Arbury Road East Residents’ Association (ARERA) was formally set up in December 2019. Its aim is to represent residents and businesses in Arbury Road (and its cul-de-sacs) between Arbury Play Area and North Cambridge Academy at the western end and the junction with Milton Road.
We hold a public Annual General Meeting once a year (on-line if necessary) and our constitution allows for occasional Extraordinary General Meetings to deal with urgent matters which may crop up during the course of the year, the constitution.
Day to day business is managed by a small committee
Chair : Rosalind Lund
Secretary : Ian Cooper
Our website, Facebook page and emails are our main means of communication with members and residents.
www.arera.org.uk
Our Residents Association’s objectives are to improve the health and welfare and quality of life of residents and local businesses and to make our road a more pleasant place to live and work in and for travelling to school.
We are seeking to:
1. Improve safety on our road and pavements – especially for pedestrians and cyclists as our most vulnerable road users
2. Reduce pollution, especially important in the very narrow end of the road adjoining Milton Road
3. Reduce damage to the foundations of the houses closest to the road often shaken by heavy road vehicles
4. Enable improved neighbourly relations both between people living close to one another, but also across the road from one another – and generally build up a sense of community amongst those who live and work here.
5. Always bear in mind the needs of our most vulnerable neighbours – elderly and disabled people, children and their parents, and cyclists
The Residents’ Association is actively pursuing a range of options for achieving these aims.
1. The 20 mph limit applies to all non-arterial roads. We work with the City Council to have a speed camera regularly on site to remind drivers of our road’s speed limit
2. The separate and safe cycle lanes at the western end of Arbury Road are cut off after Arbury Playground and North Cambridge Academy – just where the road gets narrowest and safety measures are most needed.
The lack of safe cycle lanes is critical here, especially since the whole of Arbury Road is part of a designated priority cycle route which runs from Orchard Park to the river and beyond. Our stretch of road is used by many children in their daily commute to the various schools in the area. If our narrow pavements are not to be taken over by cyclists trying to avoid the dangers of riding on the road, then safe provision needs to be made for them.
We are actively pursuing several options to achieve this.
- a modal filter – preferred as this would significantly reduce traffic and make the entire stretch of the road up to the existing protected cycle lanes safer for cyclists, including young children, and for users of disabled buggies.
- a one-way system to halve the level of traffic and possibly leave enough space for separate cycle lanes on our narrow stretch of Arbury Road. One disadvantage here is that drivers would be more likely to speed, and so other traffic calming measures would be needed
- Continue as we are, but with added traffic calming – speed bumps, pedestrian crossings, traffic cameras.
3. Residents have concerns about pollution from traffic and the effects of heavy lorries shaking the foundations of the Victorian terrace and 1930s houses nearest to the road at its narrowest point. The options outlined above (2.) would help ease this situation. A ban on heavy goods vehicles from this narrow residential street would be beneficial.
4. Anti-social behaviour is also an issue – whether noise from motorbikes in the night, drunken behaviour, litter, difficulties with bins left out on the pavement longer than necessary, failure to cut back hedges which grow across the pavement, or illegal intrusion of vehicles on to Arbury Play Area. In each case, we have raised concerns with the relevant authorities and would encourage you to do so too:
- the Police:
- the Parks Department:
- the Cambridge North Area Committee
If you have any issues you’d like to raise, or concerns you’d like to see addressed, please contact us at info@arera.org.uk