Your Views

Many people have contacted us expressing their concern over the Mereham proposal, with the transport situation and the A10 being on particular concern. Some of those views are shown below:
We have found living in the village of Stretham, a lovely experience. We have been made welcome, and really enjoy the character of the place, being a village. We moved here in order to live in a village, and do not want it to become part of a town. Apart from the loss of its identity, the infrastructure around is insufficient to support a town, and as far as I can detect the majority of residents in the village do not want the village to be subsumed into a larger settlement.

We say not today, not tommorow, not ever to Mereham and long live the villages of Stretham and Wilburton.
Nobody wants this except for the developers, so why allow it to go ahead?

Having to set off at 6.30am for work in Cambridge, when I don't actually start until 9.30am some days isn't much fun. Having to set off even earlier than that would not make me happy. Nor would it make those who know what the traffic is like on a morning and evening any happier than they currently are.

Mereham - what is the point?
I have lived here all of my life first at Twentypence Road, now the High Street,we as a family find it very difficult getting in and out of our drive now its only a matter of time before a accident will happen as i have to nose out onto the road we say NO TO MEREHAM a million times NO
monday 24 Sept. 15 minutes to get out drive, 45 minutes to get to march just another normal day ! mereham is a joke . but we are not laughing.
Only last week (like every week) when the A14 has 'an issue' the whole of the area grinds to a halt, with tailbacks from Wilburton to Cottenham.
I just wanted to add my voice to those opposing the Mereham proposal. It is a ludicrous scheme, which insults those of us who choose to live a village life by assuming that we will all be better off if Mereham is allowed to go ahead. Anyone who lives locally only need look back as far as last Tuesday when the A14 was closed to see what it will probably be like on the A10 if this goes ahead - and to widen the A10 will make no difference (by the way - love the new sign on the Stretham roundabout!). We live in Stretham - which may remain relatively unscathed - but fear for the village of Wilburton which we admire for it's community activities and which will be swamped by this proposal - a way of life will be wiped out for the sake of profit. What I find incomprehensible is that anyone could find this scheme acceptable - are we the only ones with any common sense? Good luck with your campaign on all our behalfs.
By my reckoning the new development will be slightly larger than ELY, and will dwarf the villages of Streatham, Wilbuton, and Haddenham.

Given that twentypence road already has queing back to Cottenham in the morning from histon how on earth can we justify a development this size ?

Seems completely bonkers to me, especially as Northstowe is already going to cause mayhem with traffic !
I have briefly reviewed the proposals for the Mereham development on their website - which is a wonderful piece of spin - but doesn't cut any ice with me. I just wonder which Planet Multiplex lives on!

East Cambs District Council is meeting the Government target for new homes already - so the reality is - there is no need or justification for Mereham at all!

Let the villages of East Cambridgeshire grow organically - a few houses here and there - as we have in Wilburton. Additional services can be provided on an as an when basis within the existing infrastructure - which is cost effective and seamless.

In this way - every village takes some of the strain - rather than it falling on the few.

There are lies, damned lies and statistics - the Mereham proposal is full of statistics that have been invented or massaged for the purpose of trying to pull the wool over our eyes and convince us there will be no impact to the existing communities.

Total rubbish.

If you can get into the centre of Cambridge in 29 minutes you are probably breaking the law! Of course widening the A10 by a few metres will only help motorcycles - and we can certainly expect more fatalities from reckless overtaking as seems to be the norm on the A10.

If they think a few extra speed bumps will persuade people not to drive down 20 Pence Lane through Cottenham and Histon and use the A10 instead - think again.

If this project goes ahead life as we know in Wilburton will never be the same again. We cannot afford to let them win!
Congestion, congestion, congestion. More houses, more cars, more pollution, more frustration and accidents. How would the A10 and Twenty pence Road cope. Are more park and ride sites going to be available and not on the city boundary, why not have them nearer the villages. Have dedicated bus lanes (middle lane going into the city in the morning and reverse in the afternoon)? Have all the water, sewage services been checked, is any of the land a flood plain? I for one don't fancy my journey home being made any longer than it already has got. I live in Chatteris and the journey has increased enormously during the last 4 1/2 years. If there is an accident on the A10 or Twenty Pence Road it causes absolute chaos. More thought needed about the whole sheme please.
Merham is a dreadful idea. It will be a complete disaster for the local community for many reasons but the major one, in my view, is the impact that increased traffic will bring to congestion on the roads between the proposed site and Cambridge. Currently traffic is regularly queueing from Chittering on the A10, which the developers say will be the main route from Mereham. However, this will not be the only route affected as the B1049 runs parallel to the A10, from Wilburton into Cambridge, through the villages of Cottenham and my "village" of Histon/Impington. I can vouch for the fact that traffic currently queues from the north of the village all the way to the A14 every day from before 8am to after 9am and often it is impossible to move freely about the village at this time because of rat running along the old Cottenham Road.

The developers ephemeral suggestions of improvements to the A10 suggest that it is highly unlikely that these will take place, and even if they do, it will make no overall difference because the volume of traffic will still be held up once it reaches the outskirts of Cambridge.

When Cambourne was built it was stated that there would be buses for commuting to Cambridge but these have not happened.

The Northstowe developers suggested that the B road from Longstanton would be widened to a dual carriageway to cater for the extra volume of traffic but that has conveniently been dropped from the latest draft because the council don't have the funds. Traffic currently queues from Willingham (north of the Northstowe site) to the A14. I do not see it being any different for Mereham. The developers will cash in on profits but the local (and not so local communities) will be the losers.
I will, unfortunately, be out of the country during the meeting at the Arkenstall Centre, but would like to register my opposition to this development. If it's possible for you to do this on my behalf I would be very grateful.

If not, could someone stand up and say "Are you out of your mind?" for me?
Thanks for doing this site - keep up the great work. I have a minor suggestion: in the Key Workers part of the Housing page, it's worth stressing that the 10 mile commute to work isn't just your average 10 miles along a dual-carriageway; it's 10 miles on rubbish Cambridgeshire roads to get from one side of the city of Cambridge to the other. Often during rush hour.
If there is a shortage of housing, it's always best to find sites where the demand exists. That is the point of the greenbelts, and it is a very good general principle to use here as well. Ever expanding into the land is not a solution - it just makes a quick buck for a few, and makes the rest of us suffer. There is absolutely no advantage to us to have to live with this idea, so lets reject it and make them quit.

And finally, no more houses on the flood plains, please. Building like this is happening just for quick profits, not for the good of all. It has to cease.
Where can we get hold of the "Say no to Merham" banners to put on the main road as you come past the Mews at the top of Station road, we are very much against this development and will help in any way we can.
Usually one tends to wonder what the local Council Planning Officers have for brains, as some of their decisions can be seen at the very least, questionable, and sometimes downright stupid! Yet ECDC have rightly opposed the proposed Mereham development and yet, because the proposed developer has huge financial backing, we now find ourselves in the situation of 'David v Goliath! Mind you, one can only hope that in this case the same result comes about that might does not always win!

It defies belief that a huge development that Mereham would be, will prove catastrophic to the area. I live in Little Thetford and know, as every other resident in the locality, that the A10 is already full to capacity during the early mornings and afternoons. Widening the road would cause further distruption to the countryside and wildlife.

Why was the idea of building Water Fenton, towards Waterbeach, thrown out? This could have been built near to the railway line where a new station could have been built, thus reducing traffic into Cambridge and beyond.The impact of the housing would also have been less of an earsore.

I really hope that when 'push comes to shove' there are persons in positions of power who will see sense and disallow Mereham ever being built.
aargh, we moved to Haddenham in 2006 when we thought this Mereham problem had disapppeared. We moved from Leighton Buzzard in Beds which was starting to look like being gobbled up by Milton Keynes.

When we moved to Leighton Buzzard , Milton Keynes was a nice pleasant village in Bucks and now look at it!
we are fully oposed to this development as the trafic will be unberable we have trouble geting out of our drive now so it what will it be like if they get permission.

And with all the development around us ie okington and cambourne and these houses are not selling that do we want with another larege development they only want to fill their boots with cash they do not care about us.
As a resident of Wilburton opposed to this paln what can I do to help fight it??
It's about time that more thought was put into our roads. We keep developing sites and squeezing more houses in, but the roads stay the same. The A10 from Stretham to Cambridge is practically at a stand still during rush hour, to widen this road would not cause people to go faster because there would still be a huge amount of traffic on it! There is ample space to widen this road without causing any damage to wildlife or any conservation areas. It will be done some time in the future so why not just get on with it now! Makes you wonder where all our tax money goes?
As a resident of wilburton i would like to express my concerns with regard to the proposed Mereham development. My wife and i moved to Wilburton just over six years ago, the main reason for our desision to move here was that we wanted to start a family and liked the idea of our children growing up in a nice country/village enviroment. When we first looked at this area the idea that all the buitifull fields and agricultural farm land could one day end up as a big housing development never crossed our minds. Now we are faced with the prospect of living with a huge unwanted village/town development, witch if it was to go ahead would take a good many years to complete.( bearing in mind they have to complete the wembley stadium first). Although we do understand the need for new houses to acomadte todays demands, we cant help but wander were it will all stop, becouse as our ever expanding population increases unfortunatly the size of our island does not. So i would like to suggest!

to the company multiplex behind the ridiculas proposals to maybee start looking a bit closer to home!.As For for all the people that have supported the anti Mereham campain im sure you will all be rewarded for your continued support when this ludicrus proposal is finally turned down for good.
We are local residents - and moved to Wilburton just over 7 years ago, as the village was unspoilt and had a lot of charm. The idea of a metropolis on our doorstep will we fear destroy the essential character of our village for ever. The roads connecting Wilburton to the neighbouring communites are already bursting to capacity and without significant improvements - life we feel wold be unbearable.Even if improvements to the road infrastructure were made the rnsuing chaos and mess would we fear would irrevocably damage our village.

The sooner this plan is consigned to the dustbin the better it will be for every one