Owner of one Cambridge’s oldest restaurants fears impact of Catholic church junction changes
The owner of one of the oldest restaurants in Cambridge fears for its future if plans to restrict drivers turning at a city centre junction go ahead.
Peter Lee, owner of Charlie Chan’s on Regent Street, is calling for the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) to take the needs of businesses into consideration before going ahead with the plans for the Catholic church junction.
The GCP claims the new proposals for the junction at the Our Lady and the English Martyrs church – where Lensfield Road, Hills Road, Gonville Place and Regent Street meet – would improve cycling safety. They are backed by charity Camcycle and would go out for further consultation before implemented.
But Mr Lee, who is also chairman of the Chinese Association in Cambridge, is asking whether the GCP gives “any weight to looking after city centre businesses” when it comes up with new road plans.
Mr Lee said: “I’ve been trading in number 14 Regent Street for the last 42 years running the Charlie Chan restaurant and I don’t seem to have had any consultation about this or information to let me know that this change might take place. I only heard about it because another trader told me.
“If this happens it will have a massive impact on us. Three or four times a day we have fresh food deliveries of seafood, vegetables and meat and the vans need to park in front of the restaurant, which has an unloading space for the purpose. Tourist buses often drop people off for lunch at the restaurant and come back for them later. Will they still be able to get here? I don’t know the plans at all, because there has been no consultation.
“If this does happen, it will make the area outside Regent Street really congested. At the moment we don’t do a takeaway delivery service but lots of other restaurants on Regent Street do and obviously this will be a setback for them.
“It is already a difficult time for traders. The cost of ingredients has increased so much and my gas and electricity bills have doubled. Now this is set to make it harder for deliveries and for people to get here.
“When the authority is considering making these road changes do they give any weight to looking after city centre businesses? I would like to say that whatever decision they make about this in the future they should give a little bit more consideration for the poor people working in the city centre or running their business here.”
The new plan would ban right turns into Hills Road from Lensfield Road, and left turns out of Hills Road and Regent Street. The proposals were only unveiled after the end of an initial public consultation about changes to Hills Road, which means residents have not yet been able to have their say on the matter.
Laura Chen, who owns a language school on Hills Road, is also concerned. She said: “I have helped to run the Dragon Boat Festival with the Chinese restaurants on Regent Street and I am very worried for them and what it will mean for their deliveries and customers coming to the restaurants. Cambridge has a lot of tourists who won’t easily find other routes. I also think it could impact people coming to my language school in the summer. The GCP needs to do a proper consultation with businesses in the area before they go ahead with this.”
The GCP board is expected to approve a consultation on the new plans at its meeting today (Thursday).
The board papers explain: “There is a need to address pinch points, prioritise pedestrian movements across side road junctions, and improve green infrastructure and dwell areas to create a healthier and more pedestrian-friendly environment.
“The preferred scheme has sought to balance the competing space demands generated by the high pedestrian, cycle, bus and vehicle flows along Hills Road and the requirement to retain on-street servicing within the finite public highway space available.”
