What is the GCP’s proposed route?

The GCP plans to build a Park and Ride car park –  West of the A11 / A1307 next to Babraham.

From here the  ‘guided’ busway will go across open countryside, skirting the the villages of Sawston, Stapleford and Shelford, crossing the River Granta twice, before aligning with the railway near Addenbrookes and the new Cambridge South Railway Station. 

GCP's route cuts through countryside, biodiverse greenbelt and highly valued green space – all of which currently contribute to Cambridgeshire’s Carbon Neutral plans.  

The route requires a dark tunnel along the chalk stream at Hobson's Brook and severely impacting the Nine Wells Local Nature Reserve. There will be several new level crossings. 

GCP's route will go across the lower slopes of the Gog Magog Hills, one of Cambridge’s most important landscapes.  

It will run next to a new country park and retirement village, where speeding buses will ruin the peace and rural tranquility.

It will also cross the farm track (public footpath) between Stapleford and Babraham which is well-used by residents who enjoy the quiet countryside, and this will be ruined. 

Land along the route will be open to housing development.  

Local people are concerned by City-creep, and the impact this has on both village identity and the fundamental attraction of SE Cambridge as a rural, cultural & heritage area.

House builders will argue that they should be allowed to build new housing near to the busway, so that their future residents can take advantage of the new infrastructure. 

In the medium-term this pressure will be hard to resist.