It has been great to see the new path connecting Meldreth Station to Melbourn open. Thanks to local residents for their patience during the months of construction, and to the delivery team that made it all happen.

A few questions have arisen.  Most of the following has been shared bit by bit over the years – but the story goes a long way back.  It is a good example of the tangled bureaucracy that makes public service infrastructure delivery so very challenging in today’s world. 

Why is there no access ramp from the new path to Meldreth Station London platform? 

It goes without saying that accessibility at Meldreth Station leaves much to be desired.  A simple ramp to the London platform should be a straightforward improvement!

The Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton Rail User Group, now Community Rail Partnership, took up interest in station accessibility as soon as it was formed in 2009.  Because Meldreth Station has a relatively small level of footfall, it has been difficult to compete with larger stations like Royston and Letchworth on accessibility improvement funds. 

A lift over the tracks would be great but seems unlikely in the foreseeable future – though it is something persistently lobbied for. As for ramps to station platforms:  On the station building side at Meldreth, a small success was achieved when a ramp from the car park to the Cambridge platform was created (a dropped kerb did not meet gradient requirements).  The London platform presents a much greater challenge due to the set of steps to the field path. 

The portion of land where a London platform ramp would sit is mostly Network Rail-owned; a small portion is privately owned.  Success in delivering this ramp depends on rail industry collaboration and support.  Ramp design options and costs have been looked over the years, always prompted by the Community Rail Partnership, but never progressed because the adjoining path over the field to Melbourn, as it was until recently, didn’t meet required accessibility standards. 

Now we have the new path constructed to required accessibility standards – itself the result of many years’ preparation, including an accumulation of Section 106 funds (developer contributions) from two Melbourn developments, namely TTP’s new campus adjoining Melbourn Science Park, and the 199 homes and care home at the top of New Road Melbourn.  Each developer contribution was coordinated by South Cambridgeshire District Council Planning and supported by Melbourn Parish Council, on the basis of improving a safe and efficient active travel route to Meldreth Station, thereby facilitating public transport options and mitigating against an increase of vehicular traffic in village settings.  The Greater Cambridge Partnership’s more recent involvement in the new path scheme provided additional resource including a legal team for land acquisition negotiation, project delivery lead, etc. 

OK, but what about the ramp?

Back in 2021-22, the Community Rail Partnership managed to leverage funds from the ‘Passenger Benefit Fund’ (another story, related to fines imposed on the train operating company for the controversial timetable meltdown of 2018) to pay for a feasibility study for accessibility to the London platform from the field path.  The resulting study narrowed down options and costs.

Some funds for this project had materialized: £40K, again from a Section 106 agreement from the development at TTP, who pushed hard for employees to travel to work by train where possible.  However, the ramp was now estimated to cost significantly more than £40K.  So, the Train Operating Company, working closely with the Community Rail Partnership, applied to a Department for Transport fund called Access for All. Results of bids should have been announced in 2023 but were delayed by the Department for Transport for nearly a year, until the eve of the General Election 2024, when sadly the application for Meldreth was announced as unsuccessful.  

Additional funding is therefore still needed.  The Community Rail Partnership has initiated a meeting with our MP Pippa Heylings, Govia Thameslink Railway, the Greater Cambridge Partnership and Network Rail, early in the new year, to explore funding options. 

Other questions arising from the new path:

Why is the middle section of the path between Wonderpass (A10 underpass) and station not lit?  Lamp placements were negotiated with the landowner.  The path is still lighter, and less secluded in places, than it was before.  The path, from the ‘Wonderpass’ to the other end at Station Road, is continuously lit.  

Paintwork for the Wonderpass: The Wonderpass public art project was coordinated by the Community Rail Partnership for the purpose of contributing to a lighter and friendlier feel of the journey through the fields to and fro as it passes under the A10.  The Wonderpass floor will be painted (green not white is the advice) in due course. Funding comes from GTR, the train operating company.  Meanwhile, new paint has been applied to the exposed outer flanks of the Wonderpass, which had previously peeled away, however the new paint is already bubbling again so we will need to think of a plan B.

Vegetation cutback, on the path running perpendicular toward the Fieldgate section of Station Rd   This path had been fenced off during construction so was unused and vegetation grew profusely. It is on Highways’ to-do list.  Thank you to the Meldreth Parish Councillor who did some work on the worst of it in his own time.

Bench on section near Station Road The bench that was there before has been re-sited but sits several muddy steps away from the path.  Can’t something be sorted – a paving slab or some such – to help avoid the mud?  We will look into this.

Be a Friend of the Wonderpass! This lovely space will need regular TLC, including nipping weeds and brambles in the bud.  Please be a Friend of the Wonderpass and keep secateurs in your pocket to keep it looking good, as some people already are!

Any further questions please get in touch.

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