Category: ARERA

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ARERA AGM Invitation Reminder

Arbury Road East Residents Association
AGM, Wednesday, 5th July 2023
Arbury Baptist Church Hall, 7.00-8.30 pm

  1. Introduction and Welcome
  2. Approval of the Minutes of the 2022 AGM
  3. Chair’s Report
  4. Treasurer’s Report and accounts
  5. Q&A
  6. Election of Committee and Officers for 2023/4
  7. Proposed expenditure and collection
  8. AOB
  9. Jim Smith’s illustrated local history talk

From Milton Road to Arbury Camp: The History of Hurst Park and Arbury Road

We will try to complete the formal business of the AGM in 30 minutes to allow plenty of time for Jim’s talk and any questions you may have for him.

If you do want to nominate yourself or someone else as a committee member, please use the contact link below.

And, if you have any issue you want to raise under AOB, please do so before the meeting
again using the contact below.

To contact us

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Annual General Meeting – Wed, 5th July 2023

Arbury Road East Residents’ Association (ARERA) was set up in December 2019 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.

Its day-to-day business is managed by a small committee. Because of people moving away, there is space on the committee if you want to join us. Please email us if you’d like to or want to nominate someone else at info@arera.org.uk.

We hold a public Annual General Meeting (AGM) once a year to report on ARERA’s activities. Please come and hear what we have been doing on your behalf and let us know what you’d like us to do next.

This year, as an added attraction, our guest speaker will be Jim Smith who specialises in the local history of our area.

From Milton Road to Arbury Camp: The History of Hurst Park and Arbury Road

Jim will present an illustrated talk on the history of our road and its relationship to the development of the surrounding area.

In 1840, Chesterton’s open fields and common land were enclosed and development spread east from Huntingdon Road towards the old Chesterton village.

By 1914, Highworth Avenue and Leys Road were laid out and housing had spread round the corner from Newman’s Cottages in Milton Road towards Leys Road. Beginning in 1927, Cambridge Estates Ltd laid out four new avenues between Milton and Arbury Roads.

The area had a history of horticulture, farming, laundering, milling, coprolite digging, brick making and, from 1934, scientific instrument making. It was home to a nurseryman, a missionary, a grocer, a notable dentist, a bankrupt confectioner, and the couple who gave their name to Cherry’s Corner.

Jim’s talk will bring to life those activities and those characters who link Hurst Park to Arbury Road.

To contact us

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ARERA press release – forthcoming modal filter on Arbury Road

Arbury Road East Residents Association (ARERA) welcomes the forthcoming experimental modal filter on Arbury Road, part of region-wide Government-supported measures to improve community health, prevent the spread of Covid-19, enable safe walking and cycling  and reduce levels of pollution, both air and noise.

For Arbury Road we expect that there will be a temporary barrier (a ‘modal filter’) placed in a way that keeps full motor vehicle access to all properties, while stopping rat-running. The road will become safe for people walking and cycling to spread out, and pollution levels will greatly reduce. Both of those effects will help prevent transmission of the virus.

Emergency vehicles will be able to pass through if needed.

We believe that this modal filter will be placed somewhere northwest of Leys Road and southeast of the Gurdwara just before Arbury Court. The experimental traffic order is expected to run for between 6 and 18 months and will open up a wide-ranging consultation between residents and all road users about the future of the road.

For the longer term, we envision a filter that will enable emergency vehicles and drivers with blue badges to pass directly through while still stopping rat-running.

During lockdown, the amount of motor traffic went down but the average speed went up. With lockdown easing, our road is again congested. Cyclists and pedestrians are being forced into narrow spaces, and pollution levels are rising. Many people, especially children, do not feel safe cycling on the road. For years Arbury Road has suffered from pollution and dangerous road conditions, with many crashes and injuries sustained people walking and cycling here as a result of speeding and excessive motor traffic. Now, we are in danger of things getting worse than they were before.

At the end of 2019, a survey of local residents and businesses found 87% of respondents preferred a modal filter as the best way to improve safety, reduce pollution and encourage walking and cycling.

We understand that for local car drivers there may be some extension to their journey times depending exactly where the barrier is and in which direction they need to travel, but such diversions are unlikely to take more than a few minutes and will soon become part of people’s journey planning. We recognise this is an inconvenience for some people, but on the balance, we find that the importance of protecting our community’s health is much more urgent.

On Arbury Road, there are two schools, two recreation grounds and a residential home for older people – all of these facilities need to be taken into account when considering matters related to walking and cycling safety and the quality of the air we breathe. In the forthcoming consultation it is vital that all residents and users participate so that the best long term solution may be found.

We are calling for the experimental modal filter to be installed as soon as possible in order to protect the health of the people and families who live here and go to school on Arbury Road, so that we can spread out while walking and cycling, and so that the pollution levels stay low, in order to keep us safe from Covid-19.

Arbury Road East Residents Association

GCP Map of road changes- City access project for Covid-19 recovery JUNE 20

GCP Update – City access project and support for Covid-19 recovery JUNE 20

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ARERA Satisfaction Survey Results Summary

Results from the Make Arbury Road better! ARERA Survey.

Overview

The Arbury Road East Residents Association (ARERA) was officially inaugurated on 9 December 2019. ARERA aims to provide a forum for discussion of issues affecting residents and business owners on Arbury road, and its side streets, from the North Cambridge Academy school to the junction at Milton Road.

Residents/business operators have come together to discuss options as it is felt that the use of Arbury Road as a through-route/cut through is not keeping with its designated status – e.g. 20mph designation, its narrow width, multiple schools, shops, popular cyclist route, and a pedestrian zone accessing homes/schools/shops/businesses etc.

Issues discussed at the meeting included:

  • views on whether cars should be actively discouraged in an era of climate emergency
  • views about lorries not being restricted by weight
  • views about bus services
  • views about safety and usage of pavements for cycling and parking
  • views about whether Arbury road, as currently configured, actually splits the community in two
  • views about the safety of Arbury Road junction with Milton Road specifically
  • whether people (perhaps older) avoid cycling and walking because they consider it too dangerous
  • views on pollution, vibration, and noise
  • impact of the Histon Road one-way development and the Milton Road development plans

In this survey, we want to collect your views concerning traffic and road usage from both residents and businesses on/just off Arbury Road, with the aim of trying to develop and present ideas for improvements to the County Council and the Greater Cambridge Partnership.

Results