Orchard owner devastated by busway approval

13 hours ago

Phil ShepkaCambridgeshire political reporter

Tom Jackson/BBC Head and shoulder image of Anna Gazeley. Anna has shoulder length dark hair, has glasses on top of her head and is wearing a black top. — Anna Gazeley's family owns a century-old orchard on the path where a new busway will be built

The owner of a century-old orchard said it felt like a loved one had been "given a terminal diagnosis", after the government approved a £192m busway that will run straight through it.

The project known as C2C, linking 8.6 miles (13.8km) between Cambridge and Cambourne, hopes to provide 10,000 daily passenger trips.

It was given the go-ahead on Tuesday, but the route will go through Coton Orchard, whose owner Anna Gazeley said she felt "bereaved".

Brian Milnes, the Lib Dem chair of the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP), said it was "very sympathetic to people who protested... but we have to try and be dispassionate about this and provide transport schemes that we are in desperate need of".

Inspectors who oversaw a public inquiry last year concluded the busway was "crucial to securing sustainable development on the west side of Cambridge" and noted a lack of "practical alternatives".

In their report to government, published at the same time the decision was made, the inspectors said there was "widespread recognition, including by objectors... of the need to improve public transport on this corridor".

Phil Shepka/BBC A close-up of an apple tree in an orchard. In the foreground are two red apples on a branch, with trees visible in the background. — The busway would run through Coton Orchard, to the west of Cambridge

The busway will run between Cambourne via the Bourn Airfield development, Hardwick, Coton and west Cambridge.

Thousands of homes are planned at the former RAF site in Bourn, but a planning condition would restrict the development to just 500 if a busway or similar was not built.

But there were more than 300 objections, including concerns around safety following deaths on Cambridgeshire's current busway, and scepticism over passenger numbers.

Gazeley, whose family orchard contains about 1,000 trees growing 26 varieties of apples, pears and plums, told the BBC: "I feel bereaved.

"It is as though someone I love has been given a terminal diagnosis, and I am being told there is nothing I can do but watch her die."

DJ McLaren/BBC An inspector wearing a flat cap and hi-vis vest under a red jacket, looking at his phone in Coton Orchard, surrounded by trees and other participants in the inquiry. — Inspectors visited the sites affected by the plans

Coton Parish Council said it was "tragic that a viable on-road alternative with superior connectivity was never properly worked up and assessed by the authorities".

"The GCP scheme will be an expensive white elephant - it will have very low passenger numbers, it will be a long-term financial millstone for Cambridgeshire taxpayers, and it will wreak irreparable harm to precious habitat and landscape."

However, Milnes told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire the GCP was "very pleased that finally the decision has come forward and we can get on with developing the project".

"We're absolutely desperate for better public transport in and around Cambridge, and this is going to be a major new route in from a very rapidly expanding Cambourne," he said.

"The whole reason for this being so important was that without this high-quality transport system project, then Bourn Airfield couldn't go ahead."