Development Around Dry Drayton
Dry Drayton Parish is in the centre of an area of Cambridgeshire that is destined to be blessed with considerable development in the near future.
Along the A428 Road to the West of the Parish, the East of England Plan proposes 2,500 more homes to an already expanded Cambourne. You can pick up the enthusiasm of local residents about this via the Cambourne Forum.
Meanwhile proposals for a new community called Northstowe, unashamedly a new town, are being pressed ahead. All the terrible details of this develoment can be seen on the developer's website for the place. Already, before it is built, the East of Englan Plan has this new town growing from the planned 8000 homes by another 2000 homes. Plans on Northstowe are on the South Cambs website
Northstowe is linked to the proposed new Misguided Busway which will run on the roads from Huntingdon to St Ives, then along the route of the old Cambridge to St Ives railway line and onto the roads again in Cambridge, to allegedly relieve the traffic problems on the A14 road. Already work on the Misguided Busway is having an impact on Dry Drayton residents with roads closed for months, first between Oakington and Cottenham, then between Girton and Histon. You can take in the hype on the Misguided Busway by watching their propoganda film on YouTube or visiting the County Council site. You may also be interested in the views of some of those who proposed other ways of relieving the A14 death road, for example Cast Iron. You can also see the recent petition to the PM to stop the project and the Government response. It is interesting to note that in Feruary 2008 Las Vegas planners have found that their futuristic monorail transport system is actually being used by less than half the predicted travellers. Could it be that a similar wave of planning optimism is behind expectations of 20 full busses per hour on the Cambridgeshire misguided busway?
Where will all this development leave Dry Drayton? Cambourne is sufficiently far away for us not to have been greatly affected by its construction, especially since the A428 has been improved, although those using the A428 can testify to increased traffic flows. Try driving into Cambridge at around 8 am and you will find so much traffic that the road from Madingley to the foot of Madingley Hill behind the American Cemetary has become a rat run for those wanting to avoid the static traffic coming down the Madingley Hill.
Cambourne put additional pressures onto Comberton Village College, and as a consequence admission rules were tightened to the detriment of some other children at schools in their catchment area.
The new town at Northstowe is likely to be felt at Dry Drayton. The Dry Drayton intersection on the A14 (probably one of the most dangerous roads in the UK) will become a major route for construction traffic. New primary and secondary schools in the development could put existing arrangements for Dry Drayton into the melting pot. Both the Bar Hill and the Dry Drayton A14 intersections will become far busier than at present. There could be increased traffic through the village going to new workplaces in both Cambourne and Northstowe. What will be the impact on house prices when there is a greatly increased supply of properties nearby? Will Northstowe bring additional employment opportunities for Dry Drayton folk, or better communication routes into Cambridge via the misguided bus?
Another cranky idea, likely to add over £1000 to the cost of living in Dry Drayton if you happen to work in Cambridge, is the proposed Cambridge conjestion charge. You can read the propoganda on this wonderful scheme here. Rest assured not a penny of income from this scheme is likely to be spent on improving public transport between Dry Drayton and Cambridge.
Please e-mail the webmaster if you have further information on development
proposals - or want to open the debate further.