Cambridgeshire: £5m transport windfall

24 May 2012, 16:32 | Updated: 24 May 2012, 16:57

The Department for Transport (DfT) has today awarded Cambridgeshire County Council £5m for its' Local Sustainable Transport Fund as part of a total package of £9m.

The County Council applied for the Government cash under its' "Getting Cambridgeshire to Work" scheme - which aims to improve "connectivity in key economic corridors in Cambridgeshire."

Today's success in Whitehall funding will see the County authority able to more quickly press ahead with key transport improvements now that the funding has not only been agreed, but secured. The cash has to be spend by 2015.

Ian Bates cabinet member for Growth, Infrastructure and Planning told Heart the £5m announcement today, and the overall funding of £9m will mean a significant improvement for local public transport users and allow the County Council to kick-start planned projects.

Mr Bates said: "Now we have the funding, we need to sit down and start the immediate planning on how we spend this money as quickly as possible, but under the best and most detailed planning as possible. We have got until 2015 to speak to our partners, local and district councils to get into the detail of what's required across the county.

We're in discussions with developers around the Alconbury Enterprise Zone which could see the Cambridge Guided Busway extended right into the Zone at one end, and a longer term aspiration to move the end of the busway into the Cambridge City Centre."

Mr Bates added: "There's also improvements which can push forward now for rail improvements. We're already committed to the Cambridge Science Park Station (Chesterton station). We can also move forward with improvements at the Level Crossing - a well known bottle-neck".