East Cambridgeshire District Council was among councils across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough that have voted to reject the Local Transport Connectivity Plan (LTCP).

The plan, which included the option of a road charge across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, went before the Board Meeting of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) on Wednesday (20 September 2023).

In July this year, East Cambridgeshire District Council passed a motion calling on the CPCA, together with the Greater Cambridgeshire Partnership and Cambridgeshire County Council to cease work on proposals which included references to road charging and reducing and restricting access to central Cambridge, which it said would be detrimental to people living in East Cambridgeshire.

Instead, it called on the Combined Authority, the Greater Cambridge Partnership and Cambridgeshire County Council to focus more on improving bus and rail services.

This was supported by the results of a public poll, conducted by the Greater Cambridge Partnership, which showed 58% of respondents overall, and 59% of respondents from East Cambridgeshire opposed the proposed Sustainable Travel Zone (STZ) as the means of delivering the future transport network.

Cllr Anna Bailey, leader of East Cambridgeshire District Council, said: “While we fully support the LTCP vision to make active travel, public and shared transport the natural first choice for people, we cannot support any proposals that pave the way for road charging.

“Instead we would strongly urge the Greater Cambridge Partnership, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority and Cambridgeshire County Council to work with all partner organisations, MPs, businesses and organisations across Cambridgeshire to come up with an innovative 21st-century public transport system that is so fast, cheap, reliable, efficient and safe that people want to use it instead of getting in their car.”