Projects

New Cemetery

The village of Bottisham urgently needs a new cemetery as the existing Victorian burial ground nears capacity. The Parish Council, in consultation with residents and stakeholders, has identified a site off Lode Road for the cemetery, which is currently owned by the National Trust. A compulsory purchase order (CPO) is required to secure the land, and significant groundwork, including raising the land by 2m, is necessary to meet environmental standards.

This cemetery will meet the village's interment needs for the next 250 years while also contributing to local biodiversity and sustainability goals. It will create a tranquil, green space for residents, offering both ecological and recreational benefits. With careful financial planning and community involvement, the cemetery is expected to open by late 2026, providing an essential service for Bottisham’s growing population.· The new cemetery site will be on Lode Road, just up from Bottisham Village College (BVC). The sale has beenagreed with the National Trust and we will enter into a commercial purchase of the land, by ECDC, once approved by the Secretary of State. Hoping CPO by late Summer 2025.

The vision is to create a tranquil, sustainable, and biodiverse cemetery that serves Bottisham for the next 250 years, ensuring residents can be buried within their community while fostering a green, ecologically vibrant space for future generations.

A resident’s working group was established by the Parish Council in 2012. We hope for a formal “opening” of the cemetery to take place in 2027.

More information on the project can be found by clicking here.

Project Playground

You may be aware that for some time Bottisham Parish Council has been seeking to improve the play facilities available to the village. A play area in the new development at Copse Close and Bradens Field was opened in the Spring of 2025. However, we understand from communications with Bottisham residents that this remains a key priority. A residents working party has been established to explore potential sites and, after purchase by the Council, guide the development of a play area.

For more information click here

Neighbourhood Plan

Neighbourhood planning is a way for communities to have a say in the future of the places where they live and work. It gives you the power to produce a plan with real legal weight that directs development in your local area.

It helps:

• choose where you want new homes, shops and offices to be built
• have your say on what those new buildings should look like
• grant planning permission for the new buildings you want to see go ahead
• other aspects of village life including social facilities, connectivity, education, environment and other key issues.

The main premise for the Neighbourhood Plan is to ensure that developments going forward meet all of the stringent conditions placed on it by the Planning Inspector. A working group, under the remit of Parish Council, was formed to start the creation of a Bottisham Neighbourhood Plan. A first stage of the plan was shown to residents on 1st March 2025. In due course the next stages will be a presentation to the local community to gauge consent.  This will be in the form of a public presentation and a formal referendum. 

For more information click here

20MPH Highways Initiative

Cambridgeshire County Council proposed to make an Order under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and all other enabling powers. The effect of this Order will be; To implement a 20mph speed limit on the whole length of the following roads in Bottisham;

Ancient Meadows, Arber Close, Beechwood Avenue, Bradfords Close, Cedar Walk, Downing Close, Howlett Way, Jenyns Close, Lysander Close, Maple Close, Mulberry Close, Parsonage Barns, Peacock Drive, Pound Close, Rowan Close, Rowley Gardens, Spring Lane, Stocks Close, Thomas Christian Way, Trinity Close, Tunbridge Close, Vineyard Walk, West Walk, Willow Walk and on Bell Road from its junction with High Street in a south westerly direction for 300m, High Street from its junction with Lode Road in a south easterly direction for 834m, Lode Road from a point 130m northwest of its junction with Pound Close in a south easterly direction to its junction with High Street and Tunbridge Lane from its junction with High Street to a point 20m north east of its junction with Peacock Drive. And to implement a 40mph speed limit buffer on Tunbridge Lane from a point 284m northeast of its junction with Thomas Christian Way in an easterly direction for 400m.

For administrative purposes existing speed limit Orders for the Parish of Bottisham will be revoked, though their effects, as amended by the proposed, shall be consolidated into this Order. 

This went out for residents survey on Thursday 30th July 2025. Closing date for comment is the 20th August 2025.  For information on the survey click here. 

For more information on the proposed 20mph within Bottisham click here

Open Safety Forum

Bottisham held its inaugural Open Safety Forum on Wednesday 8th March 2022. This meeting was relatively well attended by around 40 residents however considering our village population we are sure a lot more would benefit from attendance.

We followed this up with the second meeting on 17th October 2023.

This open forum is for all residents including those who hold concerns about any aspect of community safety in Bottisham, whether anti-social behaviour, road safety and various other topics. It was a chance to meet and ask questions of representatives of some of the key groups and authorities impacting on life in Bottisham and working to keep us safe.

The meetings are hosted by your Parish Council, with support from East Cambs Community Safety Partnership. The responsible authorities work together to protect their local communities from crime and to help people feel safer. They work out how to deal with local issues like antisocial behaviour, drug or alcohol misuse and reoffending. They annually assess local crime priorities and consult partners and the local community about how to deal with them.

Representatives are there to answer a lot of questions.

At the previous events these were, but not limited to; road safety on the A1303 along with our main roads in the village including Lode Road and the High Street including speed and whether we should be looking at speed reductions from 30 to 20, discussions around the dreaded pot holes that we face throughout the village, anti-social behaviour activity from graffiti, nitrous oxide cannisters around the Triangle and the fires that have been started in nearby fields, refuse collection where black bin collections have been missed causing rubbish to be strewn around paths and roads due to rogue cats, deer, foxes etc and then there is the parking around School time and challenges day in day out around the Triangle.

One key result of these two meetings was an overwhelming demand for making Bottisham a safer village to drive, walk and cycle. This has resulted in Bottisham Parish Council submitting a Local Highways Initiative to the Cambridge County Council to request 20mph speed limit consideration throughout the village.

So as you can see lots of varied topics. Lots of questions were answered but the panel, made up of Neighbourhood Police, Village College, District and County Councillors, took many questions away guaranteeing responses will be given along with 3-month plan created. A community update will follow in the forthcoming months.

Bottisham Greenway (GCP)

*** This is not a Bottisham Parish Council Project ***

https://www.greatercambridge.org.uk

The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) are developing a network of 12 "Greenways". Swaffhams and Bottisham Greenways are two of these twelve proposed Greenways which aim to make local walking and cycling journeys easier. They will connect villages along the route to each other, with new and improved signage enabling a direct connection with Cambridge.

The Bottisham Greenway will be an active travel route to make it easier for those walking, cycling and, where appropriate, horse-riding to travel from Bottisham into Cambridge.

Bottisham Greenway will be 5.9 miles long.

The draft route starts from Wisbeach Close, (just off Bell Road) Bottisham and proceeds down Bell Road. Cyclists will have priority over other traffic at the above point in Bell Road where the Bottisham Greenway starts. The route will then turn on to the A1303 towards Cambridge. The GCP state it will be easier and safer to use the A14 underpass, which will have better lighting. The Greenway then goes past Stow-cum-Quy, where it converges with the Swaffhams Greenway, and continues along High Ditch Road past the Wing housing development to Fen Ditton. At this point it joins the Horningsea Greenway. It will then go under a new underpass at Ditton Lane. It will continue along Ditton Fields, intersecting with the Chisholm Trail at the Abbey-Chesterton Bridge. It will proceed through Stourbridge Common along Riverside to Midsummer Common. In all places there will be improved safety measures, and the path will be separate from road traffic.

Bottisham Parish Council have held various engagement sessions with the GCP to try to reach the best solution for residents.  

For more information click here.