We had the opportunity to present the case for new walking and cycling links to city councillors and the Westbrook Centre developers at a Development Control Forum yesterday. Our arguments about safer walking routes to school appeared to resonate with councillors who described this as a "real priority". You can watch the meeting on YouTube. Thank you to Josh from Camcycle for joining Nick and Lucy at the meeting!

In our presentation (starting at around 32 minutes in the video) we outlined the deficiencies of the existing walking and cycling network, with a lack of routes between Victoria Road, Milton Road and Gilbert Road funneling people (including children walking to school) to the dangerous Mitcham's corner area. We described how new walking and cycling links would support city council policies that aim to promote walking and cycling, how new connections should be designed to prevent crime, and highlighted the many examples of existing connections in Cambridge that are highly valued by residents (like the pictured connection between Warren Road and Eastfield).

Send us your stories

We were bemused at a suggestion that the Corona Road link would only benefit residents on Lilywhite Drive, or that it was somehow dependent on a link to Gilbert Road or changes to the Mitcham's Corner gyratory. We believe that a Corona Road connection would work independently of the other two proposed links by providing an alternative route that avoids much of the gyratory (similar to Herbert Street provides an alternative popular route on the east side of the gyratory). We are looking to collect your experiences of travelling through the area, and how you would benefit from a Corona Road link - please send these to BetterWalkingWestChesterton@gmail.com

There's still time to respond to the planning application

We heard from the case officer that responses to the planning application were still being accepted. Thank you to everyone who has responded to the planning application so far; there are some fantastic comments describing the impact on your journeys and how similar links exist elsewhere in Cambridge.

The opposing petition claimed we were a small number of residents, so please respond to the planning application if you have not already done so to make it clear to the council that these new walking and cycling links are needed and wanted by Cambridge residents: search for 24/00622/FUL on https://applications.greatercambridgeplanning.org/online-applications/

Thank you for your support!