Heidi Allen was at Whittlesford Memorial Hall to greet the 30 cyclists who'd pedalled on the new cycleway from Wandlebury Country Park last Friday, 9th January.

They were on one of the two new routes – from Wandlebury to Babraham Research Campus and Whittlesford to Granta Park – opened by local County Councillor Peter Topping before he led them on the 1½ mile (2.5 km) route to Whittlesford.

The 7½ ft (2.5m) wide shared-use lanes were finished late last year.  The half mile (0.7 km) final stretch from Copley Hill Business Park to Babraham Research Campus completed the link in a route from the Campus all the way to Babraham Road Park & Ride in Cambridge, providing an alternative to travel on the busy A1307.

The Whittlesford to Granta Park cycleway, also 1½ miles (2.5 km) long, joins the existing cycleway near the train station.  This enables commuters to cycle the final part of their journey to work almost completely avoiding the very busy A505.

Each route cost £650,000 and were largely funded from the County Council’s successful £4.1m funding bid from Central Government’s Cycle City Ambition fund.  Babraham Research Campus also contributed £200,000 to the Wandlebury route which serves their site.

Peter Topping, said: “These are exciting developments which open up new opportunities for leisure cycling and commuting in our area.

"The new routes will make cycling along the A1307 and A505 a safer and more attractive way to travel.  I'm looking forward to getting on my bike and exploring all the new paths."

The new cycleways provide dedicated routes between employments sites – it is hoped the availability of the new routes will encourage more people to cycle to work, as well as travelling by bike to local amenities such as Wandlebury Country Park.

Heidi Allen is the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for South Cambridgeshire in the 2015 general election.

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