Call for projects!

The new 2013/14 Environmental Improvement Programme (EIP) year will shortly be upon us, so we are requesting ideas for new schemes to be submitted by the end of March 2013. West/Central Area has a budget of £42,000 for such projects.

Suggestions will be reviewed for feasibility and estimated cost, then presented to the Area Committee for consideration. Highway-related projects will be passed to the County Council to request funding contributions from their Minor Highway Works Budget (25k).

Please send in your suggestions using the new proforma that can also be accessed from the updated EIP web page on the City Council website. A copy of the eligibility criteria is also linked to this page.

The much awaited St Andrew’s Street Taxi Rank Consultation is now open. The County Council website explains:

What are the problems?
The main focus for taxis is the rank in the lay-by in St Andrew’s Street. Often this rank is full and taxis sometimes queue onto the road to wait for space on the rank to become free. This has led to complaints, adds to congestion in the area and reduces safety for others.

Over-ranking causes a number of issues:
– obstructing wider vehicles, such as buses and emergency vehicles, passing along the road,
– narrowing the road space, leading to safety concerns,
– delaying buses from getting to and from stops,
– obstructing the pedestrian crossing point between the Lion Yard and Christ’s Lane, forcing pedestrians to cross between parked cars.

What are the proposals?
The County Council is proposing to keep the taxi rank at St Andrew’s Street as it is, but prevent taxis from queuing onto the road should the taxi rank be full. Instead, taxis should wait at the under-used taxi rank around the corner on Drummer Street until a space becomes available in St Andrew’s Street.

Read more about it, and HAVE YOUR SAY by visiting the Cambridgeshire County Council website. The consultation ends 22 March.

We are pleased to announce that the 2013 Cam Cleanup will be taking place on Saturday 13 April from 10 am – 1 pm. We are once again calling for volunteers to give our much loved river a helping hand.

Last year more than 100 volunteers turned out for the event, filling many bags of rubbish, and we hope to exceed those numbers this year.

The cleanup will have much the same format as last year, with City Council staff placed on each of Sheep’s Green (near Mill Pond), Midsummer Common (near the Fort St George) and Stourbridge Common, to get volunteers started. City Council staff will hand out work gloves, litter pickers and litter bags.

Unfortunately because of the short timeframe the organisers are not able to arrange for an event afterwards as was done last year, but nonetheless we propose that volunteers meet up at the Fort St George after the cleanup to swap stories of the most outrageous items found.

If you are able to come, please confirm by emailing Andrea Reiner at andreareiner23@gmail.com, so that we have an idea of numbers. And please spread the word to other would-be volunteers! We hope to see many of you there.

The event is being organised by Mal Schofield, Becky Allen and Andrea Reiner.

Cambridge residents are to be asked for their views on plans for up to 1,000 new on-street parking spaces in the heart of Cambridge city centre at a cost of £500,000.

The Cambridge City Council project will include finding a location for a third undercover cycle park in addition to the ones at Park Street and Grand Arcade.

A number of locations for the undercover cycle park are being investigated and possible locations for 710 new cycle parking spaces have been identified. These include 158 new spaces in Trumpington Street, 60 in Quayside and 42 in Market Square.

All the suggested locations will be subject to public consultation and will be discussed at a meeting of the West/Central Area Committee. Members of the public are also invited to suggest further locations.

Andrea Reiner, chair of the West/Central Area Committee, said, “Additional cycle racks are much needed in the city centre. Secure parking encourages people to get out of their cars and onto their bikes, which is a good thing.”

Tim Ward, Cambridge City Executive Councillor for Planning and Sustainable Transport said, “These proposals will allow cyclists to park their bikes securely in dedicated parking spaces and not leave them against railings or buildings which can prove a safety hazard to pedestrians especially the disabled.”

Details of the forthcoming consultation will be posted here.