Growth in the County of Huntingdon and Peterborough, in the last decade, has been rapid; in fact, the second highest rate of all counties in England and Wales This has not always been the case however, and the lack of expansion in the 1950's led the Ouse Valley market towns of Huntingdon and Godmanchester and St. Neots to enter into agreements, under the Town Development Act 1952, and accept overspill population from London as part of induced expansion schemes. St. Ives declined to participate in a similar scheme, but has, nevertheless, grown steadily, largely as a result of private housing and industrial development actively encouraged by the Borough Council, since the approval of the first statutory Town Map in 1962.

The population within the Town Plan Area at 1957 (the date of the original Town Map survey), had more than doubled from 3,800 to 7,900 by 1971. Since then, the town has experienced an extraordinarily rate of development with nearly as many new houses occupied in the last two years as were occupied during the previous five.

This exceptional rate of development can be attributed to a variety of inter-related factors, which will be discussed in more detail later in the report. The more important of these factors include the buoyant economy pertaining two or three years ago and particularly the readily available mortgage funds for house purchase. This favourable economic climate, coupled with relatively low cost housing, which had yet to be fully affected by the spread of increased land and house values from the Home Counties, and the town's convenient location in relation to principal traffic routes and rail services, contributed to make St. Ives a popular choice with the prospective house purchaser.

In a more general sense, however, the inherent qualities of St. Ives itself, have undoubtedly been of fundamental importance in attracting new families to the town. Basically, a small market town, whose centre still retains much of its original character, St. Ives enjoys an unrivalled setting on the banks of the Ouse with commanding and dramatic views across the floodplain to east and west. Moreover, the variety and standard of facilities are far higher than might reasonably be expected of a town of this size.

The town now has greater prosperity than previously, offers a wider choice of jobs and boasts a vibrant town centre, in which the quality and variety of shops has substantially improved and where a greater range of convenience and consumer goods are Available. New and expanded schools, generous provision of social and community facilities for young and old, together with popular nine hole golf course, provide ample evidence of why St. Ives has developed in the past and will continue to expand in the future.

Regrettably, the removal of unnecessary traffic from the town centre is still the most urgent and significant problem. All traffic to and from the south of the river is funnelled into the primary shopping streets over the only river crossing, a 15^th century bridge, which has no separate footways and carries single line traffic, controlled by traffic lights. The serious delays, which still occur despite the recent introduction of a one-way traffic system, result not only in frustration and inconvenience to the motorist, but considerably reduce the attraction and safety of the town centre for the shopping pedestrian.

To rectify this situation, the essential first step is the transfer of traffic onto a new river crossing. Later, rear service roads to business premises will be required to enable the pedestrian to be given greater priority in the shopping centre.

The question of a new river crossing has been discussed for many years culminating in a Public Inquiry held in October 1972. Arising from this and the Secretary of State's subsequent refusal of planning permission for the western route and the recommendation that an eastern alignment be investigated, the County Surveyor is currently engaged in producing a detailed design and cost estimate based on a long eastern route. No indication can be given at the present time of the likely construction date for this relief road., as its priority will have now to be determined in the context of the new County of Cambridgeshire and its inclusion in a firm programmed agreed with the Department of the Environment. However, the urgency and importance to the future of the centre of St. Ives cannot be over emphasised. It is hoped, therefore, that the impending situation is sully appreciated at both local and national levels, and the appropriate priority given to this essential project.

The submission of formal Town Map reviews can no longer be made under the original system of statutory Development Plans and the new system, introduced by the Town and Country Planning Act, 1968, is not yet applicable to this County. Therefore, this informal Town Plan, which defines the scale and direction of growth in the comparatively short-term, has been prepared and does not require the approval of the Secretary of State. It will serve as a policy document for both the new Huntingdon District Council and new Cambridgeshire County council.

St. Ives is a steadily growing market town in an attractive setting on the Great Ouse, which has benefited from the boom period in house construction over the last two or three years and attained a population of about 9,600 in the Town Plan Area by mid 1973.

During the 16-year period 1957-73, the population has increased by 5,800 persons and land is now allocated, which, together with the considerable stock of land with outstanding planning permission, will enable the population to increase by a further 6,500 persons, resulting in a future ultimate population of just over 16,000 by 1981. Significant development beyond this target population would need to be considered in the context of the County Structure Plan to be prepared by the new Cambridgeshire County Council.

Probably the single most crucial factor in the future development of St. Ives is the serious traffic congestion in the town centre, arising from the lack of a second river crossing. After considerable delay, the principle of an eastern alignment has now been established, the detailed design of which is now in hand and it is strongly hoped that the appropriated priority and necessary funds are made available in the near future to implement this vital proposal.

In association with the second river crossing, as new road has been proposed in the east, close to the northern limits in the town centre, linking North Road with Needingworth Road, to facilitate cross-town traffic movements. This proposal will be given further consideration when the Town Centre Plan is prepared.

The new housing areas will be built mainly in the north of the town, off a perimeter distributor road, which effectively defines the future limits of development in a northerly direction.

Additional land is allocated for industrial use, (10.8 hectares (26.7 acres)), together with many other requirements which will be generated by the new growth, including primary schools, shops, leisure and community facilities.

Diagram 1, the Proposals Map, illustrates the Town Plan proposals in outline form.

St. Ives is on the western fringe of the Fenlands of East Anglia; a relatively sparsely populated area and still predominantly rural in character.

The town developed at a fording point on the northern bank of the River Ouse, with Huntingdon some 10 kilometres (6 miles) to the west and Cambridge about 20 kilometres (12 miles to the south-east),

About 2.7 kilometres (11 miles) to the south of the town, the A604 from Cambridge runs in an east-west direction and links with Huntingdon and the Great North Road (A1). It is proposed to upgrade this route to trunk road status and to improve it to new motorway standard which, together with the proposed M11 (south of Cambridge), will provide an alternative to the A1 as a high speed route to London. The A1123 from Huntingdon is roughly parallel to the A 604, passing about 900 metres ( 1 mile) north of the town centre, and links with the A10 at Stretham. The A1096 (formerly the B1040) forms the north-south connection between these parallel routes and passes directly through the main shopping streets of St. Ives, via the ancient and narrow town bridge.

The regional centres of Peterborough, Cambridge and Bedford exert varying influences on the southern part of the County. It is not thought, however, that the increased catchment area arising from the expansion of Peterborough will materially affect St. Ives, which continue to look primarily to Cambridge.

The original settlement was built on the raised gravel deposits, just above the alluvial soils adjoining the river. Subsequently, the town has gradually spread northwards over more elevated, heavier clay areas. The majority of the town is below the 15 metre (50 ft.) contour and only rises above the 30 metre (100 ft.) contour at Houghton Hill to the west, and north of Marley Gap Bridge on the Somersham Road (B1040) to the north. The river plain, which has effectively curtailed any substantial development to the south of the town, is subject to annual flooding and lies below the 7.6 metre (25 ft.) contour.

Diagram 4 illustrates the stages and growth to the present day (mid 1973) and it can be seen that relatively little new development took place during the 1950's; by 1957, the town was still essentially contained to the south of Houghton Road and St. Audrey's Lane. The present urban form, including major land uses, is shown in Diagram 5.

The proposed improvement of the A604 to dual carriageway standard with a grade separated junction with the A1096 (London Road) will considerably improve accessibility to the town from the south and particularly from Cambridge.

The bottleneck in the from of the single land, medieval bridge, together with congestion arising at the junction of the northern end of Bridge Street, particularly at peak periods, has caused a serious problem, which is further aggravated by the incompatibility of concurrent vehicular and pedestrian use. Pedestrian movement over the bridge and in the narrower shopping streets is hazardous, unpleasant and inconvenient. As a short term measure to facilitate traffic movement, a one-way system was introduced in February 1973, which has been successful in averting a total breakdown of the system, but has done little, if anything, to improve the shopping environment.

A long term solution to these problems was indicated in earlier Development Plan proposals, in which a second river crossing to the west of the town centre and proposed link road between Ramsey Road and Needingworth Road formed the basis for resolving the traffic and related problems.

Source: St. Ives Town Plan 1974. Robinson, L.G. (County Planning Officer). 1974. County of Huntingdon and Peterborough.