Representation by Lily Morris
- Date submitted
- 17 July 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
My objections to CWWTPR are as follows: Dealing with climate change has to be above everything and doing everything we can to minimise it must be our priority. They say the sewage plant needs to move to make way for houses but if we don’t keep our impact on the environment to the absolute minimum and only create carbon when no other alternatives exist, then the houses we build will be a complete waste of time because we won’t be here to live in them. I don’t live in Horningsea at the moment but my parents do and it feels like their home is under attack with huge amounts of development to the north at Waterbeach and now the prospect of this industrial development to the south. The proposed sewage plant at Honey Hill is almost as big in area as Horningsea which is a conservation village and it seems completely unreasonable to thrust this on them – it is totally out of proportion to the village. I don’t feel enough has been done to look at either keeping the sewage plant where it currently is or to find a far more suitable site where it is possible to sink the structures to minimise the visual impact on the surrounding area. Honey Hill is on a principal chalk aquifer and it is really worrying that despite warnings from DEFRA about the risk of contamination, they have chosen to locate a sewage plant right on top of it. I understand that millions of tonnes of concrete will be needed to build the plant and protect the aquifer from possible contamination; again, I am really concerned that the carbon cost of this is not justified. I understand that there will still be a sewage plant of some description at the current site because it will not be possible to redirect all the sewers that go to it currently. So why not just make the current site better and still build next to it if that’s what’s needed. I do not agree that £227 million of taxpayers’ money should be funding this project when you consider that the land owners at Cowley Road will all benefit financially from selling the land to developers. This is a misuse of public money, in my opinion. Please do not allow this project to go ahead.