Date published: 2008/09/15
The Cambridge News says:
Planning chiefs need to be wary of Arbury Park turning into "another Cambourne" according to Cambridge City councillors.
Cllr Mike Todd-Jones said, at a council meeting last week, building works at Arbury Park "seem to have virtually stopped and there is no retail centre or local amenities" on the site, mirroring criticisms brought against the Cambourne development.
Cllr Todd-Jones also highlighted the fact residents have complained of "poor access on and off the site for vulnerable users and cyclists" and "anti-social behaviour".
Cllr Todd-Jones spoke to the News following the meeting and warned against it becoming another Cambourne.
It is a bit unfortunate that Arbury Park is coming on stream just as the credit crunch is making housing difficult to sell. But Arbury Park was heading for disaster even before the credit crunch happened. The British just do not seem to be very good at urban planning.
The Accordia site, off of Brooklands Avenue, has much higher quality housing (thanks to the fact that architects were actually involved with the design). Indeed, bizarrely enough it was recently nominated for the top architecture prize in the country (the RIBA Stirling Prize). But it also has "no retail centre or local amenities".
But the problems at Arbury Park go way beyond anything seen at Accordia. For one thing there
are enough horrible kids in the area to make life difficult. Indeed, as can be seen in the
photo (taken 31 August 2002),
local kids used to steal cars and leave them in an underpass of the A14 and torch them.
This is right at the edge of what is now Arbury Park. Well, at least the cars in the
underpass have been cleared, because the guided bus uses that path. But the local kids
behave the same. Indeed, the small community centre in Arbury Park is still awaiting
completion but has had its windows smashed already.
Beyond that, the British urban planning elite spend all their time and effort trying to screw car drivers. So rather than worry about whether the housing was any good, or whether Arbury Park would have noise problems because it bordered the A14, or how people would shop for their groceries, the Cambridgeshire planners just worried about how to screw Arbury Park residents who were car owners. The result is plain for all to see.
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