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Greater Cambridge greenways would make exercise routine




Jim Chisholm on the Chisholm trail, Shelford to Addenbrookes . Picture: Keith Heppell
Jim Chisholm on the Chisholm trail, Shelford to Addenbrookes . Picture: Keith Heppell

Many cycling schemes have good cost-benefit ratios, even without consideration of health and pollution benefits.

A number of environmental or energy/CO2-saving schemes have been shown to be flawed after thorough investigation.

For the Greenways schemes, proposed as part of the City Deal, I hope to show these represent not only ‘good value’ but also best use of available money.

These ideas for Greenways are not new.

In 2003, the Marshall Group financially supported a project for better cycling and walking routes around Cambridge under a banner of a Green Wheel, or CamCycle Rings.

Sustrans did much investigative work, but at that time funding was limited and the implications to our health both from lack of exercise and exposure to air pollution were less well understood. Thanks are due to Marshall for supporting that work.

The county council, as part of the Greater Cambridgeshire City Deal programme, has presented, some 15 years later, revised and new plans for such routes. See www4.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/info/20020/cycling/666/greenways.

The proposed routes, which radiate from Cambridge and connect to necklace villages, would be suitable for those cycling and walking, with some sections also usable by equestrians.

They would be of a better quality than many existing routes, having a surface and width suitable for regular commuters in ordinary clothes, schoolchildren, cargo bikes and cycles suitable for the disabled.

By using routes away from main roads, these Greenways would be suitable for more people – including unaccompanied secondary school children – for both leisure and utility trips.

Some may question the value of such investment, but such routes provide a cycling alternative to the car for many trips under five miles. Not only will congestion and pollution be reduced, but it also provides an easy way of fitting regular exercise into a daily routine. They will also enable those living in Cambridge to explore the surrounding countryside without the need for a car.

Modelling in 2012 estimated that a 10 per cent increase in cycling and walking in urban centres could save the NHS more than £1billion over 20 years.

Good sources of further information are available from Cycling UK – see cyclinguk.org/campaigning/views-and-briefings/cycling-and-economy.

The Department for Transport also did studies of a number of recent cycling schemes across the UK – see gov.uk/government/publications/economic-case-for- the-cycle-ambition-grants.



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