Owlstone Henge: Will verge be ripped out for University of Cambridge college access?
Fears that verges along a residential road could be ripped out after a University of Cambridge college made a complaint about access have been raised by a city councillor.
Cllr Jean Glasberg is warning that plants and trees along Owlstone Road in Newnham would have to be destroyed if Cambridge City Council follows through with its warning that decorative boulders on the grass verges must be removed in order to widen the unadopted track.
In a dispute dubbed the ‘battle of Owlstone Henge’, the council wrapped ‘environmental crime scene’ tape around the four rocks on a grass verge and posted a council warning notice demanding the “owner of the boulders” remove them as they are causing a “nuisance”.
Residents are now waiting to find out whether they will be fined £2,500 under anti-social behaviour laws after a deadline to remove them passed last week.
This followed a discussion about “emergency vehicle access” on Owlstone Road, between Queens’ College and Cambridge City Council. Owlstone Road leads to the college’s property and the site of its planned construction of new student accommodation.
The council says it is required to increase the width of the road to 20 feet. Currently it is just over 11 feet wide.
Cllr Glasberg said that Owlstone Road, part of which is unadopted, is “a track that has been unchanged for over 20 years with no access problems, including for emergency vehicles. It is used by large numbers of pedestrians every day and their safety has to be the priority”.
She added: “The stones are on the verge, not the track, so they are only an obstruction if the intention is to remove them so vehicles can drive there.”
The boulders were put on a sharp bend by resident Nick Hurd to keep cars off the grassy verge and help slow down vehicles so pedestrians and cyclists would stay safe on the unadopted road.
Nick said he thought it would be “dangerous” to remove the boulders.
He explained: “Some of the trucks and cars do come around the corner too fast, because they don't know that area very well, so you have to control it. There are always near misses just because it's a blind turn. And people walking there just think it's their right of way as well, because it's not a proper road. So it's just basically to try and make it a little bit safer for everyone to get around.”
He added that the look of the road would be “absolutely horrible” if the grass verges were removed on a walking route that hundreds of tourists a day take between Cambridge and Grantchester Meadows.
He is waiting to hear from the council about any possible fine before deciding whether to remove the boulders.
Andrew Bainbridge, domestic bursar at Queens’ College, told The Telegraph newspaper that the college had spoken to the council about the boulders.
He said: “The primary route to Owlstone Croft has been in use since the early 1800s. When rocks appeared on the road a couple of years ago, concerns were raised about emergency vehicle access.
“The college has discussed this issue with the city council which is responsible for maintaining the road and access.”
The city council previously said in a statement: “The council received legal representation regarding rights of way along an unadopted road as there is an entitlement to a carriageway width of at least 20 feet, and boulders/rocks placed beside it infringe upon this.
“Legal action was threatened against the council, or persons responsible for placing boulders there, unless they were removed.
“A Community Protection Warning (CPW) was issued to seek to give the persons responsible for placing the boulders in their current location the opportunity to take remedial action to remove them. The council will consider all feedback received in relation to the CPW after it expires on 13 August.”
The council has yet to confirm to the Cambridge Independent whether it intends to impose the fine.
