What is a busway and why is one being built through greenbelt?

After years of uncertainty, permission has now been given to build a new busway between Cambourne and Cambridge.

Known locally as the C2C, it has been in the planning for more than a decade and has been the subject of a lot of opposition.

Opponents said the route over greenbelt land and through an orchard was the wrong route to choose. Supporters say it will provide a direct route to Cambridge for thousands of new homes being built in the area.

Cambridgeshire already has a guided busway between St Ives and Cambridge. A shorter one also links the main Cambridge rail station and the biomedical campus.

Busways are dedicated routes, separate from roads, that are exclusively for the use of buses.

The existing busway is constructed of concrete guideways which require special buses with side guide wheels. This means bus companies have to invest in the specialist vehicles and train their drivers to use them.

However, the Cambourne to Cambridge route will use different technology. It will look like a normal road but will use lane markings and sensors on buses to guide the vehicle. It will work much in the same way as the lane sensors in modern cars.

Private cars are prevented from accessing the existing busway with car traps, which prevent vehicles from travelling onto the guideway.

Details of how cars will be prevented from accessing the C2C busway will be decided during the detailed design stage. Whilst car traps remain an option, so do gates and ANPR cameras.

The new route will link the relatively new town of Cambourne and the centre of Cambridge. New homes are still being built in the development.

The busway will also serve the Bourn airfield site, which will see 5,000 new homes built. In total, around 13,000 new homes are planned for the area.

Currently, public transport in the vicinity consists of regular on-road bus routes.

Last year's C2C inquiry heard that the anticipated cost of the project would be around £192m. This was based on information submitted in November 2024.

Of that money, £37m will come from developer contributions, but the majority will come from a pot of money known as The City Deal.

The City Deal, worth £500m, was awarded to the Greater Cambridge area in 2014 to build infrastructure to support growth.

To facilitate the funding, an organisation called the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) was set up. It's made up of councillors from three councils, plus representatives from the universities and business community.

The GCP confirmed during the inquiry that it had allocated £181m for the project.

One of the biggest criticisms of the plans was the route.

It will be constructed through greenbelt land on the western side of Cambridge. This includes through a historic orchard.

The majority of opponents said they wanted to see the busway re-routed alongside existing roads.

These options had already been rejected by the GCP at earlier planning stages. The inspector's report highlighted that it was "unsatisfactory due to the arrangements at the M11".

The plans have been widely opposed by people and businesses living along the route.

Coton Parish Council is also part of a group set up to oppose the plans.

Councillor Carolyn Postgate believes the scheme "will be a white elephant".

She claims the route does not link up places "where people need to get to" such as the city centre, Addenbrooke's Hospital or the Science Park.

She says the village won't even benefit from the busway as the nearest stop will be "about a mile" from the homes in the village.

However, some people living in Cambourne support the project.

Charlotte Morelock, 26, uses the current buses to Cambridge and says it takes about 40 minutes. She says it will be "good to get somewhere quicker".

She also previously lived in Oakington, which is on the St Ives to Cambridge busway, and said it "really helped that it was there".

Odunayo Morenikeji, 34, thinks she will use the busway and says "it will make it faster to get to work".

She also "thinks it will be worth it" even though the route goes through the countryside.

Busways in general have been opposed by the current Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Paul Bristow.

He gave evidence to the C2C inquiry last year and said his plans for a light rail system in Cambridge were not compatible with busways.

However, a conclusion of the inquiry said Bristow had "not presented any detailed alternatives".

The report also says the C2C busway is "not so substantial that it would undermine other proposals which may come forward in the future".

The government approved the 8.6-mile (13.8km) busway plans last week, and it was hoped 10,000 daily passenger trips would be made on it.

The mayor's office has not yet reacted publicly to the decision.

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