Consultation on Catholic church junction revamp in Cambridge approved – but final decision may take two years

Changes to the Catholic church junction in Cambridge may not be decided on until late 2025 or early 2026.

The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) executive board has agreed a fresh consultation on updated proposals for the junction, which would ban vehicles from turning right into Hills Road, and prevent left turns out of both Hills Road and Regent Street at the crossroads.

The public consultation on the restrictions will take place later this year, after which further detailed design work will be undertaken.

The changes are proposed as part of a wider scheme to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety using Hills Road.

A public consultation was held on initial plans for the ‘Cycling Plus’ scheme to improve cycle and pedestrian paths along Hills Road, but did not include the turning bans at the crossroads by Our Lady and the English Martyrs Church – where Lensfield Road, Hills Road, Gonville Place and Regent Street meet.

The GCP said many people who responded to the consultation did not think the initial plans went far enough so devised the new plans.

A report to its board meeting on Wednesday (January 4) said the turning restrictions would allow more space to be given to pedestrians crossing the junction, while reducing the amount of traffic on Hills Road itself.

Cllr Mike Davey, the Labour leader of Cambridge City Council, said he did not think the existing junction worked well, but said he wanted to see more evidence to show that.

He stressed that the GCP was not yet at the stage where it was ready to approve the turning restrictions as part of the final project design.

Labour’s Cllr Elisa Meschini, the chair of the board and deputy leader of Cambridgeshire County Council, said further technical work and a public consultation was needed before a final decision.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Brian Milnes, the representative from South Cambridgeshire District Council, said it was difficult to get people to change their travelling habits, and pointed out that Cambridge had been asking the question on how to deal with its traffic problems for “100 years or more”.

He said the GCP needed to make the problems being faced clear and was “doing the best to solve them”.

The proposals have been welcomed by cycling charity Camcycle, which said changes are desperately needed because “far too many cyclists are seriously hurt in collisions” there.

But they prompted concerns from Frank Gawthrop, secretary of the South Petersfield Residents’ Association, who said: “This proposal, which is exclusively to improve cycling, is going to cause massive problems for motorists. We know traffic is on a knife edge in Cambridge. You only need one set of roadworks and the whole town grinds to a halt.”

And there has been concern from some businesses, with Peter Lee, owner of Charlie Chan restaurant on Regent Street, asking whether the GCP gives “any weight to looking after city centre businesses” when it comes up with new road plans.

He told the Cambridge Independent: “If this happens it will have a massive impact on us. Three or four times a day we have fresh food deliveries of seafood, vegetables and meat and the vans need to park in front of the restaurant, which has an unloading space for the purpose.”