Cambridge South Station: Car Parking

Lord Balfe Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd April 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Balfe]

To ask His Majesty’s Government whether they have had discussions with Network Rail about the provision of car parking spaces at the new Cambridge South station.

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill) (Lab)]

My Lords, the answer, at least recently, is none. From the first design of Cambridge South in 2016 by AstraZeneca, the station has never had a car park due to lack of space. It has been designed as a sustainable transport hub to provide direct access to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus while respecting the surrounding green belt. The station will have 1,000 cycle spaces, pedestrian access and strong connections to local transport networks, including nearby park-and-ride sites.

[Lord Balfe (Con)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his Answer and point out that, as he says, this is next to the medical campus, which is an ever-expanding area with an ever-expanding need for transport. At the moment, there appears to be no parking provision for disabled people and, despite a multiplicity of local authority involvements, there is still a lot of frustration locally that, apparently, we are going to have a station without any car park. Can the Minister look yet again —I do not blame him, because this problem has been there for years—at calling the different parties together to see whether a more acceptable solution can be found?

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

I say to the noble Lord, first, that there will be disabled car parking spaces, and, secondly, that the Cambridge Biomedical Campus executive director said, and stands by this today:

“Currently, there are around five times as many visits to the site as there are car parking spaces. We have to find ways of making it easier for the thousands of staff, NHS patients and visitors arriving daily to get here without needing to use a car”.


In addition, the green belt adjacent to the site of the new station is Hobson’s Park and the planning inspector who conducted the inquiry said that, in the event that the design had taken in space in the park for car parking, it is highly unlikely that the station would have received planning permission at all.