Cambridge Children's Hospital plan 'risk' after congestion charge axed

The axing of a city's congestion charge proposals has put plans for new children's and cancer hospitals at "residual risk" of not going ahead.

Cambridge Children's Hospital is due to be built opposite The Rosie maternity hospital in Cambridge.

Dr Mike More, chair of the NHS trust behind it, said proposals included "an assumption" of a solution to the city's transport problems.

The congestion charge proposal lost political backing and was dropped.

Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital is set to be built on the city's BioMedical Campus, close to Addenbrooke's and Royal Papworth hospitals.

Dr More told a meeting of the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust board of directors: "We do need to register... all the planning assumptions were that there were going to be solutions to the transport problems in Cambridge.

"I register that many may be glad to postpone the [congestion charge] plans, but the change leaves us with that residual risk."

He said the trust needed to consider what implications the scrapped scheme would have on planning for the new hospitals, as reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The government has approved the outline business case for the hospital, which would care for children from Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

Work is still due to start early next year.

The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) had proposed a £5 weekday road charge in the city to help fund an extended bus network with cheaper fares.

Following a public consultation that saw many people oppose the introduction of a congestion charge, revised proposals were put forward to try and address the concerns raised.

However, political support for the proposals fell apart and the plans were dropped by the GCP.

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