Plans for apart-hotel at new district Eddington in Cambridge take a step forward

Plans for an apart-hotel in a new Cambridge district have taken a step forward following concerns over parking and traffic.

The new hotel and apart-hotel, planned for the new district of Eddington in the north west of the city between Madingley Road and Huntingdon Road, would provide 150 rooms plus 180 Locke apart-hotel rooms.

Yesterday (Wednesday, January 23), councillors on Cambridge’s joint development control committee hailed a step forward with plans for the new apart-hotel.

Last November, the committee expressed concerns about the impact of the hotel on parking and traffic in the area.

Speaking at the committee last year, Tonia Tkachenko, an architect at dRMM Ltd, said the hotel, which will feature a gym and a rooftop ‘gathering place’, would be an exciting use of the district’s market square.

But councillors feared the proposals, which are currently in the pre-planning stage, were inadequate. There were worries that staff and visitors would need to drive to the hotel putting additional strain on the roads and parking in nearby areas.

Yesterday, Ms Tkachenko told the committee there would be parking provision for up to 200 bicycles, including long-stay spaces.

She said there could also be storage for electric bikes which would be included if there was demand for them.

Cllr John Williams, who had previously been critical, said he was pleased that the architects appeared to have put more thought into the scheme since last time.

Despite this, some concerns remained over the number of parking spaces which would be available for staff at the hotel, with some saying 22 would not be enough.

Cllr Douglas de Lacey said many hotel staff would not be able to afford a home in Cambridge and would probably need to commute into the city from outside.

He said that many of them would travel by car, and there was potential for the spaces available to fill up, putting pressure on nearby streets.

A full planning application will go before the city council’s planning committee.