Author: Clerk
Northstowe Community Governance Review – Drop in Session 30th November 2019 – 11am at the Ploughman Hall, Willingham
South Cambridgeshire District Council will be available to answer your questions. Further details about the Governance Review can be found here
A14 Bypass Opening Date
A14 bypass opening date revealedNOVEMBER 5, 2019
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.
Bar Hill Junction Switch
On Thursday 7 November, the second of the new bridges will open, meaning the new roundabout at Bar Hill will be fully operational.
From 5am on Monday 11 November, the following changes will be in place:
- The local road between Bar Hill and Oakington will become two-way
- A14 westbound entry slip at Dry Drayton (junction 30) closes
- A14 westbound exit slip at Bar Hill (junction 29) closes, until January 2020
- A14 eastbound entry slip at Oakington (junction 30) closes
- A14 eastbound entry slip at Bar Hill (junction 29) will open from new roundabout
Further information from Highways is available below.
Have your say on future bus services
‘Have your say on our future public transport network. Tell us what matters to you about improving local bus services Cambridgeshire and Peterborough – www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/FutureBus’
Highways Events in and around Willingham – November 2019
November’s Highlights:
Welcome to November’s Highway Events Diary which highlights all known events that will have an impact or take place upon the public highway.
2nd & 5th: Multiple firework displays are planned to take place across the County on the first weekend in November, as well as on the 5th November itself. Road closures will be in place for the events in Cambridge and Sawston, and temporary traffic lights will be in place for Kimbolton and Godmanchester so please bear this in mind when planning your journey.
10th: Remembrance parades and services will be taking place across the County so please expect road closures to be in place throughout the day.
Towards the end of November, a lot of towns and villages will be holding their Christmas lights switch-on events. These will normally include road closures along with other traffic restrictions. Please review the events diary for exact details of locations and restrictions.
*Please remember details of all highway events can be found on https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/travel-roads-and-parking/roads-and-pathways/highway-events/
A14 C2H Road Closures week commencing 4th November 2019
Road Works and Events in and around Willingham – 1st to 15th November 2019
A14 C2H Road Closures week commencing 28th October 2019
Newsletter October 2019
Meadow Road Site
It has been suggested that the Meadow Road site could be used for electric generation with windmills and/or solar panels. This has been explored in the past but appeared not to be viable. Meanwhile, work on the site is continuing to make it a better amenity for the village. Plans are in place to plant some 50 oak trees to commemorate those from the village who lost their lives in the World Wars, together with wild flowers, especially poppies, which would be prolific around VJ day anniversary. As mentioned previously users should be mindful that this is a work in progress and the ground is uneven in places.
Dog Walking
Further to previous articles in the News, the dog walking working party set up to look at site options presented their recommendations at the October meeting. Two sites were identified with a total estimated cost of £10,000 for the works.
Option 1: The Community Orchard on Earith Road which is an area about 5 acres planted with trees. This has a boundary along the B1050 which has hedges and a timber rail fence. The fence could be made secure along that boundary at an approximate cost of £2000. There is limited parking in the area but an extension of the footpath along Earith Road is planned. There is also the right of way alongside the orchard leading to Milking Hills Drove which allows extra dog walking space.
Option 2: An area between the QEII recreation ground, the Ploughman Hall and Willingham Lode could be fenced and gated at a cost of £7000. This amounts to around ½ an acre being about 200 metres x 10 metres.
It was agreed to start work on option 1 immediately.
Traffic & HCVs
The condition of the B1050 should see some improvement soon, as Cambridgeshire Highways plan to close it on November 3rd from 7am to 5pm for remedial work. We wait and see how effective this is and for how long it will last. Although the meeting with the Northstowe developers and SCDC councillors (see report elsewhere) does seem to have reduced the HCV traffic to some extent, there are still many of these vehicles travelling through the village.
The Community Roadwatch group has sessions at various locations recording speeds and reporting to companies their speeding vehicles. One 30 minute period in the new 30mph limit on Station Road showed nearly 60 vehicles exceeding the limit, 33% averaging over 40mph including a bus and the maximum at 54mph. The orange flashing speed signs (supplied by Mick George) give real time speeds, but the red/green flashing sign (borrowed from Haddenham recently) seem to give better results as they act as reminders of the actual speed limits. The PC may look at purchasing our own as a better deterrent to excessive speeds.
Northstowe
The October PC meeting saw a presentation from SCDC about a Community Governance Review. Northstowe means there will be a population increase over coming years with additional assets and facilities to be maintained and managed. This will have an impact on existing community governance arrangements. The review will start in autumn 2019 and aims to secure an arrangement which reflects the identities and interests of the community in the area. Willingham is involved as changes could affect the village boundaries.
Drones
There have been instances of drones being flown on the recreation ground. They should not be used on public open spaces, or where there are people around. New laws will come into force on 30 November 2019 which will also require owners of drones weighing over 250 grams to register with the Civil Aviation Authority, and for drone pilots to take a safety test to ensure the UK’s skies are safe from irresponsible flyers.
A14 C2H Road Closures week commencing 21 October 2019
Rampton Road Closure
Please be advised that due to a sink hole opening up on Rampton road Cottenham Anglian Water have had to close this road for emergency works, This closure is in force from this morning until the 28th October.
I have attached a map with the location of the closure including diversion route.
The diversion will be as follows :
Oakington Road, Cambridge Road , New Road, Park lane, Glebe Way onto Cottenham Road and Vice versa
Road Works and events in and around Willingham 16th to 31st October 2019
Just a reminder that this only includes works that are due to start between 16th – 31st October and longer term works that are still in progress will have been included on previous reports. Alternatively please refer to http://www.roadworks.org which will include details on emergency roadworks.