The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Mayor says new £4bn transport system could be extended to city
James Palmer tells meeting Peterborough is a natural progression for planned Metro
Metro mayor James Palmer has floated the idea of the £4bn planned Cambridgeshire Metro system extending all the way north to Ramsey and Peterborough.
Addressing a meeting of Huntingdonshire’s full council last week the mayor said “the natural progression” of the Metro is to extend it from Alconbury to Ramsey and on to Peterborough.
And he said early reports on the feasibility of the Metro in Peterborough are positive.
The mayor said: “I have just worked up an opportunity to bring the Metro from St Ives through to Alconbury. That is a deal that I’m working on with Homes England and Urban and Civic – the development at Alconbury – and it would be a link in to Huntingdon station as well.
“But the natural progression of the Metro from Alconbury is to Ramsey and to Peterborough.
“We have already funded an early stage report in Peterborough to see if the Metro would work there, and it’s a very positive report. Delivery of the Metro is about providing homes through garden villages and using the uplift in the value of land to help us reach across rural areas.
“I think the distance between Ramsey and Alconbury, and the distance between Peterborough and Ramsey, gives us the opportunity to take the Metro straight through.”
He added he was very happy to discuss with the mayor of Ramsey “opportunities for growth in Ramsey that are dependent upon the Metro coming through”.
The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority board authorised £3m to fund an outline business case due to be completed by summer 2020 for the Cam Metro, which follows a strategic outline business case approved in March.
The March strategic outline business case showed “the key corridors proposed to be served by the Cambridgeshire Autonomous Metro” are: Alconbury, Huntingdon, St Ives, Northstowe, Waterbeach New Town, Cambridge North, St Neots, Cambourne, West Cambridge, Cambridge City Centre, Cambridge Station, Cambridge East, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Trumpington Park and Ride, Granta Park, Haverhill, Newmarket Road Park and Ride,and Mildenhall. In March, a report claimed a new £4bn metro system for Greater Cambridge could create 100,000 jobs and 60,000 new homes.
The feasibility study, commissioned by the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority, has been backed by business and industry in the area.
It’s reported that work could begin on the so-called Cambridgeshire Autonomous Metro (CAM) as soon as 2021. Mayor James Palmer said at the time the report offers a “a compelling case” for a new regional transport network.”
The metro, whose routes would cover 142km (88 miles), will be designed as a “turn up and go” service and include 12km (7.5 miles) of underground corridors beneath the city of Cambridge. Now Mayor Palmer has suggested this project could be extended to Ramsey and Peterborough.