Support a Sainburys on Mill Road

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Road-set-supermarket-Change-use-plans-...

To oppose the Sainsburys is an act of evil.

Sainsburys sell cheese strands. Why should the so called activists prevent us from eating this delicacy?

A lot of sense talked on the CEN comments section - mostly by those in favour of the decision. If cycling is the issue, the Tenison Road junction is a deathtrap with taxis short-cutting to the station. The Mill Rd/Devonshire rd is no right turn - often ignored, even by travis perkins lorries and taxis who should know better. Lorry parking is already a problem - mostly with Al Amin and the Chinese supermarket, where there is no lay-by, and they have many deliveries a day. Also a lot of cars park on the pavement outside those shops because the drivers can't be a*sed to use the car park and they think the ladw doesn't apply to them. Traffic wardens don't care - it's not on their beat. Why not convert it into a hostel for homeless/drunks? No shortage of them around there. Or a Morrisons? Not a pub - enough there already. Burger King? Macdonalds? Aldi? Lidl?

The main trouble with this is that a planning permission can only give permission to change Suis Generis (pool club) into retail. It can't specify that the new retail can only be an independent shop, not a supermarket chain.

I don't think that I have any strong feelings about Sainsburys, though I probably should. I think I'd rather see a shop that sells fox hunting equipment than a McDonalds or Burger King though!

Pleased to see these comments.
I hate to cycle up Mill Road because of the traffic, but love cheese strands more.
Tennison / Mill Road should have traffic lights.

I think that they should put rising bollards right in the centre of Mill Road bridge. That way people who live there or need to deliver there can still access it from whichever direction they need to. The C2 bus and taxis would still be able to get through.

But most car drivers who use Mill Road as a cut through, filling it up with cars for everyone else, will be thwarted. *twirls moustache in evil fashion*

But then the police would have to find somewhere else to lurk when they want to catch their annual quota of drink drivers.

Car driving in a small city like Cambridge is a selfish act. Unless you are unable to walk or cycle, and have documents to prove that.
Those that do it, especially with just them selves in the car should be penalised.

Suppose you wanted to buy - I dunno - some sacks of cement, or something like that.

How would you get them home?

Whenever I need to buy something like sacks of cement then I order them online and get the shop to deliver them to me.

I think that the only people who should be allowed to drive are:

1. People with blue badges,
2. People who need to drive for work (like policemen, road repairers, nurses or sacks of cement delivery people)
3. People presenting Top Gear or racing car drivers.
4. Drummers.

Everyone else would use the massively efficient and cheap public transport system that we'd have if everyone had to use it, and this system would be effortlessly quick if all the bus routes weren't all clogged up with cars. Just think, we'd probably even have the Mill Road monorail.

Obvious solution - close the road, turf it over, add some trees and a lake and some swings and stuff to make it into a linear park. Build the monorail and charge local businesses to have stock delivered on it, thus covering construction costs. That's Phase One of the project.

Phase Two is the construction of a shipping canal beginning at the Cam on Midsummer Common and running through where the Grafton Centre is now (not actually the straightest route, but we may as well grab the opportunity to demolish the shithole) and along East Road (nothing interesting along there nowadays, so it doesn't matter if we demolish a few buildings along there too) and then up Mill Road before turning back towards the Cam by the traffic lights near the Brook. It would then take a straight course - or slightly curved, if taking out Newmarket Road McDonalds makes this necessary - to rejoin the river. Thus, Mill Road would benefit from links to Rotterdam and other commercial ports. I haven't worked out exactly how to fund Phase Two, but I reckon it'd probably be easy to get some local programmers to hack Google Earth and change the maps a bit so we can persuade shipping companies that the Mill Road Canal offers a safe and convenient alternative to the Cape Horn or something and charge them for the right to use it once it's built.

So in addition to Panamax and Suezmax, would there be Millroadmax ships?

I remember Mill Road Max - he used to beg for his Special Brew money outside Chicken Cottage.

I've thought for years that we should dig up every single road in Cambridge and replace them with canals like in Venice. it would vastly improve the atmosphere of cambrige and do wonders for the tourist trade. Furthermore it would spread the punt touts evenly over the entire city, so they would no longer be concentrated on Kings Parade or bridge Street.

I very much approve of JTs proposal, I'll start to consider funding options.

bit hard to cycle on canals. so we could all trade bicycles for pedalos

I look forward to the endless "rowers vs cyclists" stories in the news.

Most of Venice has nice walking routes next to the canals, plus lots of nice pedestrian streets. It wouldn't be too hard to make those cycle routes.

I must admit that when I went to Venice I didn't remember seeing anyone cycling, but it wouldn't be too hard to incorporate cyclists into my new Venitian Cambridge strategy. You just need to plan ahead.

Perhaps we should go and sack Constantinople to get some funding for my plan. That seems to be how the Venitians did things.

I'd like to see some kind of memorial to Barney's Factory Outlet.
How times have changed, now you have to walk all the way to Primark to buy Polyester.

.

Whatever happened to QD?

It burnt down, years ago that was. They reckoned it was a insurance job.

Can't remember QD burning down, it's where they put Robert Sayles temporary shop which became Primarni