Beehive Redevelopment Greens defend unhappiness and anxiety about loss of shops and further gridlock on Newmarket Road
Cambridge Greens have written to Railpen and attended the in-person development consultations making their discontent with the proposals known. The Greens believe that residents who survive on low and fixed incomes and depend upon the discounted and more affordable shops such as Asda and B&M will be negatively impacted. Asda is particularly valued by shoppers in the Abbey, Coleridge, Romsey and Petersfield areas. Shoppers from these areas are likely to be on foot or on a bicycle even for the main weekly shop so not only are they anxious to retain Asda but also to retain it at its current convenient location. With the current cost of living crisis, more and more local families are worried about feeding their families affordably. Sarah Nicmanis, the Cambridge Green Party Parliamentary Candidate, says: “In our worryingly unequal city, we need to be very careful not to make matters even worse by removing affordable and accessible places for Cambridge people to shop. As we go deeper into the cost of living crisis , that care needs to be doubled.”
Greens state that not only is the Beehive an essential Cambridge resource in terms of affordability, but it is provides the only retail outlet that many disabled residents can access comfortably – or at all. Our historic city centre is sadly regarded as a no-go zone by many disabled residents. Listed buildings that are not adapted for disabled access, narrow streets, poorly designed car parks and noise are all problem factors. Whereas the Beehive Centre offers lower noise levels and Asda provides an Autism Aware Quiet Hour as well as providing wide aisles for wheelchair users free from obstruction with bargain displays and provides wheelchair-accessible payment points.
Greens also warn that the proposed Beehive redevelopment will worsen congestion on Newmarket Road, already one of the most heavily-congested roads in Cambridge, due to staff attending the site being priced out city’s housing stock. It is understood that the intention is to build more lab/office space to capitalise on the talent produced by Cambridge University, renowned for its STEM departments. However the city’s exorbitantly high rents will push those who have only recently entered the labour market into the outlying areas and the Beehive Centre site is poorly served by transport links suitable for commuters. Dr Hannah Copley, Abbey ward councillor and Green and Independent Environment Spokesperson says, “We are really concerned about thousands of jobs being created without the transport links and homes that several thousand new workers in the area would require, especially as the Beehive centre is proposed to deliver only jobs but no homes when there is a housing affordability crisis in Cambridge. It is already very clear that the city’s relentless growth drive is straining finite water supplies and sewage works capacity and that continuing this level of growth is far from sustainable.”
Newmarket Road is already considered an accident blackspot and many otherwise confident cyclists refuse to cycle on it. There is no direct public transport from the nearest rail station, Cambridge North. There are buses from the main Cambridge station but they go through the historic centre. At peak times this adds close to an hour to the commute. This would double the average commute time and make it harder to recruit and retain employees. Elliot Tong, City Councillor Candidate for Abbey Ward, said; “Local people are being asked to give up something they rely on for a speculative development that will strain overloaded transport links and put even more pressure on housing affordability. How viable can this development be if it prices the essential workers this development relies on out of Cambridge?”
