Representation by Sean Dixon
- Date submitted
- 15 July 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I would like to register my objection to the relocation of the Cambridge Sewage works, and for that relocation to be to the Honey Hill site. I don’t believe that the sewage works needs to be relocated – it was recently updated and there is no operational reason for the relocation. We need to revisit the very requirement to relocate. The relocation is purely financial and political, but these reasons are flawed. Taxpayers money is going to fund the relocation so other interested parties (Anglia Water and housing developers) can make money. Taxpayer money must be reconsidered again in the new economic climate. The politics appears to be to try to brown-nose by developing a brown-field site. However the brownfield site only becomes available by developing a green-field site, which is wrong. Also, the brownfield site that they propose to develop is not suitable for the (financially and politically attractive) housing – the area is already congested and the infrastructure will not support the additional traffic in this area. Pretending that it will be a low traffic zone is blatant lies. I would also question the economic basis on which the decisions are being made. Brexit, the pandemic and cost of living crisis (due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine) have changed the equation – fewer European workers, increased interest rates and remote working becoming the new normal means the drive for these houses (at this cost) in the city must be revisited. Moving it to Honey Hill is a separate but also serious objection. Honey Hill is a green-field/green belt site so should not be touched. It is prime farming land which should be considered a premium with the increased grain and crop costs across the globe and the need for the UK to be more self-sufficient. Moving it will not only damage the landscape and affect the local nature and biodiversity, it will increase traffic on an unsuitable road at an inappropriate junction of the A14. The works themselves will be disruptive to the whole area for a considerable time and damage the local economy and clog up roads in the surrounding area, forcing traffic through the centre of Cambridge during the development. Combined, the movement of the sewage works and other local policies will make Cambridge a less attractive place to live.