New railway station could be added to major Cambridgeshire development

Developers are still hoping that a railway station could be built at Alconbury Weald where thousands of new homes are being built. While there is no target date for a new station, the master developers said they still have land set aside for the station and funding available to put towards the work.

The Alconbury Weald development is being led by the master developers Urban and Civic and is due to see 6,500 new homes built on a former airfield. Work on the development is well underway, with plans for further phases working their way through the planning process. Rebecca Britton, regional director of communities, communications and partnerships at Urban and Civic, said “all shoulders” were still behind getting a new railway station built at Alconbury Weald.

She said they believed a new station would help to support the new homes being built and businesses opening up at the development. She said: “We have set land aside for a railway station and there is a core amount of funding that is available to support the delivery of a railway station. We are working with partners to bring that forward.”

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Ms Britton explained that the transport needs and impact of the development could be met through existing plans, including building new cycle lanes and improving public transport. However, she said as developers they recognised the benefits a railway station could bring and said they would “always put a shoulder behind getting one”.

She said: “We do not want to build communities that are car dependent, so building in public transport is really key. We are trying to ensure that we are not instilling the need to be in a car, this is an important part as a business how we create active, sustainable communities.”

However, Ms Britton said they had “given up” offering a date for when the new railway station could be built, but said she hoped some further meetings could take place to discuss the project after the general election in July. Ms Britton explained that they were progressing work to build the southern link road, which she said needed to be in place to enable the railway station to happen.

She added that they are also progressing the detailed plans to start work on the Grange Farm section of the development, which Ms Britton said would also support the plans for the railway station. Huntingdonshire District Council approved outline plans for 1,500 homes to be built as part of the Grange Farm phase of the development earlier this year.

The developers said they are currently working on the detailed plans for the first 750 homes, which are proposed to be built in the northern section of the Grange Farm site. Authorities in the area are still considering potentially realigning the A141 around Huntingdon, which could see a new road built through the southern half of the Grange Farm development.

Ms Britton said by getting on with work to build the first 750 homes, it would give the authorities more time to discuss the potential realignment plans for the A141, adding that as developers they could re-plan their proposals for the southern section if the new road was built.