £160m Cambourne to Cambridge busway’

A charity has warned that a consultation on the environmental impact of the Cambourne to Cambridge (C2C) busway failed to “adequately describe” the effect of the £160m project on habitats north of Coton.

Cambridge Past, Present & Future says the information provided in the consultation “could be considered as misleading”.

The GCP is currently carrying out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the scheme before applying for permission to start construction next year.

A public consultation as part of the EIA closed on Monday (July 11).

In its response to the consultation, Cambridge PPF says it continues to “strongly object” to the GCP’s preferred route for the scheme.

It says: “The greatest area of ecological impact caused by this scheme will be between Cambridge Road (Coton) and Ada Lovelace Road. This will result in the destruction of one km of habitat, to a width of at least 20 metres, in other words at least 20,000m2 of habitat loss (five acres).

“The habitat lost will include priority biodiversity habitats such as scrub and traditional orchard, as well as mature trees and a meadow.

“The habitat currently has no public access and so also acts as a refuge for wildlife on the edge of the village. It is likely that your scheme would also have additional indirect impacts on biodiversity in these locations during construction.”

The charity supports the improvement of public transport and active travel between Cambourne and Cambridge, but believes that a route alignment within the corridor of the A1303 would be better.

It says this route can meet the “needs for a high-quality public transport system with much less harm to ecology, landscape and green belt than the route through open countryside that is being proposed”.

The charity also suggests extending the Comberton Greenway to support active travel.

The busway aims to significantly improve bus and active travel journeys between Cambridge and Cambourne via the new Bourn Airfield development, a new travel hub at Scotland Farm, Hardwick, and West Cambridge campus.

The scheme has been subject to three public consultations and an independent audit of the proposed off-road public transport route. The GCP has made a commitment to deliver a minimum of 10 per cent biodiversity net gain for the scheme.

Visit greatercambridge.org.uk/c2c-eia for more information.