Path upgrade, Meldreth Station to Melbourn:

Communications have now been shared by the Greater Cambridge Partnership about this long-awaited project, which will see significant improvements for walking, cycling, and scootering between Meldreth Station and Melbourn.  The route is also, of course, a much-used thoroughfare for people walking between Meldreth and Melbourn.

The upgraded path will be wide enough to accommodate all forms of active travel, and it will be lit. 

Together with the Wonderpass and its public art (which will be receiving some remedial paint work and tidy up during the construction period), the new route will have a well-supported feel.

Hopefully works will commence in the last few days of July and are expected to last for the best part of three months. 

No doubt there will be moments of frustration during the construction period – please bear with and your local councillors will do their best to liaise with the project team on troubleshooting along the way.

The path will be completely closed off during construction; the pedestrian diversion will need to follow Station Road, as there is no better alternative available.  This is not ideal, but the route will be supported by bespoke crossing points and some human presence too.

A thorough vegetation cutback and tidy up will take place along the whole of the diversion route prior to works commencing.

Through our Community Rail Partnership, we have been talking with rail users with mobility challenges and have invited the project delivery team to test the diversion route with a local resident who is visually impaired, in order to identify aspects of the diversion route that can be improved – this will happen early on.

Funding for the path upgrade comes partly from Section 106 developer contributions from TTP (The Technology Partnership Melbourn) and the Hopkins Homes development at the top of New Road Melbourn.   The route forms part of the overall ‘Melbourn Greenway’ project.

Thanks to everyone who has been working hard to get ducks in a row, ready to go.

Finally, please note that the Meldreth Shepreth and Foxton Community Rail Partnership has been working with the rail industry on a new ramp to connect the path to the London-bound station platform. Our most recent bid for Dept for Transport partnership funding was unfortunately not successful – but the effort continues. 

Official communications from the Greater Cambridge Partnership say:

“How the works will be carried out 

Our contractors, Milestone Infrastructure, will be working on the path for approximately 11 weeks aiming to start at the end of July and finish in October.  

Works will take place during daytime hours 7.30am-5pm Monday-Friday and the path will be closed at all times, seven days a week. Unfortunately, there is no space to provide safe, temporary access outside working hours alongside our contractor’s machinery, equipment and materials. 

We know the works will affect people who rely on the path – particularly when the school restarts in September – and we would like to apologise for any inconvenience that might be caused. As mentioned, a diversionary route will be put in place to allow access between platforms. 

We hope to get as much of the works completed as possible during the school summer holidays. We will work with our contractors to minimise disruption as much as possible. 

Contacts and keeping up to date:

There are three ways for the public to stay up to date: 

1.            Online: www.greatercambridge.org.uk/melbourn-greenway  

2.            Contact our contractor:  

1.            Email: Greenways@milestoneinfra.co.uk. 

2.            24-hour phone line: 0800 028 1363.  

3.            Monthly email updates: selecting greenways when you register at www.greatercambridge.org.uk/email-updates“

Answers to local residents’ queries:

Thanks for the comments and questions, which I’ll try and answer here:

Funding for this project is partly, as mentioned, via Section 106 contributions from two developments in Melbourn. These are legal agreements made in conjunction with planning permissions, that are worked out with district council officers and in consultation with parish councils. For the Hopkins Homes development the rationale was to fund an upgrade to the active travel route leading to a good quality public transport service, to meet people’s everyday needs.  For the TTP development the rationale was to facilitate public transport options into the village that would mitigate against increasing car usage and therefore commuter traffic in the village.  Additional funding for the scheme comes from the Greater Cambridge Partnership Melbourn Greenway scheme which is government funding that can only be spent on infrastructure development, so not general maintenance.

The old path was a footpath only and the new path will become multi-use for all active travel modes.

Meldreth Station inaccessibility (over the tracks, and to the London platform) has been a matter of concern taken up by the Meldreth Shepreth and Foxton Community Rail Partnership and Rail User Group over the past 15 years.  Meldreth Station is owned by Network Rail and leased to the Train Operating Company. The Community Rail Partnership works with the rail industry toward local access and service improvements. 

Lifts:  Meldreth station is relatively small in terms of footfall so lags behind the Letchworths and Roystons; nevertheless the Community Rail Partnership, which is supported by volunteers and accredited by the national Community Rail Network, continues to articulate the case for full accessibility.  A ramp from Meldreth Station car park to the Cambridge platform was achieved some ten years ago.  Partial funding from the TTP Section 106 agreement has been allocated for a ramp from the path to the London platform but the rest needs to come from the rail industry.  An Access for All application to the Dept for Transport for ramp funding due for determination last year was delayed then announced as unsuccessful just before the General Election.  GTR have told us they will try again.  Meanwhile the Community Rail Partnership helps with signposting to GTR’s Mobility Assistance scheme at Meldreth Station.

The Station Road bridge pedestrian route is challenging as all will know from experience; indeed that has spurred on the effort to upgrade the field path.  The Greater Cambridge Partnership has been working closely with parish councils and the Community Rail Partnership to optimize the diversion path and if there are problems everyone will work to find solutions.

State of roads, pavements and highway infrastructure:  the effect of so many years of severe national underfunding has left the workforce slim and the maintenance budget very low.  Cambridgeshire funding is well known to be particularly low per head of population hence lobbying nationally by all Cambridgeshire councils for ‘Fair Funding.’   Government gives out some extra pothole funding every year, but it is only a tiny fraction of what is needed.  If maintenance grant funding were to vastly increase as it needs to, the workforce too would need to increase, in order to manage and carry out works (and that would require increased revenue funding). 

I hope this helps explain why things seem to work in a disjointed way.  The team assembled will be doing their best to make a much-improved route to Meldreth Station and has been many years in the making.  Hopefully in time the other elements of access improvement will happen too – certainly they will continue to be worked on.

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