The Government has approved the Cambourne to Cambridge guided busway following an extensive public inquiry held in 2025. The scheme will create a largely segregated route between Cambourne and Cambridge, passing through the Green Belt and the countryside west of the city.
CPPF objected to the scheme and participated fully in the inquiry, jointly with Coton Parish Council, to ensure that its environmental consequences received proper scrutiny.
We are disappointed that the Government has approved the route despite recognising its significant effects on the landscape, Green Belt, habitats and heritage of the area.
The decision does not diminish the substance of the concerns we raised, many of which are expressly recognised in the Inspectors’ report.
We put forward an alternative that we believed would have significantly reduced those impacts. Although the Inspectors recognised a number of its environmental advantages, they concluded that it had not been developed in sufficient engineering detail, particularly around the M11 crossing.
We remain concerned that less damaging options were not, in our view, examined sufficiently thoroughly. Many decisions still lie ahead, on detailed design, on the discharge of planning conditions by the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service, and on the approvals and licences required before construction can even begin. Those decisions will determine the outcome for ecological mitigation, landscape design, habitat connectivity, lighting, construction management and long-term monitoring, and we will make the case for nature, people and the landscape at every one of them.
We will seek to work constructively with Cambridgeshire County Council, the Greater Cambridge Partnership, statutory bodies, landowners and local communities to help secure the best possible outcomes for nature, heritage and the wider landscape, and long-term protection and enhancements. We will carefully scrutinise the proposals submitted to Planning and seek amendments where necessary.
