A report assessing the six Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) schemes that were introduced last year will be considered by the Greater Cambridge Partnership’s Joint Assembly.
The report sets out a series of recommendations that, if agreed by the GCP Executive Board later in September, would be put to Cambridgeshire County Council for consideration.
The schemes, introduced in August 2020 by the Greater Cambridge Partnership working with the County Council, made it easier for people to walk and cycle to support social distancing and active travel.
This involved closing a number of streets to through-motorised traffic and reducing traffic on Silver Street by extending the existing bus gate operating hours. A second phase of measures in the Newtown area of the city was introduced in January 2021.
The report to the Joint Assembly, which follows two periods of public consultation, advises that five of the six schemes should be made permanent. It recommends the Luard Road scheme should be discontinued until a joint GCP / County Council road network hierarchy review has been completed.
The report also recommends that the GCP carries out more work with the County Council on additional measures to further reduce traffic in the Newtown and Carlyle Road areas.
If the schemes are made permanent, the GCP would then undertake further local engagement on designing suitable, permanent closure point layouts.
The GCP Executive Board is due to take a decision at its meeting on 30 September.