Environmental Update Report: Croxton to Toft

This 19km (12 mile) route section includes a new railway beginning at the roundabout east of St Neots, running north of Cambourne and the new A421 dual carriageway and A428, before crossing the A428 and ending at the B1046 between Toft and Comberton.

The proposed works include:

• New twin-track track railway and associated infrastructure.
•  Passing loops  between Brockley Road and Cambourne.
• New station at Cambourne.
• Cut and cover tunnel beneath the A428, the proposed Bourn Airfield development and Highfields Caldecote, with associated temporary diversions of the A428 and other local roads.
• Overbridges and underbridges for road, track and path crossings, bridges and culverts for watercourses, and associated diversions where necessary.
• Various drainage and water storage ponds (referred to as balancing ponds) along the route section.
• Utility diversions along the route including overhead electricity transmission lines.

The passenger train service pattern between Bedford and Cambridge stations would be four trains per hour in each direction, with provision for up to two freight trains per day in each direction.

The railway would enter the Croxton to Toft route section in cutting heading north-east. It would then pass to the north of the junction between the new A421 dual carriageway, passing beneath the realigned A428 immediately to the north of this new junction, which would need to be realigned on a new overbridge.

 Abbotsley Bridleway 18  would be diverted onto a new 7m high overbridge to cross over the railway. The route would then cross over the Gallow Brook and return to cutting around 4m deep to cross beneath Toseland Road, which will have been realigned by the A428 scheme, and a new bridge would be constructed to take the road over the railway. It would continue at-grade north of and parallel with the new A421 dual carriageway.

The route would rise onto a low embankment to pass over West Brook and a diverted footpath, and then resume at-grade beneath  St Ives Road  (B1040), which would be realigned onto a new bridge. It would remain at-grade, passing beneath  Ermine Street .  St Neots Road  and  Brockley Road  which would each be realigned on new bridges over the railway.

The route would continue along a straight section north of Cambourne and the existing A428. Passing loops would be constructed between Brockley Road and the new Cambourne station, with the station sited north of the town and the A428. The station would include a  station building  to the south of the proposed railway, two platforms, a bridge with stairs and lifts over the railway, along with an active travel hub including cycling facilities, bus facilities and a car park. Vehicular access would be via St Neots Road and a new footbridge would be provided crossing over the A428 and St Neots Road, connecting into Cambourne.

Various farm tracks and public rights of way (PRoW) would be diverted onto bridges over the railway along this section north of Cambourne, including  Knapwell Footpath 5 and Elsworth Bridleway 4. Knapwell Footpath 8  would cross the railway via a new footbridge and a new footpath to the south of the railway would then link Knapwell Footpath 8 to Cambourne station. The route would then enter cutting, passing beneath Knapwell Wood Road, which would be realigned over a new bridge.

On the more rural section of the route between Croxton and Papworth Everard, the introduction of the new railway (largely at ground level or in cutting) and new overbridges would affect views from  footpaths , local roads and isolated residential properties in the countryside. Around Cambourne the project would largely be screened from the town by the tree-lined A428, but would be visible from the landscape to the north.

The cut and cover tunnel under the A428 and Bourn Airfield development site would avoid impacts on most views from Highfields Caldecote and Hardwick, but where the route rises to ground level south of the tunnel, the railway corridor and passing trains would be apparent. New highways and PRoW overbridges would be visually prominent between Highfields Caldecote and Toft. In time, replacement planting along the line would screen or partially screen the new structures.

The need for any acoustic mitigation along the railway, using noise barriers and/or bunds, will be determined as the noise assessment progresses.

Cambourne is a new community comprising three villages. The new station would create important journey opportunities for local residents and for future new residents at Bourn Airfield, enabling improved access to jobs, schools and health facilities. The new railway and the  station  at Cambourne could bring increased noise levels to the area, although this would need to be considered in the context of the A428, which creates a baseline of relatively high background noise.

The risk of community severance would need careful management through maintenance of good access across the alignment, particularly around Comberton and Toft. Comberton is the larger settlement of the two, providing services such as schools and healthcare facilities. Connectivity between the villages would be maintained with Comberton Road to be realigned onto a bridge over the railway.

Desk-based research has identified agricultural land within the draft Order Limits in this route section. A sizable proportion of this is expected to classify as best and most versatile (BMV), which will be determined through future survey work. In terms of land management, arable cropping predominates with large, highly mechanised farms prevailing. Farm business interviews with potentially affected land managers are ongoing and will continue during the design of the project. Initial studies indicate that 19 arable holdings of various sizes would be affected. Ongoing design development will take land quality into consideration, as well as potential impacts on farm holdings.

The project would require the permanent acquisition and temporary use of certain land and property. It would require the demolition of two residential properties including outbuildings at Two Pots Farm, an adjacent residential property off St Neots Road, and farm buildings and a warehouse in farmland near Comberton Road. There would also be acquisition of a residential property off B1040 St Ives Road.

Acquisition of land would be required from 13 residential properties at various locations, including nine off St Neots Road, two off Cambridge Road, and one each off St Ives Road and Highfields Road. The project would require demolition of a commercial facility off St Neots Road, and land acquisition from Bourn Airfield and a property off Highfields Road.

EWR Co recognises the effects these impacts would have and will be working with affected parties as the designs are further developed, seeking to agree measures to reduce the impacts of the proposals where possible and enter into agreements with property owners where property would need to be acquired or used. Further information is provided in the  Guide to Compulsory Acquisition and Compensation .

In this route section, the construction programme would be driven by the cut and cover tunnel below the existing A428 and Bourn Airfield development. Construction compounds would be sited to support specific activities such as construction of Cambourne station, the passing loops and the cut and cover tunnel, as well as at road crossings or for utility works.

Two main compounds are proposed around Croxton, one located immediately east of Cambridge Road junction, and the other both sides of Toseland Road. Various compounds would support the works further east, including the new Cambourne station, with main compounds adjacent to St Ives Road and Ermine Street South. The construction of the cut and cover tunnel below the existing A428 and Bourn Airfield development site would be supported by a main compound sited at the north portal of the cut and cover tunnel. Land along the whole extent of the cut and cover tunnel would be required temporarily during construction.

Where use of local roads is required, heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) would take the shortest suitable route between compounds and the strategic road network. Construction traffic would generally use either the new A421 dual carriageway or the existing A428 respectively west and east of Caxton Gibbet. For compounds around Cambourne, construction access between compounds and the A428 would be predominantly via St Neots Road. For compounds around Hardwick and Toft, construction access to and from the A428 would be predominantly via Cambridge Road/Main Road.

All existing roads crossed by the project and requiring new connections over or under it would be maintained through provision of alternative access for the duration of construction with the aim of maintaining current levels of access. This would be true equally for footpath and bridleway crossings, where diversions may be required temporarily. The cut and cover tunnel would require several temporary road diversions, including the A428 and the Cambourne to Cambridge busway.

In the west of the route section, small, scattered pockets of deciduous woodland HPI, including some veteran trees, are present within the wider landscape. Semi-natural habitats, including woodlands and grasslands, are situated either side of the current A428 and around villages, particularly Wintringham, Weald, and Eltisley, and around larger farmsteads. Sizable blocks of deciduous woodland HPI in the west of the route section include The Gorse, New Gorse and Ash Plantation. A section of traditional orchard HPI, adjacent to St Ives Road, overlaps with the draft Order Limits.

No ancient woodland lies within the Draft Order Limits in this route section. However, three ancient woodlands are near to the proposed route around Cambourne.  Elsworth Wood  and  Knapwell Wood  ancient woodlands are designated as SSSIs and are respectively located approximately 600m and 100m north of the Draft Order Limits.  Hardwick Wood  is also a SSSI, located approximately 560m south and west of the Project. Further east, where the route would emerge from the tunnel south of the A428, an unnamed deciduous woodland with potential ancient woodland is situated to the north of Highfield Caldecote.

 Neolithic and Bronze Age  settlement evidence within the landscape of this route section is rare. However, there are several  Iron Age/Roman  or other archaeological enclosures between Wintringham and Cambourne.

From the medieval period until now, the landscape has remained broadly agricultural, peppered with small villages. However, the more detailed character of this rural landscape has changed over time from a characteristic medieval open field system with ridge and furrow, still visible in parts of Toft, to an enclosed field system following Parliamentary Inclosure Acts during the 18th and 19th centuries, with smaller fields surrounded by hedgerows. Significant rationalisation of field boundaries occurred during the 20th century as a result of mechanisation of farming, with many of the Inclosure hedgerows removed and fields amalgamated.  Croxton Park  is a Grade II* formal landscaped park which started life as a medieval deer park in the 16th century before developing into gardens, pleasure grounds and a park in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Over the late 19th century and through the 20th century significant transport infrastructure was introduced into this landscape, firstly with the Varsity Line (now dismantled in this route section), which ran to the south of the route with a station in Longstowe, then with the A428 and now with the new A421 dual carriageway.

Although the dominant agricultural character of the area has remained since the 20th century, the prosperity of Cambridge has fostered development west of the city. Cambourne is a new town (1998) that continues to grow, and the proposed Bourn Airfield development would extend this ribbon of housing along the A428.

 Listed buildings  near the route are few. Most of these buildings are associated with the villages they lie within, and there is a cluster of buildings in Croxton Park. Other listed buildings have a more direct relationship with the agricultural character such as New Inn Farmhouse and barns north of Cambourne and Old Victoria Farmhouse at Hardwick.

The project would cross several Iron Age, Roman and other archaeological enclosures between Wintringham and Cambourne. Ongoing survey work will help determine the extent of possible impacts, and will direct the necessary mitigation measures, which would be discussed with the local authority archaeological officer.

Otherwise, the new railway would introduce further new transport infrastructure into the landscape, increasing the more recent urbanising impacts of the A428 and the new A421 dual carriageway. Between Hardwick and Toft, the project would affect the small-scale, gently undulating farmland with cuttings and new overbridges. These would disrupt field patterns and diminish the setting of the villages in the area.  Mitigation  may include landscape mitigation earthworks combined with grassland and hedgerow planting to maintain the existing field pattern and screen project elements. Woodland and hedgerow planting associated with the proposed green bridges at the B1046 Comberton Road and Hardwick Bridleway 5 would strengthen the green infrastructure links in this area

In time, replacement planting and landscape mitigation planting would help to integrate the new structures into the landscape. There may be opportunities to reinstate or reinforce historic landscape character, for example replanting lost hedgerows and filtering or framing views through tree planting.