Newnham residents start fighting fund against the Barton Road Greenway cycle path

Residents are crowdfunding for a legal challenge against proposals by the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) to put a new greenway cycle path down their road.

Campaigners from the Barton Road Greenway Group, which was formed after a public meeting on June 6, believe the new cycle route was not consulted on properly in Newnham and will put pedestrians at risk.

They are also angry that boundary hedges and “mature planting” could be “ripped out” to make way for the new, wider cycle route that will replace the existing shared path.

A Just Giving page set up by the group says funds raised will be used to “help fund legal advice to fight the Barton Road Greenway.” Already it has attracted donations of more than £2,600.

The Barton Road Greenway is one of 12 cycling and walking projects which will make up 150km of wide red asphalt routes into Cambridge from the surrounding villages.

One of the campaign’s leaders, Antony Warren, said: “Our barrister is looking at whether we have a case for challenging what’s happened on the grounds that local people in Newnham were not consulted adequately. There was a lot of consultation in the villages about the greenways, but here in Newnham we hardly got any - it was very short. And it was last November and it wasn’t well publicised. Hardly anybody picked up on it.

“But some of the residents’ associations and Camcycle did respond and what we’ve seen at the Barton Road junction is that they haven’t taken any notice of those responses. They just ploughed on with the plans as they made them. We’re now worried that the same thing will happen for the rest of the project. So we’re trying to get the GCP and county council to pause the works and do a proper consultation for us in Newnham.

“We are worried that these plans make pedestrians into third class road users rather than putting them at the top of the road hierarchy. The footpath will be only 1.5 metres wide in places and pedestrians could be put at risk of collision with cyclists if they stray into the red cycle path.”

The crowdfunding page explains that the group may consider a judicial review of the Greater Cambridge Partnership’s actions. It says: “We are hopeful that just being able to tell the GCP that we have obtained legal advice will be enough to make them understand that we are taking this seriously and are prepared to fight. However, given the poor responses to our attempts to engage, we are of the view that a pre-action letter is necessary. We will arrange a further residents’ meeting before proceeding beyond the pre-action letter stage. Obviously each stage will have new costs, so we are hoping that we are able to resolve this without court action, but we will update this page at every stage to keep everyone informed.”

If the proposals for the greenway go ahead, the existing shared-use path along Barton Road in Newnham will be replaced by a 2.5m-wide two-way cycle track. A new pedestrian path will be laid between it and the property boundaries.

Residents are concerned that this may require mature hedges to be pulled out along with other planting. The work is due to start in November 2023.

A GCP spokesperson said: “We understand new schemes and projects often make people feel uncertain regarding the impact they may have. In this case we can confirm we are still in the process of revising our plans for the Barton Greenway following widely promoted consultations in 2018 and an extended engagement last year. In this engagement, we heard the importance to people of creating a safer road - giving people the opportunity safely walk and cycle more safely - while preserving greenery wherever possible, which is exactly what the greenways aim to deliver.

“We are aware an out-of-date design has been circulated locally whereas in fact our designs are still being finalised. In our draft plans, there is one tree proposed to be removed just east of Clare Road which will be replaced by a new tree planted nearby. Two saplings near Grantchester Road would be relocated slightly but we can confirm no other trees will be impacted. This is to allow space for a wider footway and a safer crossing. Going forward, we continue to liaise with local councillors and the residents’ association to discuss how best to share information on the updated designs when ready.”

The Just Giving page ca be found at https://justgiving.com/crowdfunding/barton-road-greenway and the campaign group’s new website is https://bartonrdgreenway.weebly.com/