This motion was approved at the Council meeting on 1 October 2026.

As residents of Cambridge, City Councillors experience the impact of roadworks first hand, whether we are walking, wheeling, cycling, using public transport or driving.

We know that this causes frustration and delays, adds to the costs for businesses, makes parents late to pick up children, or simply adds to the friction of daily life. While proper maintenance of the city’s infrastructure is vital, with better planning and clearer information, at least some of the burden could be reduced. However better coordination of utility works and the County Council’s own scheduled works could reduce their cumulative impact on residents, businesses, public transport, walking, wheeling and cycling across Cambridgeshire.

The purpose of this motion is to create a closer working relationship between City and County Councils with a view to managing the process more effectively. It seeks to make better use of existing roadworks, transport and environmental data, identify gaps in the evidence base, and ensure that cumulative impacts are considered in future planning.

This Council notes:

• Cambridge City Council receives regular roadworks bulletins, including 50 planned works and 18 full road closures between 16–30 September.
• These works affect roads, pavements and cycleways and can have wider impacts on public transport, accessibility, air quality and movement across the city.
• The Council does not currently have a comprehensive assessment of how cumulative works and closures impact congestion, movement across the city, bus reliability, or air quality. Including walking, wheeling and cycling accessibility.

This Council believes:

• Robust data gathering, modelling and impact analysis are essential for effective transport and infrastructure planning.
• Effective coordination and assessment of significant roadworks and closures can help reduce unnecessary disruption to residents, public transport operators and businesses, and support consideration of impacts on air quality.

This Council resolves:

• To write to Cambridgeshire County Council, as the Highway Authority, to explain exactly how this coordination has been organised to date; whose role is it to timetable the utility works and the county council’s own scheduled works; and, what strengths, weaknesses and opportunities the county council’s relevant employees have identified with this process so far.
• To write to Cambridgeshire County Council, as the Highway Authority, requesting liaison with Cambridge City Council and the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) to ensure:
  1. A shared assessment of existing roadworks, traffic, public transport and active travel data, identifying gaps in the evidence base and providing additional data or modelling where necessary to assess the cumulative impacts of roadworks and closures. This should include, where available, the location, duration, type and scale of works, traffic flows and journey times, bus journey times and reliability, pedestrian and cycle movements, accessibility impacts and air quality.
  2. That the County Council identifies which existing systems and datasets will be used for this purpose, including existing street works permitting and roadworks information systems, and avoids duplication of data collection where suitable information already exists.
  3. That the assessment considers the cumulative impact of concurrent or sequential works on the same corridor, neighbourhood or alternative routes.
  4. Integration of this data into current and future transport and infrastructure planning. To consider how the resulting analysis could inform current and future transport and infrastructure planning, including the sequencing, timing and coordination of works to minimise unnecessary disruption to public transport, walking, wheeling and cycling routes.
  5. That the Highway Authority coordinates the underlying roadworks data and that the agreed analysis is shared with Cambridge City Council and the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority.
  6. To request continued liaison with the CPCA on the best use of this data for forward planning, including identifying and mitigating the cumulative impacts of planned works across the city, with findings reviewed at regular intervals and used to inform future roadworks coordination and transport planning.
  7. That the Highways Authority shares the next 12-month programme of works for Cambridge city only in advance with city councillors showing how it is coordinated with the various work programmes/contractors including the dates of the works. This task should start immediately and recur annually so city councillors and therefore residents are better informed about roadworks in our city.