I had an interesting day on Saturday, beginning by trying to avoid being run over by cars or cyclists as I draped a tape measure across Ainsworth Street in the company of my fellow councillor, Richard Robertson, followed by a deep discussion about the future of the whole of Greater Cambridge at an event organised by local historian and advocate for democracy, Anthony Carpen. From the gutter to the far horizons.
First the gutters. The County Council is consider a resident parking scheme for Ainsworth Street, and parts of Hooper Street, Sturton Street Sleaford Steet, Abbey Walk, and Fairsford Place in Petersfield ward. It has been under consideration for several years and while most people agree that a scheme is required some people have serious concerns about the details and the proposed final locations of parking spaces.
One issue is whether streets are wide enough to allow safe parking on both sides or if it must be restricted. At the moment Ainsworth Street has parking on both sides along most of its length, and the scheme proposes a change to parking only on one side.
I have asked the Highways Officers about the actual width of the street and the minimum needed for safe parking on both sides, but got no response. So on Saturday morning councillor Richard Robertson were out with tapes, a laser measure and clipboards to take measurements along the whole length.
As expected the width of Ainsworth Street varies along the whole length, with the widest section at the south near the junction with Hooper Street, and I believe that for at least some of the road it would be safe to park on both sides. However it’s not up to me, but with this information we will be asking officers to reconsider the detailed design of this part of the parking scheme.
Then I cycled over to Rock Road Library to a workshop organised by Anthony Carpen on the consultation documents for the emerging local plan. It was a chance to discuss the reports ahead of the consultation starting on 1st December and running to 31st January.
It was a very interesting event as Anthony is exceptionally well informed on local democracy and planning issues. We learnt about the development opportunities that have been discussed for our town since the Second World War, about how decisions are made in our parliamentary process and the changes in the planning processes over this process. Anthony and I both still miss the Code for Sustainable Homes that were abandoned in 2015, but which many in the planning regimes still speak highly of…
The event was well attended including three councillors and representatives from three political parties. It was very well chaired and a positive meeting, as we have all come to expect from Anthony, who has always shown great skill at bringing people together around even the most contentious issues.
Anthony covered the 700 page consultation document and thousand of pages of evidence in the meeting and there were many interesting, dynamic discussions on nature, social equality, tall buildings, build out periods, new towns, and how to get involved.
Such was the interest in the topics that we continued the discussions as we packed up after two hours. Thank you Anthony for this event, your blogposts and the important raising of democratic issues that you continue to promote in the city.
The formal consultation is scheduled to open on December 1st and I hope many thousands of people will share their views, as happened with the first conversation consultation in 2020.
Find out abou the Local Plan https://www.greatercambridgeplanning.org/emerging-plans-and-guidance/greater-cambridge-local-plan-the-20-year-master-plan-for-the-greater-cambridge-area
Details of the earlier consultationhttps://www.greatercambridgeplanning.org/emerging-plans-and-guidance/greater-cambridge-local-plan-the-20-year-master-plan-for-the-greater-cambridge-area/first-conversation-consultation