The date of the next Parish Council Meeting will be:
3rd February 2020
7:30pm at the Village Hall
The date of the next Planning meeting will be:
None planned
Notices
A14 bypass opening date revealed
A 12-mile bypass to the south of Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire – part of the UK’s biggest road upgrade – will open to traffic on Monday 9 December.
The new bypass will run between Ellington and Swavesey and is part of a £1.5 billion project to upgrade 21 miles of the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon.
Last month, the Government announced that the bypass would open to traffic in December, a full year ahead of schedule. Now Highways England is setting out how the road layout will change, and what drivers can expect on the new road.
Highways England project director David Bray said:
“Opening the Huntingdon Southern Bypass is a huge achievement in the delivery of this major road upgrade and I’d like to thank road users, residents and stakeholders for their patience and support during construction. Opening the new bypass will start to unlock many of the project’s benefits and, together with the upgraded section of the A1 between Alconbury and Buckden which opened earlier this year, means that the western section of the transformed A14 is essentially complete. Like any new road, it will take some time for drivers to get used to driving on it, especially when the junctions have a new layout, and some have been renumbered. Please drive safely and enjoy the new road.”
From 9 December, when the new bypass opens to traffic, drivers travelling eastbound on the new bypass will still have to join a section of 40mph narrow lanes roadworks from the Swavesey junction, so should look out for the signs when they approach the area.
The new A14 was designed with safety as the number one priority and its design is simple and intuitive. Variable mandatory speed limits will help to manage traffic to reduce congestion and ensure safety. As with any major road, the main things to remember are to keep left unless overtaking, not to drive under a Red X, stick within the speed limit and know what to do if you breakdown. A red roundel around a speed limit mean it is mandatory.
Slow moving vehicles will be prohibited from the new bypass and will be directed to use alternative local access roads. Each junction has specific possible vehicle movements and it is not always possible to join or leave the new road in all directions, to ensure that A14 traffic uses the most appropriate junction for its destination, avoiding smaller roads through local communities.
The junction numbers on the A14 between Ellington and Bar Hill will change when the bypass opens, as there will be fewer junctions than on the old A14. New A14 junction numbers will be as follows:
• New Ellington, junction 21
• Brampton interchange, junction 22
• Godmanchester and A1198, junction 23
• Swavesey, junction 24
• Bar Hill, junction 25
All A14 junctions east of and including Girton, as well as the A1 junctions, will maintain their existing junction numbers.
You can view a map of the new bypass here.
Work on the rest of the project, between Swavesey and Milton, continues and is on schedule to completed as planned by December 2020.
Busway Closure
Message received from Cambridgeshire County Council:
Following on from my email on 27 August regarding the above A14 bridge works over the Busway, we have been working with Highways England (HE) as part of their work to upgrade the A14. They have been widening the bridge over the Guided Busway at Impington near Histon. To progress this work safely, primarily to allow them to install the necessary sheet piled foundations, the busway route under the bridge has been closed temporarily.
HE were going to complete this phase of work early November and re-open the busway but the work has been significantly more challenging than expected and the busway closure needs to be extended for them to safely complete the bridge extension.
Outstanding work also includes repairs to the busway track, which has suffered some damage during the sheet piling work caused by the unexpectedly hard ground conditions. The track has to be made safe before buses can run on it again, and we will be carrying out the repairs as soon as the bridge extension work is complete.
The guided busway will remain diverted until the end of January while all this work is completed. As soon as the repairs are completed the busway will reopen to bus services.
This means that the bus route going into Cambridge (southbound) between Histon and Orchard Park East will continue to be diverted via the Histon junction over the A14 during the closure. People travelling into Cambridge from Histon can board diverted services from the stop on Cambridge Road.
The cycle path will remain open during this extended closure period. Some additional, temporary closures of the cycle path will be required in the New Year when repairs to the busway track take place and people will be kept informed in advance.
HE have apologised for any inconvenience caused by the unexpectedly delayed reopening of the guided busway track at Impington.
Weekly Policing Update
Officers joined members of the volunteer HGV-Watch group in Hilton on Tuesday morning, 19th November, monitoring HGV vehicles passing through the village and checking for any offences, as part of the force’s ‘Road Safety Week’ initiative – further details of this are below.
Road safety events have been taking place across the County this week, in support of the Cambridgeshire Road Safety Partnership’s rural road speed campaign but also targeting all other forms of motoring safety and including educational and enforcement activities.
The week culminates in a 24-hour multi-agency operation that started at 6:00 am Friday 22nd November, and includes enforcement activities including speeding, the use of mobile phones, driving whilst under the influence of drink or drugs, and the failure to wear a seat-belt.
Officers will also be out educating road users on tyre and bike safety as well as attending schools and colleges to provide advice on how to stay safe on the roads.
More than 200 officers, PCSOs, staff and volunteers will be taking part and supporting the initiative, including Specials, cadets, neighbourhood officers and road policing officers.
Bus Review Survey
Public to have say on Cambridgeshire and Peterborough radical bus reform
The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority is to launch a public survey on bus services as part of an ongoing radical reform of its bus network.
Kicking off on November 4th, there will be a six-week survey to canvas public views on Cambridgeshire and Peterborough bus services and how they can be improved.
The public will have the opportunity to feedback on the current bus network, what they think is working and what could be improved through a series of focus groups and survey that can be completed online or by phone.
Respondents will be asked to comment on current levels of satisfaction with bus services and their support for a range of suggested improvements including more frequent services, an expansion of the bus network and new routes. Other ideas for improving services include greater use of technology such as driverless shuttles and more use of alternative fuels such as electric buses.
The results of the survey with the public will be used as an evidence base for what needs to change, which will be taken forward by the Authority and developed into a plan for how to improve the bus network.
Mayor James Palmer said:
“Buses form a fundamental component of the public transport offering across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, however, the bus network that we currently have is simply not good enough.
“Services are frequently in decline, particularly in rural or less prosperous areas, key employment areas are not linked, and bus routes are not properly integrated with other points of transport such as rail stations. This has major social impacts and harms our prosperity as it limits opportunities for those unable to travel by car.
“We will keep an open mind as to how the bus network could be improved, including exploring new ways of delivering bus services, such as franchising and enhanced partnerships.
“Transport is something that affects everyone, so the input of the public is vitally important, and I strongly encourage people to come forward with their views on how bus services can be levelled up.”
The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority recently published a draft Local Transport Plan, which set out a vision to create a world-class transport network for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to support sustainable growth and opportunity for all.
The plan for delivering improvements to the bus network will build on the recommendations and proposals of both the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough draft Local Transport Plan and the Strategic Bus Review published earlier this year.
Database
Hilton Parish Council would like to set up a email database to allow it to notify you of some of the more significant issues it deals with in a more timely manner. If you would like to be included in this database please send an email to our clerk:
Speed-watch Volunteers
As many of Hilton residents are aware, increasing levels of traffic through the village is having a detrimental impact. Hilton Parish Council is calling for volunteers to help with a speed-watch campaign. If you would like to volunteer please contact us by calling our clerk: 01480 830605 or leave a message via the Contact page:
