Fourwentways roundabout truck stop ‘is full of litter and a health hazard’

Villagers have voiced fears that a roundabout is so infested with litter and mess that is fast becoming an eyesore and health hazard.

Sheila Bolden, chair of Little Abington Parish Council, is concerned about the detritus left by truckers who park up overnight at the former ‘World Famous Comfort Café’ roundabout nearby.

She said: “The HGV parking at the old Fourwentways roundabout has been a problem for many years. It is in such a state there. On this one roundabout and the roads leading up to it, we are talking 20 lorries, not little ones – massive trucks. They are encroaching on to the road.

“We go and pick up the mess ourselves. The schools and the Scouts have been helping us with the litter but the problem is the lorry drivers who are parking there overnight are using it as a toilet.

“You cannot let kids go and pick things like that up. It took us four months and that meant phoning environmental health every week, to pick up some asbestos sheets which had been thrown on the side of the road. So I don’t hold out much hope for environmental health. It is a nightmare and nobody will do anything about it.”

Another council member added: “The routes on the A11 into East Anglia and the A1307 towards the industrial estates in Haverhill are busy. There is no provision nearby for lorries to park overnight, so they use Fourwentways and several of the large laybys nearby.

“The consequent impact is an eyesore. It is unsightly and a blight on the lovely villages of Abington. The verges are damaged and there is litter, including human waste. Lorries cause obstructions and carry out dangerous manoeuvres.

“The parking is getting closer to the International School buildings. This presents a serious danger to school children, school staff and any other visitors or villagers walking nearby. It also makes driving along the Newmarket Road more hazardous. Vehicles travel fast along this road, which has a speed limit of 50mph, but without speed checks or cameras the limit is frequently ignored.

“It is particularly dangerous during rush hour with drivers, cyclists and pedestrians commuting to the school, the village and Granta Park put at risk due to these large vehicles obscuring visibility and blocking footpaths.

“Rats have been seen and there is other strong evidence of vermin. Drivers do not use the toilet facilities. As well as being disgusting, it makes the area unsafe for litter pickers including school pupils and the scouts from the community.”

Cambridge Innovation Park’s managing director Nick Hadley is hoping to build a 50,000 sq ft hybrid office for the life sciences industry on a nearby two-acre site.

He said: “For years, the site was billed as a truck stop and there was off road parking for overnighting.

“There seems to be an endless stream of trucks parking on the roundabout, leaving mess, litter and worse. The whole area is pretty ugly, and that is not helped by the fact that our site currently looks less than pretty!It is just getting a bad name for itself, or a good name if you are a trucker. What is the point of the roundabout? It goes from nowhere to nowhere. It is the land that time forgot.”

South Cambridgeshire District Council said it was aware of the problems with the site and had doubled the number of litter collections as well as providing larger bins for the waste.

A spokesperson said: “Like most other people, we hate seeing rubbish left lying around – wherever it is.

“We’ve installed three new bins in this area so there is an easy way to get rid of litter responsibly. We’d encourage anyone passing by to use them or take their litter home. We empty these bins twice every week. We’ll also stop by and empty the bins if told they are overflowing in between our regular visits.”

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