Randall Thorp were lead designers of the primary road landscapes and the network of footpaths, bridleways and cycleways for this 3300 home settlement, working with WSP Consulting. We were responsible for the production of the Highway Design Guide as well as providing landscape advice relating to the design and alignment of the offsite highways.

Roads and service corridors are positioned to minimise adverse effects on vegetation, whilst connecting to existing routes in as economical a manner as possible. The planting design of these areas ensures that they will have a positive effect, increasing the overall wildlife potential of the site and creating new, valuable landscape features.

The Highway Design Guide
Working closely with WSP Consulting and Cambridgeshire County Council Highways Dept, Randall Thorp developed and published a unique Highway Design Guide for the settlement.

Its aims are to ensure highways:

• relate to each other in a sensible hierarchy 
• provide adequate capacity for all forms of transport 
• have traffic calming provided in a ‘natural’ way 
• are economical to construct and maintain 
• enhance the security of the whole development 
• relate well to their surroundings, buildings, open space, vegetation and landform 
• help establish a sense of place for each village 
• have a character that balances consistency with variety

The Footpath, Cycleway and Bridleway Network
Cambourne is designed to be a ‘sustainable community’. One of its primary objectives is to encourage walking, cycling and horse riding within and beyond the site. The network of public routes permeate the whole development promoting healthy lifestyles by discouraging the reliance on vehicles.

Village greens, schools, sports facilities and other amenities connect through urban areas by direct cycle and footpath routes. Semi-rural greenways offer more circuitous and recreational routes feeding into the country parks and wooded boundary areas which provide the pastoral setting for each village. The permissive paths and bridleways that fringe Cambourne also join the broader network of existing Public Rights of Way allowing access to the surrounding countryside and beyond

Upon completion Cambourne will have added over 12 miles of new permissive paths to the local path network.