I have had some good discussions with (a) the CEO of the Local Enterprise Zone (the LEP) up at Alconbury covering Cambridgeshire, and (b) the senior officer at the county responsible for transport, regarding the A505 and how we balance growth and infrastructure problems.
My views also co-incided with - and so were featured in - a Cambridge News report on the most crowded roads, and I was interviewed on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire about the A505 in particular.
At the moment there are plans from the Wellcome Trust to expand at Hinxton, expansion from Granta Parks and Babraham Institute based on successful planning applications, and the new bio-tech site proposed for the old Spicers site. Also, there has been a bid for an agri-tech hub and an enterprise zone at Hinxton along from the MacDonald's roundabout.The land previously owned by Tesco for the Handley Grange housing bid way back in 2008 has been acquired by Smithsonhill, who want to build an agri-tech hub there, which would attract investment from government and also organisations like NIAB (National Inst. of Agricultural Botany). The enterprise zone proposal is not likely to succeed, but the agri-tech hub might well. The issue will be to understand the buildings proposed, and the impact on traffic at the increasingly busy roundabout there.
The best solution to congestion problems on the A505 and nearby roads is to use the planning process to get the expanding businesses to pay, including public transport and road improvements, plus the City Deal - and I will continue to keep the pressure on and report back.
Two final things - for me this definitely isn't about blocking new jobs - I know young people who are going to the fine University Technical College at Long Road to pursue a science education, and it is incredible to think that in ten years time these young people might be doing stem-cell research on a site just outside SAWSTON!
Nor is it just about a few extra cycleways. The A505 needs radical surgery, as does the Sawston by-pass, and the rail station at Whittlesford needs to become a real transport hub. 
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