Policy S/PRIA/HRRS: Hills Road and Regent Street Corridor

1. Development proposals within the Hills Road and Regent Street Corridor area will be supported if they:

  a. Deliver coordinated streetscape and public realm improvements that:

    i. Emphasise ‘place making’ over vehicle movement, including at junctions, using tighter geometry and radii, to reduce approach speeds and to reclaim areas for additional public space;

    ii. Re-establish historic routes and create clear gateways/entry points into existing residential neighbourhoods; and

    iii. Protect and enhance the New Town and Glisson Road Conservation Area and the Listed Buildings and Assets and their setting within the policy area including the Grade I listed Downing College and Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and the English Martyrs, the Grade II* Wanstead House, Grade II listed St Pauls Church, and Grade II* Registered Park and Garden Botanic Gardens;

  b. Create a more comfortable and simplified pedestrian environment through provision of wider pavements and street trees, removal of pedestrian guardrails and unnecessary signage, and introduction of more direct crossings that respond to key desire lines.

  c. Use an appropriate and durable palette of materials.  

2. The following key projects will be delivered through development proposals and in accordance with criteria 1 (a-d):

  a. Regent Street – reallocation of space for wider pavements to better cope with pedestrian flows, reduce street clutter and provide improved cycle parking facilities;

  b. Hyde Park Corner – improvement of the setting of the Our Lady of the English Martyrs Church and increase pavement widths in front of the terrace opposite. Simplify the pedestrian and cyclist user experiences through more direct crossings and investigate the potential for single stage crossings;

  c. Hills Road / Cherry Hinton Road / Cambridge Leisure Park District Centre – reconnection of both sides of the street and improvement of the pedestrian user experience through removing barriers and obstacles. Traffic management and the reallocation of space will help to reduce vehicle speeds and highlight the revitalised ‘hub’ of Hills Road;

  d. Cambridge Leisure Park – creation of a high-quality connection into the site, by upgrading the existing link south of the station across Hills Road Bridge; proposals should ensure they are integrated with later stages of the Chisholm Trail project and other active travel proposals;

  e. Cherry Hinton Road junction – revision of the approach to traffic management and highway engineering to create a quality connection between the new developments on all sides of the junction through to Hills Road and Cambridge Leisure Park; and

  f. Lensfield Road junction – simplification and rationalisation of the layouts of the two junctions remove the bottleneck that causes traffic to back along Gonville Place. Improve the quality of the public realm and connectivity for pedestrians and cyclists.

Figure 48: Site Plan of S/PRIA/HRRS: Hills Road and Regent Street Corridor