The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) applied in November 2024 to the Secretary of State for the Department for Transport (DfT) for a Transport and Work Act Order (TWAO) for a new busway, travel hub and path for walkers and cyclists linking Cambourne to Cambridge. The scheme proposed by the GCP is known as “C2C”.
Cambridge Connect submitted an objection to the C2C proposal in January 2025 because we support an alternative route that would deliver far greater benefits to the Cambridge region in the longer-term. The route we propose to connect Cambourne to Cambridge would differ significantly from C2C by following the existing cutting of the A428 highway to the Girton Interchange. From there, the route would extend to Eddington, broadly parallel to the M11, onward to the University West Campus, and then into Cambridge city within a tunnel.
We consider light rail to be most suitable for this public transport route because of its capacity, reliability, proven record, ability to drive modal shift, green credentials, and because it is the most practical, standardised and proven technology for mass transit available today. All of these attributes make it the most attractive and deliverable option for mass transit in the Cambridge context. We acknowledge that light rail is likely to cost more than a busway, but we believe that investment will more than repay itself by the benefits it brings and in particular by the fact that it is future-proofed to meet the needs of growth coming forward. Moreover, it is the only technology that we believe would be financeable to operate in a tunnel, which we consider essential to deliver an integrated mass transit system serving Cambridge and its surrounding region.
Our objection to C2C, however, is first and foremost to the route. Thus, our submission to DfT is focused on the failure of the GCP to consider properly an alternative route co-aligned with the A428 highway and Girton Interchange. This route includes one of the most important strategic highway junctions in Cambridgeshire. It connects Cambourne to Cambridge while avoiding most of the significant environmental impacts of C2C which have been highlighted by others such as Cambridge Past Present & Future, the National Trust, the Wildlife Trust, Coton Parish Council, Coton Orchard and many others.
Our objection to C2C is not in principle to linking Cambourne to Cambridge, which we wholeheartedly support; indeed this is an integral part of our scheme proposals. Rather we argue that the environmental, social, economic and strategic harms of the C2C route can largely be avoided by adopting the alternative route co-aligned with the A428 and Girton Interchange. We believe this is fatal flaw in the C2C scheme because it is incumbent upon the proponent of a major infrastructure scheme through Green Belt to demonstrate that all reasonable alternatives have been considered. This applies whether the public transport mode selected is light rail or a bus.
Review the objection to C2C submitted to the DfT by Cambridge Connect.
