Letter to Cambridge News published 28th June 2022

Dear Reader

Anglian Water openly states there is no operational need to move its Cowley Road waste water treatment plant to arable Green Belt land just a mere mile from its current site (lunacy in this time of the climate emergency and predicted food shortages!); that they are being required to by the councils so that a brownfield site is created which can then be developed.

Ok….but….this is contradicted by the councils which say they are not requiring Anglian Water to move and that if it stays at Cowley Road, it will not adversely affect the plans they have for developing North East Cambridge.

It just doesn’t add up – it seems the proverbial wool is being pulled over all our eyes, someone is telling porkies or at least being highly disingenuous.

If Anglian Water was moving for operational reasons, it is fact that it would have to foot the bill not the taxpayer.  It certainly won’t be moving just for the hell of it – AW is getting an awful lot of stick over this project – it is of course already a very unpopular company when you bear in mind all the fines it receives for crimes against the environment. Not to mention the hefty salaries and bonuses the top dogs  receive despite these transgressions.

Who then is behind this costly, carbon heavy plan?  Why is Anglian Water moving? Why has the move been given Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project status? Why has the project been awarded £227 million of Housing Infrastructure funding (taxpayers’ money), roughly the same amount incidentally that Anglian Water (a private company) will pocket from the sale of the land at Cowley Road!

When will the leaders of City and South Cambridgeshire District Councils show some honesty and integrity towards the public and address so many unanswered questions which I believe only they can answer!

Yours

Catherine Morris

of Horningsea

Donate now to stop a crime against our planet

Right under our noses, a Crime against our environment is taking place. Anglian Water is preparing an application to move a fully-functioning sewage works less than a mile to a new location on arable farmland in the Green Belt at Honey Hill between the villages of Fen Ditton, Horningsea and Quy. They are doing this with £227 million of public money too1. Save Honey Hill will challenge this application and need legal advice in its preparation and legal representation. Save Honey Hill need £50,000 to cover the cost of the required legal expertise.

This is our last chance to stop the relocation. Please donate whatever you can (no amount is too small):

£13k raised. £27k to go!
  1. HIF Award of £227 to unlock 9000 homes – Chancellors Autumn 2020 Statement/Spending Review p38 []

Redeclaration of the rights of the River Cam

The Save Honey Hill Community Choir was invited to sing IT’S CRAP (by Liz Cotton) at Friends of the Cam’s Redeclaration of the Rights of the Cam on Tuesday 22nd of June on the banks of the River Cam at Jesus Green, Cambridge.

It was a lovely evening. The sun was shining and many Save Honey Hill choir members attended alongside many other like minded groups from around Cambridge.

All the speeches and poems, especially those of Fiona Godlee (the former head of BMJ), a real mover and shaker in the world of climate change activism and James Boyce, author of “Imperial Mud: The Fight for the Fens” who talked about the history of the fight to restore land and river rights, echoed all our arguments. Cllr. Hannah Copley (Green Party, Abbey Ward) read her powerful poem about the climate earthquake that is coming.

Cllr Hannah Copley (Green Party, Abbey Ward) reading her poem.

Here’s the choir, with an introduction from Tony Booth of Friends of The Cam and a wonderful speech from our very eloquent Catherine explaining who we are and what we are fighting for.

RE-DECLARING THE RIGHTS OF THE RIVER CAM

On Midsummer’s Day almost a year ago Friends of The Cam declared that the River Cam had rights.

That declaration of rights included:

  • the right to flow and be free from over-abstraction
  • the right to be free from pollution
  • the right to perform its essential functions
  • the right to feed and be fed by sustainable aquifers
  • the right to biodiversity
  • the right to restoration
  • the right to maintain its connections with other streams and rivers.

On the first anniversary of that declaration Friends of The Cam will be redeclaring those rights.

Jesus Green Lock, 21st of June 2022 from 16:00.

  • Lots of Music
  • Poetry
  • Special guest speakers including Hannah Copley, Fiona Godley, James Boyce. John Lindsell.
  • Plus after 18:00 a chance to learn how to sing “IT’S CRAP” with the Save Honey Hill Community Choir.

Please do come and join in this celebration of the River that is such a part of our city and villages.

Here’s the Save Honey Hill Community Choir: