Residents of Alice Bell Close, Gladeside and George Nuttall Close have been breaking into and out of the estate where they live ever since it was built. Now one of the most popular, illicit, paths has been blocked with a high metal fence.
Council planners and developers decreed that when the new homes in the area were built they were only to be accessed from a single entrance off Woodhead Drive into George Nuttall Close.
Those who’ve moved into homes in the area though have apparently not been keen to add ten minutes or so to the length of time it takes them to pop out for a paper or some milk from their local shop, or to take a longer route than necessary from home to work or school, and have been breaking out through the development’s perimeter fence.
People travelling to and from homes in the area can be seen routinely using unofficial, and well worn, paths enabling them to enter and exit via Downham’s Lane. The fence has been periodically repaired and patched to prevent such use, but gaps have been opened up again within days.
This new fence has been installed behind the often broken wooden fence creating a secondary layer of defence. Over the past few years though there have been a number of pretty substantial looking attempts to barricade the estate’s border but residents have bent, and scrambled under, through and around the obstructions put in their way and have eventually opened up easy to use pathways.
Unsurprisingly since the blocking of the popular path residents have now again found another route to and from their homes. People are walking and cycling out of a new, and rapidly expanding, hole in a hedge a few tens of meters away from the area where the perimeter has recently been reinforced.
My understanding is the grounds of the estate in this location are the responsibility of a remote management company and it is them who are keen on making it difficult to move around the area.
In addition to the problems with access the secure perimeter policy also appears to encourage persistent fly-tipping which is left without being cleared up for long periods, in areas which are hard to access and are lightly trafficked.
I suspect the underlying problem was a misinterpretation by councilllors, planning officers, and developers of police advice known as Secured by Design and the balance between security and accessibility has not been reasonably found in this area.
My view is the cycle and footpath between Woodhead Drive and Hawkins Road would be more safe and secure if it was directly overlooked by properties in the estate and if the route formed part of the development.
I suspect there may have been aims, for reasons of finance or snobbery, to make the new estate face Milton Road rather than Campkin Road; ie. to connect it with the nicer area, containing more expensive properties.
I think we need to elect councillors who will ensure new developments are connected to their surroundings so that as the city expands we create a place which is permeable to cyclists and pedestrians. I suggested a foot and cycle route be provided in a nearby new development between Woodhead Drive and Milton Road but councillors were happy to create another dead-end.
The problems which are seen in this area are being repeated across the city; currently for example at a new development next to a popular foot and cycle path off Rustat Road where the opportunity to integrate the path to Clifton Road into the development has been missed.
In the case of this estate I think we we need to elect councillors who will open up paths on the desire lines; and ideally also work with the landowner to improve visibility and safety by removing the two right-angled corners in the foot and cycle way as it approaches Hawkins Road.
Perhaps a good councillor could also assist residents, leaseholders, and others in setting up a structure so the area can be managed with more local input. Perhaps Cambridge City Council could even take on some responsibilities from the management company?
Missed chance by Cllrs to replace narrow unfriendly passageway between Rustat/Clifton Rds as new estate built pic.twitter.com/E0wCKAe6W3
— Richard Taylor (@RTaylorUK) March 9, 2015
A tweet showing the state of the fence in March 2015 with a wire fence trampled next to where a gap had been blocked by the installation of a new wooden panel:
We should elect councillors who will require permeable new developments so people don't have to break in/out of them pic.twitter.com/0obEolci8H
— Richard Taylor (@RTaylorUK) March 11, 2015
It’s notable that when Cambridgshire County Council recently re-surfaced Downhams Lane their work appeared to acknowledge the unofficial access point by tarmacking up to it!
Google Maps even acknowledges the unofficial gap in the fence:
Although Cambridge based route-planner CycleStreets advises its users to take a route which doesn’t involve crossing any fences or hedges but does look to me as if it might cross a private drive. Then distinguishing public and private space on new developments like these isn’t always easy.
6 responses to “Residents Breaking In and Out of King’s Hedges Estate”
The photo I have doesn’t clearly show the new high green fence behind the patched wooden fence.Update: I’ve replaced the main photo associated with this article with a better one.
More photos of the fence:
And of the new hole in the hedge just beyond the fence:
Agree completely with your assessment. Secured by Design runs entirely contrary to encouraging active transport.
To be fair to the guidelines, they do have different levels of security, and do have some very good advice about how to make secured-by-design pedestrian and cycle routes: i.e referring to visibility, being overlooked, wide, lit etc. But as with many guidelines of this sort, they get applied without nuance, with people going straight to the most secure level, without considering the impact.
The consequences are predictable: a hole in a hedge and a bashed down fence do more to make the area feel run-down and unsafe, and for people to take less pride in the area. Where as a wide, open, landscaped, well-used pedestrian and cycle path encourages not only fitter people and less motor traffic, but also a sense of community, engagement with environment, public space. Here the neighbourhood has failed even on its own terms.
A comment from the Green Party candidate in King’s Hedges :