Tag: Cambridge

Residents object to St Matthew’s Piece development

Friends of St Matthew’s Piece has had a massive response to their call for action against plans to build a block of student flats on the St Matthew’s Piece.

Image of the proposal from the developers’ website

More than 100 objections flooded in to developers Federated Hermes, before the consultation closed on 18th May.

The FoSMP leaflet (PDF) urging residents to email the developers and copy in local councillors, is hosted by Petersfield Area Community Trust, which backs the Friends’ campaign:

I make it 118 responses that I’ve been copied into – all negative, in varying degrees.

There is a significant groundswell of opinion in the local community against the development. There is already enough student accommodation in the local area and we would urge the developers to reconsider.

Petersfield councillor Mike Davey

Petersfield residents have spoken loud and clear...

The proposed building, on stilts above an existing structure, would rise 19.7 metres (nearly 65 feet) above the ground at its highest point. It would tower over surrounding terraces and the popular tree-lined public open space.

The worry now is that the developers will push ahead with this monstrous scheme anyway, or scale back only cosmetically – to something like the grotesque proposals provisionally floated and loathed back in 2014.

Friends supporter Valerie Neal.

St Matthew’s Piece April 2019, Google Maps

‘Stop development at St Matthew’s Piece and create a park’ says Cambridge PPF – report in the Cambridge Independent.

Read Cambridge Past Present & Future‘s response to the developers here (PDF).

Stay in touch with Friends of St Matthew’s Piece on Facebook follow on Twitter or Instagram, or email Friends.of.st.matthews.piece@gmail.com.

You may also wish to contact your local Cambridge City Councillors:

If you would like to email Friends of St Matthew’s Piece with your three Petersfield councillors Cc-ed, use this link.

See also Mill Road Bridges’s posts Protect St Matthew’s Piece and “These images are like a nightmare“.

You may also leave (polite) comments below this post.

Mill Road in Lockdown – Cambridge Central Mosque

How is the lockdown affecting our Muslim community? Our Web-Editor receives email updates and thought it would be good to share these with the whole Mill Road ‘Community of Communities’.

THE MOSQUE GOES ONLINE

The lockdown required the Mosque to close for prayer from the middle of March. After ten years of hard work to make the project for a new mosque in Cambridge a reality, Muslims and all Mill Roaders were been saddened to see it close, albeit temporarily.

Look, however at what a vibrant team of volunteers is doing to keep Cambridge Central Mosque at the living heart of Cambridge Muslim life, and serving the whole community.

TUNE IN TO LIVE BROADCASTS FROM THE MOSQUE

Listen to the adhan, Qur’an recitations, lectures, and much more as they’re happening, on the Mosque’s Live Media page.

As always, there is more on Cambridge Central Mosque’s YouTube Channel and Facebook page.

Feeding the community

It will come as no surprise that, throughout the Holy Month of Ramadan, the Muslim community have been vigorous in efforts to help the whole community: Critical Care Unit at Papworth Hospital; Jimmie’s Homeless Shelter; vulnerable families & individuals; Iftar Supplies to Addenbrooke’s.

For more details, see pages 2 & 3 of the Ramadan Newsletter.

Click the image to view/download the full Ramadan Newsletter PDF

Add your own comments, below, or Email your words and photos to us at info@mill-road.com.

See also our index page Mill Road in Lockdown, and the posts on Mill Road Cemetery, Coleridge Rec and Decorations on Ditchburn Place Railings.

Mill Road in Lockdown – Railings at Ditchburn Place Gardens

In the olden days, by which I guess I mean way back in mid-March, the railings at Ditchburn Place were full of posters, and I used to like browsing them as I walked past. Even if they were advertising events to which I couldn’t go, it was nice knowing what was going on in Mill Road or elsewhere in the city.

Now the posters have been taken away, but at intervals a moving poster asks us to ‘help brighten the day’ for all the residents who are staying in their flats to keep safe but who are missing their friends and families.  The idea is that passers by tie ribbons to the railings or a coloured rainbow or another decoration.

And as the photographs show ‘we’ have responded; there is a lovely variety of things here now, and I’m sure more and more will appear.  The idea of tying things to trees, or to buildings is a very ancient one, and one which appears all over the world.  In places like Nepal and Bhutan strings of prayer flags flutter from trees and buildings so that the wind sends the prayers to the gods. In other cultures, tourists fix padlocks to places like the Eiffel Tower or to the Ponte dell’Accademia in Venice; I guess as a statement of ‘I was here’.

I have added several ribbons to the Ditchburn railings; some on behalf of people who are having a tough time or who are not going out right now, and one as a kind of talisman; good luck to us all, and to Mill Road and its future.  If you’re planning to be out in this part of the road do put into your pocket a bit of ribbon or wool or whatever, and add your own.

Thank you, Ditchburn residents for coming up with this idea and, in your words, helping us all brighten a sad and worrying situation.

Caro Wilson
17th May 2020

Add your own comments, below, or Email your words and photos to us at info@mill-road.com.

See also our index page Mill Road in Lockdown, and the posts on Mill Road Cemetery in lockdown, Ramadan and Cambridge Central Mosque in lockdown, and on Coleridge Rec.

PLANNED NEW MILL ROAD COMMUNITY CENTRE

A NEW partnership of local community organisations has been appointed by Cambridge City Council to manage the new community centre that will be built as part of the ‘Ironworks’ housing scheme on the former Mill Road Depôt site.

Romsey Mill Trust and Petersfield Area Community Trust worked collaboratively to submit a successful tender to secure an initial 11-year lease to run the new community building for local residents and community groups to use. 

The council has appointed an operator for the building at this early stage so that they can help to inform the specification for the individual spaces in the new centre.

The new centre is being funded by S106 developer contributions, will be fully accessible, and will provide much needed community facilities and meeting spaces for Petersfield ward, including:

  • A large hall for community events
  • Meeting rooms
  • A community kitchen, and 
  • An outdoor space. 

The centre will be built in the final phase of the Ironworks scheme and is due to open in August 2021. 

In addition to the new community centre, the scheme will include 182 homes, 50% of them new council homes. 

Cllr Anna Smith, Executive Councillor for Communities, said: “We are delighted that Petersfield Area Community Trust and Romsey Mill Trust, two organisations embedded in the local community, have been appointed to manage the new community centre at Mill Road.

“This is a part of the city that has long needed more community facilities. Together with Petersfield Area Community Trust and Romsey Mill Trust, we will now work closely with local residents to help shape plans for the new centre, to ensure it provides services and facilities that people really want.”

Time for a Mill Road Plan?

Cambridge is renowned for quality architecture and open spaces. But are we seeing this on Mill Road’? Two recent planning applications — Mickey Flynn’s site in Petersfield and The Labour Club in Romsey — both support the claim that buildings are being parachuted into the street scene without respect for the surrounding area.

Mickey Flynn’s

Recently submitted plans for this site have failed to respect the City Council’s advice that new developments should ‘Maximise the unique characteristics of the site to create a sense of identity’ and ‘Make a positive contribution to the character of the surrounding area’ (Design Guide. 2011). This site could and should be designed to enhance the surrounding area (perhaps opening onto a pavement café), but the plans only made a nod towards this option. The new proposed development rises above the pavement, while the building line comes forward towards Mill Road, reducing the existing welcome sense of space for pedestrians.

Development of this site is a one-off chance to enhance this area, bordered by one of Mill Road ’s distinctive historic buildings — the Bath House. The plans fail to recognise or add to the partial improvements made 15 years ago. These established a base-line by using high quality materials — recycled granite bollards; a special lamp column; Judas Tree; ground cover planting; and underground soakaway. The redevelopment of this former snooker hall should be the completion of this scheme — creating a ‘public square’ in Petersfield and bringing the ‘Cambridge’ quality into Mill Road. Revised plans awaited.

Romsey Labour Club

Over the bridge, plans have now sadly been approved by the City Council for the redevelopment of a piece of local social history — the Romsey Labour Club. Although ‘retaining’ the original facade, the old building will be dwarfed by a block of student flats. This mockery of the historic frontage reduces the important story that it tells about Romsey and is unsympathetic to the Conservation Area. The inappropriate use of materials shout at pedestrians, while the height will block out light from the surrounding streets.

Mill Road is at the centre of a Conservation area. No other arterial road in the city has this designation. The road’s history is central to the story of Cambridge. It is a ‘High Street’ in its own right. It serves the population of a small town in the surrounding catchment area, with the highest pedestrian footfall of any main road outside the city centre, but the City Council has no ‘Plan’ for Mill Road.

Developers exhaust planning officers and residents by first submitting applications that ignore planning guidance. They then return with plans that are marginally improved, and which are accepted. Too often plans lack aspiration and fail to reflect local knowledge. But what is built will be here for 100 years, and it is important that it is not ‘just good enough’, but ‘the best’. So, is it time to have a ‘Mill Road Plan’?

Allan Brigham

Allan Brigham