In 2005 Cambridgeshire County Council put together the St Ives Transport strategy, which provided a programme of schemes to be put into place from 2007/2008 onwards.

However, now half way through 2008 and St Ives town and district councillor Doug Dew is asking where they are.
Cllr Dew explained within his ward alone, two crossings on St Audreys Lane and Houghton Road still have no start date for work, despite being set as high priority within the strategy.

And Cllr Dew added that although he has been told work will begin on some schemes in the next few months, it is on other schemes such as Compass Point crossing, which has been downgraded from a toucan crossing to a normal crossing

He said: "My concern is that nearly three years on very little has happened. Petitions were presented by residents of Needingworth Road and High Leys demanding action be taken urgently. These measures were incorporated into the strategy but the residents have had no feedback or update since.

"Quite frankly I am sick to death of people asking me what is happening and not being able to give answers that will satisfy their queries."

The St Ives Transport Strategy forms part of the county council's Local Transport Plan (LTP) and was drawn up following consultation with stakeholders, interest groups and residents.

The main areas the strategy aimed to tackle in the town were public transport, car parks, environmental improvements, public rights of way, walking and cycling and accessibility and social exclusion.
It also aims to look at the transport networks in the Bridge Street area, the layout of the market, parking in Market Hill and on the new bridges/flood arches, the route buses take through the town centre and the quality of waiting facilities at the bus station.

A spokesman for the county council explained with a budget of about £2 million between nine market towns and the remaining funds coming from developers contributions, implementing such a large strategy takes time.

With work on some project due to begin this summer, and surveys currently being carried out on others, he added: "We are keen to improve transport in all our market towns, including St Ives.
"We do understand that the smaller schemes do effect peoples lives and we are always reviewing what we are doing."