Land Use in Huntingdon

Huntingdon Coursework

Section A - The Urban Transect

Introduction

Huntingdon is a town in the county of Cambridgeshire in East Anglia, England. The population of Huntingdon is almost 20 000.

Huntingdon was founded by the Anglo-Saxons and Danes. It successfully advanced as a bridging point of the River Great Ouse in the 16th-18th Century, a market town, and as a coaching stop on the Great North Road. Huntingdon has been represented by two exceptionally famous members of parliament: Oliver Cromwell in the 17th century and John Major in the 20th.

Huntingdon has vastly grown in recent years; extensive housing estates, offices, shops, industrial and commercial areas have been developed. Modern schools have also been built in the area surrounding Huntingdon.

Huntingdon has excellent road links, making it one of the most accessible market towns in the country. The A14 links Huntingdon with the A1 to the North and London to the South. The A14 also links the area with Cambridge, Suffolk, Norfolk and the port of Harwich (75 miles) in the East. Huntingdon’s railway station also provides easy access to other parts of the country. The location of Huntingdon on the main rail route from London to Edinburgh has led to rapid residential growth. There are also regular bus services to Cambridge, Peterborough, St Ives and St Neots, and a number of long distance coaches from all over the country stop in the town centre.

After Cambridge, Huntingdon has the highest number of vehicles entering and leaving the town in Cambridgeshire вЂ" around 74,000 each day; of which 85% are cars.

Huntingdon train station

Where is Huntingdon?

Method

My task is to identify the changes in land use along the transect from the outskirts of Huntingdon to the town centre. I will visit 6 different locations and will identify the differences between each location. The 6 locations I will visit are:

• Tesco

• St Peter’s School

• Great Northern Street

• The Market Square

• The area around Bakers Oven

• Sainsbury’s

At each location I will collect data on the following information:

• Land use

• Building age

• Building height

• Number of pedestrians

• Number of Vehicles

• Building density

Using this information I will then identify the changes in land use, pedestrian density and quality of life along the transect. I will also comment on the variations in the quality of the environment and give examples of redevelopment, and the use of Brownfield and Greenfield sites.

Prediction

I predict that the buildings in the centre of Huntingdon will be closer together than in the outskirts. I think this because in the centre of a town or city the land is in demand and so as many buildings as possible would be built there. Also, on the outskirts there is a lot more land available to develop.

I also predict that most of the buildings in the centre of Huntingdon are used for retail and commercial purposes. I think this because the centre is the most accessible part of a town for shoppers. I also think that the environment in the centre is pleasant because people travel from all over to access the services in the centre and that the environment and atmosphere would play a big part in whether they return.

Data Collection

These are the results I collected from each location point.

Location Pedestrian Count Traffic Count Building density Building height Building age Land use

Tesco 4 pedestrians 40 vehicles 1 building per 100 paces 1 and 2 storey Modern вЂ" 5-10 years old Out of town shopping, retail park, car parks, fields, roads, leisure, fast food restaurants, greenery

St Peters School 0 pedestrians 30 vehicles 13 buildings per 100 paces 1 and 2 storey Modern/Victorian/Georgian/Inter-war School, housing, business, industrial, retail, roads

Great Northern Street 1 pedestrians 1 vehicles 20 buildings per 100 paces 2 storey mostly, some 3 storey Victorian вЂ"sash windows, slate roofs. Some modern housing Housing, residential, roads

The Market Square 72 pedestrians 0 vehicles 9 buildings per 100 paces 3 storey Some modern buildings, some buildings are 100’s of years old. Church + 700 years old Shops, commercial, retail, market (existed for 100’s of years)

Bakers Oven 117 pedestrians 0 vehicles 14 buildings per 100 paces 3 storey Commercial/retail

Sainsbury’s 102 pedestrians 18 vehicles (entering the car park) 1 building per 100 paces 2 storey Modern Retail

Environmental Qualities

I also noted the environmental qualities of each location and recorded them in the following table:

Location Environmental Quality Rating from 1-5 (1=poor, 5=excellent)

Tesco Traffic 1

Litter 4

Noise Pollution 2

Greenery 4

Graffiti 5

Chewing Gum 4

St Peters School Traffic 2

Litter 1

Noise Pollution 3

Greenery 3

Graffiti 4

Chewing Gum 4

Great Northern Street Traffic 5

Litter 2

Noise