Cambridgeshire villagers slam Greenway works as 'total waste of money'

People living in a Cambridgeshire village have criticised works to create a Greenway as a “total waste of money”. The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) is creating a Greenway linking Comberton to Cambridge to improve active travel connections.

Villagers have said they are concerned that the Greenway won’t provide value for money. They have also criticised changes to junctions along Barton Road where sloping pavements are being made into right-angles.

Eileen Marsh, 78, said: “We have never had any accidents with the existing curved exits so why, why, why is money being totally wasted when it could be put to so much better use?” She said she thought the right-angled junctions were less safe than the sloping pavements.

“I saw a lorry come out of one of the right-angles, he had to go across the opposite lane on the road to pull out,” she said. “So that’s dangerous too.”

Another resident, who did not want to be named, said buses leaving Comberton Village College had to either drive over pedestrianised tactile paving or cross into oncoming traffic to turn. They said: “My concern is that making the junction narrower is going to make it more difficult for vehicles to drive in and out.

“I think the idea is to slow them down. I’m just concerned that there’s potential for impact between vehicles, particularly larger ones.”

They said they thought the work was a waste of money, “but I’d like to be proved wrong”. They added: “If you want to solve a problem, you want to have a really good reason for going in a particular direction – either someone’s done it before or you can prove that this is actually going to make it work better.”

A third resident said they also believed it was a waste of money.

Martin Meehan, project manager for the GCP, said: “Our Greenways network – a 150km network of 12 new walking and cycling routes – is being developed to give more people a choice in how they travel to work, school and to meet friends. We are amending a number of junctions on Barton Road in Comberton to make it safer for people crossing these roads and to ensure the road layout is in line with the reduced 20mph limit.

“This will make pedestrian and cycling journeys safer in the village. We have carried out extensive public engagement on the Greenways and continue to listen to the views of residents.

“We have met with residents on site to demonstrate how the junctions would work and will continue to review whether further changes to the design are required before construction begins. If changes are required, they will be made before construction begins in that area.”