Business Board ‘broadly’ supports GCP road-charging plans - but calls for changes for those commuting out of Cambridge

The county’s Business Board has given “broad support” to proposals for road-charging in Cambridge, but has raised questions about its fairness to those commuting out of the city for work.

The board - which acts as the Local Enterprise Partnership for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough - also stressed the importance of getting a “radically improved public transport system” up and running before the implementation of charges.

It was responding to the Greater Cambridge Partnership’s Making Connections consultation, which proposes an upgrade of the bus network, partly funded by a weekday daily charge for anyone driving in the city between 7am and 7pm, priced at £5 for cars, £10 for vans or £50 for lorries.

The board has a responsibility for supporting the sustainable economic growth of the region and its strategy aims to reduce inequalities between Greater Cambridge, Greater Peterborough and the Fens by encouraging jobs, higher wages and greater productivity.

It tells the GCP: “It is essential that a radically improved public transport system be implemented before any charge is introduced to help pay for its costs.

“The Business Board sees this phased approach as a critical element of the proposals: a much-improved alternative public transport option should be in place before a charge is introduced, and more detail on the precise commitments that are being made here should be part of any next steps for the proposals.

“Given the immediate scale of the congestion and connectivity challenge, the implementation of better bus services quickly is strongly encouraged, as they will take time to establish at the level of the ambition described.”

The GCP has pledged to improve and forward-fund the bus network prior to imposing road charging.

And the board calls on the GCP to reconsider the details of its Sustainable Travel Zone, noting: “The Business Board would also urge the GCP to refine the proposals and consider the precise mode of operation, particularly to address the case of those living within the zone and needing to drive to leave the zone for work purposes.

“Where movements are away from the city, they contribute less to the most acute congestion problems that the charge is designed to address. These journeys, particularly if for certain work purposes, may also have less viable alternatives in terms of public transport and so some mitigation may be necessary.”

The board acknowledges that Cambridge, as “a jewel in the crown of the UK economy”, faces challenges to its continued growth.

“A growing population, vastly overheated housing costs coupled with congestion and low public transport connectivity in the travel-to-work-area make it harder for people to access opportunity and enjoy the high quality of life that they could expect from a prosperous economy,” the board says. “This has additional knock-on effects for businesses that are competing globally for the talent they need to thrive.

“Pollution, long commuting times and lack of accessibility to opportunity via public transport have now become long-standing issues for Greater Cambridge.

“Following Covid-19, the return to commuting by public transport has lagged behind use of the private car, threatening to push pollution and carbon emissions higher, and air quality lower, unless change is implemented.

“There is also significant appetite in the city and wider region to do more to tackle and mitigate climate change in the area of transport.

“The pandemic and now the cost-of-living crisis threatens to entrench inequalities still further, and the Business Board is focusing on a lower carbon, fairer and healthier economy as we emerge from these unprecedented economic challenges.”

It adds: “The status quo on transport in Greater Cambridge, and for the wider area, seems to be unviable and a different approach is needed. One example of this is the recent removal of vital rural services across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough by a commercial provider suggesting that a radical overhaul of the existing approach is needed.

“This context explains why the Business Board broadly supports the proposals set out in the Making Connections consultation. The consultation proposes necessarily bold changes in response to the scale of the transport challenges already facing our area, and their negative impacts described above.”

It agrees that the drive to cutting car use by 50 per cent and increasing public transport use by 40 per cent requires a “truly transformative” approach.

“Radically improved buses, which are more reliable, affordable, frequent, convenient to use and accessible to more people and communities is something the Business Board supports,” continues the board, which is connected to the Combined Authority.

“Nothing less than an ambition of this scale is required to achieve the outcomes proposed.”

It welcomes the proposals to improve connectivity the wider travel to work area - including moe rural parts of East Cambridgeshire, Fenland and Huntingdonshire - via the upgraded bus network to help “reduce inequalities and improve access to employment, education and leisure opportunities within and between the region’s sub-economies”.

And it supports “active travel improvements” to improve walking and cycling routes, the aim for lower carbon emissions and better air quality, to help improve health, wellbeing and quality of life.

The Business Board also encourages the GCP to work closely with the Combined Authority mayor’s aim to explore bus franchising in the region “as part of a regional integrated transport approach which also takes forward further enhancements to cycling and walking provision within and beyond the Greater Cambridge area”.

The board, comprising local business leaders and elected local leaders, and chaired by Anglian Water director Alex Plant, suggests the “precise implementation of the Sustainable Travel Zone and associated charging” should be informed by the feedback to the GCP’s consultation, which closes at midday on Friday (December 23).

“It is vital that a two-way flow of information between the public and other stakeholders continues to develop the proposals in a way which is sensitive to local need,” the board notes.