Ideas to improve Cambridge's streets and open spaces wanted by July

Residents, workers and visitors are being urged to provide ideas to help make Cambridge easier and more pleasant to get around before the closing date for comments of Monday 16 July.

‘Making Space for People’ is being developed by Cambridge City Council and Cambridgeshire County Council, and is funded by the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP).

The project will lead to the creation of a new Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) to help guide improvements to the city, which will put people first when identifying future opportunities to improve public spaces and movement flows into and around the city.

Potential areas for changes could include:

• Improvements to the way people move around Cambridge on foot and by bicycle;
• Potential enhancements to walkways, cycleways, roads and open spaces – to ensure people are put at the heart of city life;
• New uses for certain parts of the city.

Residents and other members of the public are being invited to have their say by providing views on a website which will register comments and ideas.

The website, ConsultCambs, gives people the opportunity to view a map of the city and comment in detail about specific locations that they feel could be improved, and how.

People can make comments online via http://consultcambs.uk.engagementhq.com/making-space-for-people until 5pm on Monday 16 July before having another opportunity to comment on the emerging vision at a later date.

ConsultCambs is a brand new online engagement platform, funded by GCP, which allows people to get involved in shaping new schemes affecting where they live or work at a time and place that’s convenient for them.

Since ConsultCambs launched last month, over 400 comments have been received, with over 250 surveys completed on the Making Space for People project alone.

All of the ideas and comments the council receives from these initial exercises will help shape the council’s strategy, and will feed into a draft document to be discussed by councillors, before a full public consultation on the proposed Making Space for People SPD, which is due to take place in early 2019.

A range of organisations with an interest in Cambridge’s future are also being invited to attend meetings and workshops to give their ideas for the future and discuss some of the challenges and opportunities for improving the city.

The project is funded by the Greater Cambridge Partnership and is part of the City Access scheme to improve travel within Cambridge by public transport, cycling and walking, along with tackling congestion and improving air quality and the public realm.

Cllr Kevin Blencowe, Executive Councillor for Planning Policy and Transport, said: “The work now being done to develop this Making Space for People SPD gives people who live, work in or visit Cambridge the chance to tell us how they think the city could work better for people in the years to come.

“If people have not already visited the website and told us their ideas I would urge them to do so by 16 July.”

Peter Blake, Transport Director at Greater Cambridge Partnership said: “Making Space for People is part of our long-term plans to improve the city’s public spaces, which will encourage people to travel by cycling and walking, making the most of cleaner air, with more pleasant streets and less traffic.”