The government approved the £192m busway on 8 September. Buses will run into the city via Grange Road, but none on the off-road section from midnight to 6am.

The government has approved the Cambourne to Cambridge busway. The decision letter is dated 8 September 2026. The transport minister, Lord Hendy, took the decision on behalf of the Transport Secretary.

The Minister made the order with modifications and granted deemed planning permission, subject to conditions. The partnership has been consulting on the scheme since 2015.

The Greater Cambridge Partnership, which is promoting the busway with the county council, says it is expected to cost just over £192 million. Cambourne is about nine miles west of the city centre.

What has been approved

The order authorises:

  • a guided busway between Cambourne and Cambridge, with stops along the way
  • a travel hub and park and ride site at Scotland Farm, Dry Drayton, off the A428 about five miles west of the city
  • bridges over the M11 and over Bin Brook
  • an emergency and maintenance track, which doubles as the walking and cycling route
  • compulsory purchase of the land needed

The Minister also changed how the buses are guided. The order now specifies a road-based system, with buses steered by sensors on the vehicles, because that is what the inquiry actually examined.

The Cambridge end of the route

The partnership names seven stops: Cambourne, two at Bourn Airfield, the Scotland Farm travel hub, Hardwick, Coton and Cambridge West. From there, buses continue into the city on ordinary roads via Grange Road. The partnership says they would run:

  • every 10 minutes from Cambourne to the city centre
  • every 30 minutes on to Cambridge Biomedical Campus
  • with journey times between Cambourne and Cambridge halved

The decision letter is blunter about the last stretch. The inspectors found the scheme would not relieve congestion or improve journey times east of Grange Road, in the city centre. The Minister agreed, but still found it would improve reliability along the corridor.

Four findings in the letter touch the city directly:

  • Night buses. Condition 30 bans buses from the off-road busway between midnight and 6am. It also limits non-electric buses from 6am to 7am and 11pm to midnight between the south of Charles Babbage Road and Grange Road. Clare Hall withdrew its objection on the strength of that condition.
  • Herschel Road. The inspectors found some residents would suffer loss of outlook, privacy and visual intrusion. The Minister is satisfied that design and landscaping can mitigate it.
  • Grange Road and Rifle Range Road. Objectors said both are busy with pedestrians, cyclists and schoolchildren. The inspectors preferred Rifle Range Road to Adams Road as the safer route in. They said detailed junction designs, secured by condition, can keep the roads safe.
  • Bin Brook. Objectors feared the new bridge and embankments would raise flood risk at Gough Way, Barton Road and St John’s College. A strip of the route is in a high-probability flood zone. The inspectors found no reasonable alternative route, and flood risk carried only limited weight against the scheme.
Cambourne to Cambridge busway: the approved route Stops as named by the Greater Cambridge Partnership. Government decision letter dated 8 September 2026 Cambourne Scotland Farm travel hub Coton City centre, station and Biomedical Campus Bourn Airfield two stops 2,000 spaces Hardwick Cambridge West on-road via Grange Road £192m expected cost, just over 10 min bus frequency, Cambourne to centre 309 of 336 representations objected 0:00 to 6:00 no buses on the off-road busway 3 years to start work once the order is in force Sources: Department for Transport decision letter, 8 September 2026 (representations, condition 1, condition 30); Greater Cambridge Partnership scheme pages (stops, cost, frequency, travel hub). Diagram not to scale. Graphic by Cam News
The approved route, west to east. The off-road busway ends at Cambridge West; buses then use Grange Road.

Coton Orchard: where the Minister overruled the inspectors

The sharpest disagreement was over Coton Orchard, about three miles west of the city centre. Twelve veteran Bramley apple trees there are protected by a Tree Preservation Order. According to the letter:

  • three will be kept, with protection secured by condition 13
  • three more are to be dug up and moved
  • the inspectors were not confident those three would survive the move

National planning policy says development that loses irreplaceable habitat, such as veteran trees, should be refused unless there are “wholly exceptional reasons”. The Minister took a different view from the inspectors on that test, and found the scheme’s benefits amount to wholly exceptional reasons. Condition 13 requires a compensation plan before any work starts at the orchard.

Who objected, and why it went ahead anyway

The inquiry sat for 22 days between September and November 2025. It received 336 representations:

  • 309 objected, 13 of them statutory objectors
  • 16 supported the scheme
  • 11 made other comments

Eight objections were withdrawn by the close. Most objectors, including Cambridge Past, Present and Future, Coton Parish Council and the Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, accepted that public transport needs improving. They argued for an on-road alternative instead, and some, the Mayor among them, said a tram or light rail would be better in the long run.

The Minister weighed three things substantially against the scheme:

  • harm to the Green Belt, where it counts as inappropriate development
  • permanent harm to the Coton Orchard county wildlife site
  • the risk to the veteran trees being moved

Against those, the Minister gave substantial weight to the public transport benefits, which the letter calls fundamental to the plan for growth around Cambridge. The conclusion was that the benefits outweigh the harm.

What happens next

  • Work must start within three years of the order coming into force, under condition 1.
  • The partnership says a full tender will follow, with a contractor expected to be appointed in the new year, then detailed design. Some preparatory work may begin before main construction.
  • No opening date has been given.

What it means for you

  • If you live off Grange Road or Herschel Road, the junction designs and screening are still to come, and must be approved under the planning conditions.
  • If you commute in from the west, the promise is a bus every 10 minutes, clear of the Madingley Road queues. The inspectors’ caveat is that the city centre end will be as slow as it is now.
  • If you cycle, the route brings a new path alongside the whole busway.

Park and ride prices and the city’s bus gates are on our Cambridge roadworks and travel page. Other big decisions are tracked on Cambridge planning news.

Sources