Jake Reynolds organised a meeting between the Village Plan Steering Group and the A14 Improvement Scheme managers and contractors. On 1 October, co-ordinators of the Transport, Environment, and Planning and Major Developments subgroups met with representatives of the Highways Agency, Atkins, and Costain-Skanska. Jake outlined the background to the Village Plan and the three main A14-related issues which had generated feedback from residents: noise, air pollution, and the bisection of the village, together with the question of rights of way which had been raised at the recent Parish Council meeting. Jake highlighted the potential effects of air pollution on children's health and challenged the assumption that a road "enhancement" project should enhance only the experience of road users and not also be taken as an opportunity to enhance the lives of those living next to the development.
The developers explained that their remit was to benefit "UK PLC" by reducing road congestion, increasing the reliability of journey times, and reducing the rate of accidents. Nevertheless, they were required to meet the standards set for mitigation of environmental impacts under UK and EU legislation, informed by World Health Organisation guidelines. Being ultimately accountable to the taxpayer, the cost of any measures to reduce noise and air pollution would have to be justified within current guidelines. Discussions concentrated, at the developers' request, on general principles rather than the specific measures that could be employed. However, they did listen with attention to the views put forward, and it was agreed that we would meet again to discuss the issues in greater detail.
A public information exhibition will be at Girton College (not the Holiday Inn as stated in the October GPN) on 7, 8 and 9 December. A draft proposal (essentially the equivalent of a planning application) will be published in March 2009, on which public comments are invited. Following this consultation period, it is expected that the proposal will go to a public inquiry, which may be a lengthy process.