Every weekday morning motorists struggle to drive out of St Ives towards the A14. For anyone starting from the north of the town things are going to get a whole lot worse. In addition to the occasional congestion from Tescos and M&S Food, Morrisons new supermarket will open early in 2018 beside the Marsh Harrier. Fast food providers McDonald's, Subway and Costa Coffee will be moving into new units to be built in the paddock just off Stock's Bridge Way. And planning permission has been granted for a new Aldi store at Compass Point, to open late 2018 or early 2019.
Any road improvements to accompany these changes and help cope with all the extra traffic generated? Don't be silly. Yet another example of development by stealth, enabling Huntingdonshire District Council and the developers to avoid any major expenditure on much-needed infrastructure changes. Add the risk of an additional 4,000 cars per day on the roads from potential housing development around the north of St Ives and you're heading for gridlock. Not just around Stock's Bridge Way, but also East Street and its access roads as cars try to find alternative routes to the Meadow Lane roundabout.
What can you do about it? The building of Morrisons, Aldi, McDonald's etc is a done deal. But housing development to the north of St Ives is still only subject to speculative applications, as in the case of farmland to the west of Old Ramsey Road. How about signing the petition against such development? We've got almost 1,000 signatures, but need a lot more. To sign the petition, click here.
To read more articles from St Ives Matters, click here.
To read more articles from St Ives Matters, click here.
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