New metro could be extended to Peterborough

Metro mayor James Palmer has floated the idea of the Cambridgeshire Metro extending all the way north to Ramsey and Peterborough.
How the metro could look in CambridgeHow the metro could look in Cambridge
How the metro could look in Cambridge

Addressing a meeting of Huntingdonshire’s full council on Wednesday 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.

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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.”

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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 £3 million 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.

Ben Hatton, Local Democracy Reporting Service