Parish Council Notes
Parish Council News
The last Parish Council meeting was held 5th January.
Cycling on the Pavement
Cycling on the pavement between the gap between cycle paths on New Road and Comberton Road was discussed at the last Parish Council meeting. The Parish Council would like to remind cyclists that it is illegal to ride on a pavement with risk of a fine and injury or damage claim should an accident occur. Cyclist should dismount at the end of cycle paths if they wish to use the pavement. We understand the concerns about crossing on a bike to continue cycling on the road at Kings Grove and the lower end of Comberton Road, but there is also a concern about cycling illegally on a narrow pavement. Barton Greenways project has budget approval and should address road safety for cyclists through the village centre. In the meantime, cyclist should dismount and walk their bikes on the pavement if they do not wish to ride on the road.
Recreation Ground Car Park
The car park at the recreation ground is open from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm with volunteers opening and closing the gate. The Parish Council are looking for more volunteers. Please contact Councillor Chloe Langford if you are willing to help.
Local Highways Initiative Bid
The Local Highways Initiative (LHI) bid was approved at the Parish Council meeting. The next stage is for our application to go before a panel on 8th February. This panel will review all Cambridgeshire bids over a number of sessions and apply scores to each. The penel review and scores will then be presented to the Highways and Transport committe in June. Successful candidates will be notified soon after. Our bid focusses on 40 mph buffer zones around the village. Barton Greenways plan includes reducing the speed limit through the village centre to 20 mph and will include traffic calming measures, so no need to dulicate that part of our village wide plans. If successful, the Parish Council contribution will be £10,000.00.
East West Rail
East West Rail will make public their route options early 2021. This is a delay by a few months. Barton Parish Council had a presentation by CamBedsRailRoad group on 1st December. CBRR are pushing for EWR to reconsider a route into North Cambridge. However, EWR did respond to CBRR proposals late 2019. In return, CBRR have responded back. Barton Parish Council has reviewed both responses and counter responses. There are issues with CBRR proposal in that it might include knocking down new houses in NorthStowe and building a track across Coldham Common (a legally protected area). A northern route into Cambridge would not impact Barton, but it is not obvious that EWR would go that way for the reasons outlined in chapter 16 of their Route Option Report of 2019 . Cambridgshire County Council report a backing for a pause in the plans and to ask EWR for a complete review.
Please feel free to comment on the above.