Protect the Green Belt
The Planning Inspectorate (PINS) have updated the DCO application page to say that you will be able to register to become an Interested Party and object between Wednesday 14 June and Wednesday 19th July 2023.
You need to register to be able to object.
We are currently reviewing the many documents that form part of Anglian Water’s DCO application and will keep updating our page on “How to Object” as we understand more.
It would appear that the core site at NECAAP has undergone a rebranding. Town and U+I had a stall at Strawberry Fair today where they were proudly showcasing the plans for ‘Hartree’.
Here are some of the visuals on display:
For me what really stuck in the gullet was the one titled ‘A Day at Hartree’ which looks at possible future resident profiles. It talks about key workers alongside couples who have moved from London alongside ‘global citizens’ from other countries. I wonder if key workers really will be able to afford these apartments, and if it is attracting couples from London and further afield, how can the development be addressing the housing shortage that locals are experiencing.
I spoke to one of the people manning the stall who said that the sewage works relocation and Hartree are two completely separate projects while in the same breath saying that without the sewage works moving the development wouldn’t be able to go ahead. He refused to accept they are linked and we had to agree to disagree in the end but it was all relatively good humoured debate.
I also pointed out that they were stretching it to describe the development as good for the planet, “an exemplar for development fit for the challenges for the 21st Century, enabling sustainable lifestyles, enhancing nature and accelerating the transition to a net zero carbon world.” I pointed out that they were being, at best, disingenuous and that in no way can this development be described as exemplary development fit for the blah! blah! if it depends on moving a fully functioning sewage works (one that was ‘future-proofed’ a few years back to the tune of over £20m) to Green Belt, arable farmland and pouring millions of tonnes of concrete onto a principal chalk aquifer into the bargain.
Anyways, if you have the opportunity to put anyone straight on the development and what the consequences are, I hope some of this helps with your argument.
Catherine Morris
18th May 2023
Dear Reader
In response to this paper’s article dated Wednesday, 17th May 2023, which sheds a glaring spotlight on Anglian Water’s sloppy planning application to relocate its wastewater treatment plant at Cowley Road to Honey Hill, the Save Honey Hill team would like to thank the Cambridge Independent and, in particular, Alex Spencer, for bringing this to the public’s attention.
The article made for stark reading when you consider the consequences of this huge nationally significant infrastructure project and the equally huge £227 million that Anglian Water has been allocated to pay for the relocation.
This project is about a billion-pound private water company profiteering from a move that will release land that can then be called brownfield and sold off to developers for a huge sum that its shareholders will pocket whilst the taxpayer foots the bill for the move.
The Save Honey Hill campaign has long held the opinion that due diligence has not been given to the environmental impact of said move nor to the option of the sewage plant staying where it is and, if necessary, simply being upgraded. According to the Advice Notes published by the Planning Inspectorate, the planning inspectors clearly agree. It is the validation that we are very happy to receive, but we are not so naïve as to think the story ends there.
We will continue to press home, at every opportunity, the many wrongs of this aspiration held by Anglian Water, Cambridge City Council, South Cambridgeshire District Council and undoubtedly the university colleges who own some of the land adjacent to the Cowley Road site.
We will also continue to press home that NECAAP (North East Cambridge Area Action Plan) is not in fact sustainable because in the Local Plan there is no mention of requiring the sewage plant to move to open, arable farmland in Green Belt near Horningsea, Fen Ditton and Quy, and no mention of the associated carbon cost of doing so. This is plainly wrong and not what the people of Cambridge and the surrounding area deserve. It is a greenwashing exercise of the highest order compounded by the fact that as the Planning Inspectorate has pointed out in its Advice Notes, “…given the focus in the application document on providing a carbon efficient wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), consideration should be given to the inclusion of a comparative assessment for reasonable alternatives, including the ‘do-nothing’ option or the provision of the upgrade at the existing WWTP. Without these the environmental benefits of the proposed development are unclear.”
Your readers are also invited to consider that producing these Development Consent Order (DCO) application documents in the first place will have made a sizeable dent in the taxpayer-funded budget Anglian Water is working to. To have ignored the PI’s initial advice that its Environmental Impact Assessment report should include the demolition of the site and to omit it from its DCO application, shows a level of either arrogance or amateurism that is incredibly disturbing when this company is being tasked with building a massive new piece of infrastructure.
But then is this such a surprise?
Anglian Water is one of a number of water companies in the UK which is regularly fined for not doing its job properly. Its business (excuse the pun) is to treat and deal with our sewage in a safe and responsible way. Time and time again we see the evidence all around our coastline and in our rivers that it is not capable of providing that fundamental service and I can only draw the same conclusion when it comes to this relocation project. It doesn’t need to relocate because the one that exists is fully functioning and has capacity (by AW’s admission); the carbon cost of the project which is as yet unknown will be massive not least because of the shedloads of concrete needed to protect the Principal Chalk Aquifer (groundwater) at Honey Hill, that construction will need to provide!
We urge everyone to visit www.savehoneyhill.org and follow instructions on how to object to this Development Consent Order application if the Planning Inspectorate accepts it at the end of this month. Anyone can have their say and this is most certainly NOT A DONE DEAL!
Catherine Morris
Save Honey Hill Campaigner and Horningsea Resident
The Planning Inspectorate (PINS) has just accepted (24th May 2023) Anglian Water’s Application to relocate the sewage works for Examination and published the application documents .
The Save Honey Hill Strategy Team will review the 220 documents and put together our objections to put to the Planning Inspectors. As we understand more we will also update our Tips on how to Object page. This will allow you to also object.
For now we strongly encourage you to sign up for updates with the Planning Inspectorate. They will then send you an email when you are able to register and make an objection. (Relevant Representation). They will also email you when the Preliminary Meeting will be held.
We were very graciously invited onto the Chris Mann show and interviewed by Louise Hulland about the Planning Inspector’s report into Anglian Water’s DCO application and its failings.
The interview was on Thursday 18th May at 17:10 (the show is from 14:00-18:00)
Listen below. The interview is at 3:10 to 3:14
“Anglian Water told to explore Honey Hill alternatives”
Cambridge Independent
Cambridge Independent: Anglian Water told to consider alternatives to Cambridge sewage works move
Since resubmitting its application to the Planning Inspectorate at the end of April, further evidence has surfaced of the sloppy and unprofessional standards that Anglian Water continue to display not only when it comes to the many instances of pumping sewage in to our rivers and seas, but now also in the matter of its project to relocate the Cambridge Waste Water Treatment plant (CWWTPR) from its existing site at Cowley Road, Milton, less than a mile to the outskirts of Cambridge on Green Belt countryside between the villages of Horningsea, Fen Ditton and Quy.
The Planning Inspectorate also told Anglian Water that they had not considered the option of not moving the sewage works in the first place. They are not telling them to consider other sites, they are questioning the need to move in the first place!
Save Honey Hill
Within days of the resubmission, the Planning Inspectorate published its Advice Notes which were lengthy and damning in equal measure and made it abundantly clear why Anglian Water had been advised to withdraw its application first time round1
The application does not consider whether an upgraded plant on the existing site could address waste water treatment needs. The Applicant is advised to consider whether this potential alternative approach should be considered in the application and EIA.
Planning Inspectorate1
Incredibly, the Planning Inspectorate found 118 issues within the application documents, too many to list here, but ranging from instances of missing pages, text and references to significant failures to prove justification or need for the move which are sufficient to outweigh the adverse environmental impacts. It is worth bearing in mind that this is the first case in England, possibly in the UK, of an application for a piece of major infrastructure where the fully functioning infrastructure already exists.
All this gives further fuel to the belief that Anglian Water is incapable of delivering on this project on time, within budget and to a standard that Cambridge deserves but more importantly, that this application should be refused and a thorough, immediate and long term upgrade of the existing site should be undertaken, an option that was never given due consideration in the early stages of the consultation process.
After withdrawing its application in February, Anglian Water has now resubmitted it. The Planning Inspectorate will accept or reject the application by the 26th May, and if accepted, anyone can then register as an Interested Party in order to submit their objections.
However, until then we strongly recommend that everybody sign up to receive updates from the Planning Inspectorate.
— Sign up for updates (now).
— Register as an Interested Party (once the application is accepted).
— Send in a Relevant Representation (once you are accepted).
Full and clear instructions are on the Planning Inspectorate’s website.
If the application is accepted we will put clear instructions on how to proceed on our website.
UPDATE: 2nd May 2023 Anglian Water have resubmitted their application.
Following Anglian Water’s Development Consent Order (DCO) application submission to the Planning Inspectorate, and the subsequent withdrawal, members of Save Honey Hill’s Strategy Team have been working with our barristers to prepare our response to Anglian Water’s resubmission of its application to the Planning Inspectorate.
Thanks to the generosity of donors and three Parish Councils, a KC and her junior have advised on the main areas for objection. Despite not knowing the detail of Anglian Water’s application, we have been drafting Representations which we will update, again with advice from the barristers, if and when the Planning Inspectorate accepts the application at which time the final documents will be published. We understand from Anglian Water that there will be approximately 200 associated documents and about 100 of those will contain new information. So, there will continue to be a lot of work to do in responding to the application. Each team member is focusing on specific areas of objection which include:
Other issues include design, impact on the historic setting of Cambridge and the local conservation areas, odour mitigation, access and traffic management.
Save Honey Hill has made these objections clear in previous consultations and by setting them out in our Representations we want to be recognised by the Planning Inspectorate as a key Interested Party and thus have the opportunity to be present at hearings.
Here’s a very relevant article by James Littlewood of Cambridge Past, Present Future (CPPF) on one of the massive buildings that are planned for North East Cambridge. The site for this building is just north of Cambridge North train station. But part of the planned development at North East Cambridge is of course land currently occupied by Cambridge’s waste water treatment plant (the core site).
Cambridge City Council and South Cambs District Council claim that North East Cambridge Action Plan can only really go ahead if the existing sewage works are demolished and relocated to Cambridge’s Green Belt. That is why the City and District Councils have postponed NECAAP consultation until after the Development Consent Order to relocate the sewage works has been decided. There are alternatives which would still help growth in that area.
Here’s CPPF’s response to the last consultation by Anglian Water on moving the plant
Dear Margaret
Many thanks for replying to our Phase Three Consultation, please find attached a copy of our reply to your consultation response.
Please also find attached a link to the Consultation Summary Report for your information. As you are aware, we submitted the DCO application on 31 January 2023 to the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) for acceptance. We have since had constructive early discussions with PINS, and as a result we’ve asked them to pause the processing of our application while we provide them with some further information.
This is not entirely unusual with an application of this complexity, and we intend to provide the information within a matter of weeks. We don’t believe it will have any impact on the overall timescales for the project.
Kind regards
Karen Barclay
Head of Major Infrastructure Planning & Stakeholder Engagement
Anglian Water Services Limited