The petition was received by Economy and Environment Committee on 5th March and following investigation of the issues by officers a response was sent to the Petition organiser on 24th March organiser from the Chairman of the Committee reading:

Dear Mark

Many thanks for taking the time  to attend and present the above petition regarding the request to provide overhead lighting at the DNA cycle path.

Cambridgeshire County Council is aware that the DNA path has become increasingly popular since it was installed. Given the proposals surrounding the new Cambridge South Station the path will now be looked at as part of this development, which will itself further increase demand for cycling capacity. We will therefore be looking at all aspects of the path including its width and alignment to ensure it looks to provide the necessary standard of infrastructure to cater for current and future growth.

Illumination of rural cycle ways is a more challenging issue with numerous factors that need to be considered and balanced against the benefit it provides. Consideration of the risk of injury to cyclists and pedestrians is clearly of upmost importance. This should be based on injury data and the severity of those injuries to ensure that funding is prioritised to the highest risk areas. As you have highlighted, this data is not always readily available, so it does make quantifying the risk less straight forward, but the Council is not aware of a significant ongoing issue along the DNA path.

There are also sensitivities around lighting rural paths of this nature, as it is widely recognised to have a significant impact on the environment, including wildlife habitat and it’s ecological dependence on darkness. 

Your suggestion of solar powered lights is an interesting one, given the progression and development in recent years. As you highlighted at Committee however, they still remain a very expensive option in comparison to standard units. Our experience of a handful of units that exist across the County is that they have been fraught with maintenance difficulties. This has included battery capacity that doesn’t allow for all night lighting capabilities and there have also been instances of theft of the lighting units.  The lack of major manufacturers mass producing such lighting units does also make it very onerous to maintain this kind of lighting.

Taking all of the above into account and given the future review of this path as part of the Cambridge South Station development, considering the implementation of temporary solar lighting is not recommended at this time.

Councillor Ian Bates

Chairman, Economy & Environment Committee