Counter Urbanisation - St Ives Case Study PDF

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Counter Urbanisation – St Ives Cambridgeshire Location 

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St Ives in Cambridgeshire is about 70 miles north of London. The town has grown through counter-urbanisation. In 1961 its population was just 3800, by 2010 it had reached 16,400 8 km east of Huntingdon and just 25km northwest of Cambridgeshire

Pull Factors 

It has good road access and rail links to Cambridge and London. Many people commute into Cambridge and around a quarter of the working population commute into London each day

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The town is popular because it has links with Oliver Cromwell and a statue of him stands in the town centre. Other popular features of this area are a 15th century chapel, fine Victorian and Georgian houses, a corn exchange and a large all saints church and is classed as a picturesque town

Impacts  Traffic congestion is a problem, particularly during rush hour on the A14 (the main commuter route 

from St Ives to Cambridge) The average price of a detached house in St Ives rose from £130,000 to £291,000 between 2000 and 2010. Commuters often earn higher wages than people working locally, so they are better able to afford higher prices

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St Ives is on the River Great Ouse and has a history of flood problems. As the demand for housing has grown, new developments have been built on the south river bank in the centre of town, and on the floodplain. This puts more residents at risk of flooding – 1000 properties in St Ives are at risk of flooding from a 1 in 100 year event

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There are now more shops and services in the town. For example, in addition to everyday food and grocery stores there are shops selling other goods e.g. clothes and antiques, as well as more cafes and restaurants The movement of families to St Ives has changed its population structure. The original population was ageing, but the influx of younger people means that there are now more people under the age of 16 than over the age of 65. This has put pressure on schools and more pre-school and primary school places are needed in the town

Solutions 

Plans were approved in 2010 to build 200 new homes in St Ives. At least 75 of these will be affordable housing aimed at people on lower incomes e.g. social rents (housing that are rented out at low rates by councils or housing associations) and low cost ownership (which enables people to e.g. buy a house at a discounted price or buy a share in a house and rent the rest)

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There are plans to expand primary schools in St Ives to make 240 more places available After flooding in 1998 and 2003, flood protection works costing £8.8 million were completed along

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the River Great Ouse in 2007. New embankments and flood walls were constructed in St Ives A £116 million guided busway which links St Ives to Huntingdon and Cambridge has been built. It’s

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hope that this will reduce congestion, as many commuters no longer need to drive along the A14. There are also plans to extend the busway to a new train station in Cambridge, from which journey times to London will be quicker than from Huntingdon. This should reduce the number of London commuters who use Huntingdon station...