Latest news with #Whittlesey
BBC News
6 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Mayor fights to keep March to Peterborough bus route
A newly elected mayor said he would fight to save the only direct bus service between a Cambridgeshire market town and a major said the 33 route between March and Peterborough was due to be shortened on 31 August due to "extremely low passenger numbers", and would start and finish in Whittlesey Bristow, the Conservative mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough's Combined Authority, said talks on the changes were "ongoing", with "potential options available" to keep March connected.A passenger, who relied on the route, told the BBC that the service ending would "have a huge impact on people's jobs and mental state". The passenger, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "For a growing community it's absolutely unacceptable."Another bus user, Craig Denyer, 43, said he lived in Whittlesey but travelled to work in March at a care home. "Currently the bus gets me to and from work at the right times, and costs £2 each way. When the service is cut I will have to use the train, which will be well over £10 a day," he Denyer added that the train times would not be ideal either, as he would have to wait 90 minutes to catch a journey home. A third passenger, who lived in March, said they used the 33 route for regular hospital appointments in cutbacks would leave her having to use a more expensive train or using connecting buses that would mean travelling to Wisbech - "about eight miles in the wrong direction", she a fourth passenger, who commuted daily from Peterborough to March for work, said they were not aware the service was being stopped. They said the news meant they could be forced to find a new job closer to home. Bristow, who is in charge of the Combined Authority that oversees the county's bus network, said: "I understand how worrying it is for people in March and surrounding villages to know that they could lose their only bus service to Peterborough."I have already met with Stagecoach to discuss the 33 and other routes. This dialogue continues. There are potential options for keeping March connected and I hope that we will be able to get one of these options to work." Darren Roe, managing director of Stagecoach East, said: "I welcome our new Mayor Bristow and all the newly elected councillors into their positions. We know just how much we can achieve if we all work together."Cambridgeshire is a wonderful region to serve, but there are big and tough choices to be made to improve our regional transport network. "We believe in the need to plan for the future, and now is the ideal moment to do just that." Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
18-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Fenland District Council looks to ease Whittlesey traffic
A council is looking at ways to source £220,000 to progress a project to ease lorry traffic and other congestion in a market District Council said Whittlesey was facing increasing issues with traffic, adding that the rate of growth in the town was "unsustainable" without improving the travel network.A report being presented to councillors on Monday asks them to look into a proposal for a new relief road south of the said the project was currently unfunded, but money was needed to do more research on the scheme. "Transport interventions are needed for Whittlesey," the report pointed to a high occurrence of road closures in the area due to flooding, which added to said a relief road would "improve options for sustainable travel and aid in the sense of place for the town centre".The road was suggested to run south of the A605, to ease traffic on the main road through Whittlesey that leads to Peterborough.A relief road is slightly different to a bypass, where traffic avoids a community completely, as it can still involve traffic going into the October, the district council approved outline planning applications for 424 new homes in Whittlesey. Benefits versus cost Councillors have been asked to look into potential options to fund the £220, council said more work was needed including an assessment of how to keep costs down, such as by considering a shorter route for the benefits versus the costs of the project were deemed "currently too low for the project to progress".It was also recommended that more research should be done into how the scheme could unlock new development along the A605 corridor. Follow East of England news on X, Instagram and Facebook: BBC Beds, Herts & Bucks, BBC Cambridgeshire, BBC Essex, BBC Norfolk, BBC Northamptonshire or BBC Suffolk.
BBC News
08-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Whittlesey Rifle Club wants new home to be centre for excellence
Rifle club welcomes prospect of new leisure centre The club previously feared it could be left without a base after Fenland District Council announced parts of the centre would be demolished. It hoped to get an "Olympic standard" 10m air rifle range as well as further funding for target retrieval and better shooting systems for people with impaired vision. Whittlesey Rifle Club said its new building, which would be built to the side of a redeveloped Manor Leisure Centre in the Cambridgeshire town, could be even better than the last. A rifle club hopes multi-million-pound leisure centre improvements could help it become a "centre for excellence". The club, which is home to Paralympic shooting gold medallist Matt Skelhon, welcomed the redevelopment which comes as a wider £23m Fenland project to enhance four of the district's leisure centres. Alan Bessant, from the rifle club, said when the council looked to replace the leisure centre the club noticed "there was a cost to knock down our building, but nothing included to rebuild it". "We have always been what we like to call 'the best kept secret in the town', but it made us much more pro-active telling people about the club," he added. After advertising the club, he said councillors swung behind it and made the unanimous vote "to not only to provide us with a new building but a better building as part of the new development". He said the club was inclusive and had a "generational interest". "I think people see the benefit to youth... [aged] from three to 103, even if people become less able-bodied, they can still come and do the sport and join the social environment," he said. They estimated it could be about three years before they moved to the new site. "We are ploughing on here and making this building the best it can be and then looking forward to when that [new] building is ready," Mr Bessant said. The club hoped to be accessible for all people and wanted to encourage Paralympians who needed places to train to visit Whittlesey. Investment needed for the new systems, like shooting and target retrieval, were estimated to cost about £60,000.
