Representation by The Starkie Family (The Starkie Family)
- Date submitted
- 14 June 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Starkie Family Objections • Selection of the site at Honey Hill failed to consider that the area is agricultural land in Green Belt: its use for the proposed development is contrary to local and national policy • The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) requires that land designated as Green Belt should be protected from development. • This is endorsed by the recent Ministerial Statement by the Rt Hon Michael Gove MP • The proposed development would encourage urban sprawl, jeopardise the setting and special character of the historic town of Cambridge and set a precedent for more development on Green Belt. • It would constitute a change in Cambridge Green Belt boundary which had not been included in either of the Local Planning Authorities’ 2018 Local Plans or the Greater Cambridge proposed Local Plan consulted in 2021 • The National Policy Statement for Waste Water 2012 (NPSWW) also prohibits inappropriate development on the Green Belt. • The Secretary of State for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy decided in Thurrock Flexible Generation Plant DCO that inappropriate development within the Green Belt would, by definition, be harmful. • AW has not demonstrated that very exceptional circumstances exist to justify the proposed development as required by NPPF and Planning Act 2008 • The site selection process was not robust and did not include retention of the plant at the existing site. The proposed site is only 1km from the existing site and offers no significantly greater capacity. • No provision was made in both Local Planning Authorities’ adopted 2018 Local Plans, the Greater Cambridge emerging Local Plan or the North East Cambridge Area Action Plan for relocation of the Waste Water Treatment Plant to a Green Belt site. • AW’s initial site selection process failed to use Green Belt designation as a baseline constraint. • Subsequent site selection stages did not adequately consider non-Green Belt sites and eventually reduced possible sites for consultation to three, all inside areas of Green Belt. • The final choice of Honey Hill appeared to be driven by cost, despite Anglian Water’s recognition that the Development would have more impact, in terms of Green Belt incursion, at this site than at the two others on the final shortlist. • Site 3 (Honey Hill) was chosen over Site 2 despite there being more impact on Green Belt at site 3. It appears to have been rejected because the landowner, Trinity College, University of Cambridge, was planning to develop some of the site as an extension to the Science Park. This was later rejected by greater Cambridge Planning. The site should be reconsidered. • Preparation for North East Cambridge Area Action Plan, upon which the relocation is predicated, has not been tested at consultation and there is no guarantee that the wider area, other than the current WWTP site, will be available for development. There has been strong opposition to the proposals for the high-density, high rise buildings with very little green space. • The visual impact of tall industrial buildings at the eastern approach to the historical City of Cambridge is unacceptable. • The narrow turning onto Hartridge’s Lane, off Clayhithe Road, for Waterbeach pipeline construction traffic will have an adverse effect on traffic to and from Waterbeach village and New Town and impact on the vulnerable, narrow Clayhithe Bridge. • Construction traffic for re-structured Junction 34, A14, to allow access to the proposed site will have an impact on traffic to and from North-East Cambridge and children travelling to Fen Ditton primary School. • A review of sites outside Green Belt, which were rejected at each Site Selection Stage, together with a review of consolidation at the existing plant, is critically important to prevent lasting harm to the Green Belt, the conservation areas and listed buildings of Fen Ditton and Horningsea by this inappropriate development which will be in contravention of local and national policies. References 1. National Planning Policy Framework 2021 2. Ministerial Statement by Rt. Hon Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for levelling up housing and communities, 5 December 2022 3. South Cambridgeshire Local Plan 2018; SCDC Adopted Policies Map Inset map31-Fen Ditton; Inset map 59-Horningsea 4. Greater Cambridge Local Plan First Proposals (Regulation 18: Preferred Options 2021) 5. National Policy Statement for Waste Water March 2012 4.8.4 6. Goodman Logistics Developments (UK) Ltd v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government April 27, 2017 Section 18 7. Secretary of State’s Decision Letter (16 February 2022) paras.4.79, 4.89-4.90, 4.97-4.98, 8.4 and 8.6. f 8. Cambridge Northern Fringe East Area Issues and Options Report December 2014 1.3 9. The Environmental (Assessment of Plans and Programmes) Regulations 2004 10. Anglian Water Statement of Requirement revised September 2019 Section 13