Eddington vs Nostalgia

I had the 'joy' of visiting Eddington for the first time yesterday. What a soulless, corporate place it appeared to be. Identikit boxes, 20 somethings all on an evening park run (like demented whippets). Playing at the pleasant enough village hall were late 80's early 90's pop sensations 'The house of love'. I suspect Eddington will never again see so many 50 year old men grumbling about having no where to park.

Kudos to the HOL - they were fantastic. Good luck with finding a soul Eddington.

Compared to most other “new developments” in Cambridge (CB1, Trumpington Meadows) I think Eddington is quite interesting. The university threw backloads of money at it and there are lots of interesting things about it like sustainable potable water, I like how the cycle paths are different textures to the footpaths to encourage cyclists off the pedestrian side. There’s a multimillion pound community centre venue which is swish as anything, which has some nice events. I wouldn’t call it “nice” but it is much better than the other new developments.

I would like to go to that community centre for gigs more often but that cycle ride up Huntingdon Road really puts me off.

I deliver to Eddington a lot and as much as I agree it is pretty soulless, at least it's full of young people, they have a big Sainsburys of course but no pub. The houses are very nice it has to be said. The worst new build has to be Northstowe, it does not have any shops at all let alone a pub.

Northstowe is an absolute clusterfuck of planning. 1500 houses now, no GP, no services, not even a single shop. They built a sports pavilion last year, that is literally the only service, whoopy doo. There is a local centre planned for phase 2, but that is still some years away now.

Given that they insisted on the guided busway and A14 improvements in place before building started so it was sustainable, then making all residents drive to the nearest supermarket in Bar Hill it is a catastrophe.

Most new developments the build a bit, sell those, then build a bit more. Eddington they just built 1500 houses in one go. It is incredible how quickly it went up. They seem to be doing the remaining 1500 a bit slower though.