Representation by Veronica Jayne Saunders
- Date submitted
- 10 July 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
My comments are on the relocation of the Cambridge Waste Water Treatment Plant to Honey Hill. Please consider these initial comments. I would like to make further comments during the process. Green Belt -why on Green Belt, when it is so precious? Why choose a location on Green Belt when there were so many other choices, including leaving the sewage plant where it is? Eyesore – a huge heavy industrial complex on our Green Belt which can never be adequately hidden and will permanently scar this peaceful open landscape Alternatives – other sites not properly investigated. Anglian Water wanted that site from the beginning and fitted all the criteria to select that site when shortlisting. Carbon – why move a recently upgraded plant a couple of fields away onto Green Belt and prime agricultural land, with a huge carbon cost? Recent upgrade 2015/16 and the proposed WWTP is not appreciably better in technical terms. Anglian Water have said that there is no operational need to move and the joint Planning Authorities have insisted that the relocation of the WWTP is not a requirement for the development of the AAP and they should be separated. Decontamination of the Cowley Road site - why are they wasting money on this site when there are alternatives. The country is in a mess financially so why is this happening? The current site for the plant is perfect, right next to the busy A14, partially sunken and screened. Why put housing next to this road which is so highly polluted? It would be much better to consolidate the plant where it is and build slightly less housing. It really isn’t fair to cram people in high rise, high density, on contaminated land and with very little open space. Nobody at Anglian Water has addressed these sort of questions at the few meetings we had with them in our village. The consultations were made during COVID which made it more difficult to participate. I don’t have Zoom. The face to face sessions were not advertised sufficiently and our written questions were not answered on time. I live on the High Street and this development will have a huge impact on my life, with construction traffic further down the road, dust, odour, noise, road restrictions in spite of all the management plans put forward by Anglian Water. I am registered partially sighted and I am worried about the road and access. This proposal has caused me [Redacted]. And I don’t feel the community here has been listened to – people wanted the WWTP to stay where it is. I really object to a private company receiving all this money from the taxpayer and the lack of transparency about how the money will be spent. I fear the risk of contamination to our precious SSSI at Quy Fen. I don’t think it is worth the risk. Thank you for considering my initial representation