Last Stand on Honey Hill – A review

Last Stand on Honey Hill by Liz Cotton at The Junction on 19th November 2022

Following on from her very successful stint at the Edinburgh Fringe earlier this year,  Save Honey Hill’s very own comedy songstress, Liz Cotton, finally brought her show, Last Stand on Honey Hill, to the Cambridge Junction on Saturday night.

With her marriage on the rocks and her children flying the nest, Liz has used a well-honed skill of writing comic songs to help her cope with all life can throw at her, including a billion pound private water company wanting to plonk its new sewage works on her doorstep.

Fortunately for the Save Honey Hill campaign, Liz took umbrage with these plans and decided to hang her new show around her escapades with some of the Save Honey Hill campaigners who she came to know during the course of writing campaign songs and putting together a campaign choir (The Crap Community Choir).

Saturday night’s show was a sell out and for good reason.  Liz’s reputation obviously preceded her and she did not disappoint – people had come from as far away as London.  I must confess, I didn’t really know what to expect.  Liz had warned us that her show was most definitely for adults only as it included very adult language.  But I could not have foreseen how clever and accomplished her writing skills are that her saucy and yes, at times very adult themes and language, were simply hysterically funny and not the slightest bit offensive.  Certainly for me, there was more than a hint of recognition in her song titled “Why Don’t You Know What To Do?” as she reeled off a myriad of examples of how her husband, Phil, ‘annoys’ her.

After briefly covering personal and family trials and tribulations, Liz proceeded to bring the audience up to speed with the ridiculous plans Anglian Water have for Honey Hill, ramming home with the use of video and photos, the beauty of the Fens landscape with resident wildlife, that’s being targeted by Anglian Water as the new location for its industrial plant.  Through the power of laughter, comedy and Liz’s adorable cat, Purdy, we were all reminded of why we have spent the last couple of years fighting this heinous plan and I for one am incredibly grateful to Liz for the injection of fun in what could otherwise have been a thoroughly miserable time fighting for our Green Belt.

At the end of the show, members of the It’s Crap Community Choir were on hand to join Liz on stage to debut a new number, Honey Hill Honey. They were greeted with rapturous applause and I even spied some younger members of the audience clapping and nodding approvingly with more than a hint of respect for these oldies getting down and strutting their stuff in the name of protest.

Finally, it did not go unnoticed that aforementioned, Phil (Liz’s long suffering [??] husband), was standing proudly at the back of the venue as we all headed to the bar at the end of the show.  Clearly their marriage has had a happy ending and hopefully so too will the Save Honey Hill Campaign!

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.

IT’S CRAP in the news

IT’S CRAP by The Save Honey Hill Community Choir has been covered by many local newspapers and shared widely on Twitter and Facebook since its release two weeks ago. It’s even been played on Cambridge105‘s Strummers and Dreamers show.

Our comedy protest song is against the unnecessary relocation of Cambridge’s sewage works to Honey Hill, a beautiful, unspoilt site in Cambridge’s Green Belt. The climate impact of demolishing one functioning sewage plant and building another, just 1.5 km away will be enormous.

The song was written by local resident Liz Cotton and was recorded in the village church. The music video is part of the Save Honey Hill campaign, active on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Anglian Water will be submitting its application later this year to the government’s Planning Inspectorate.

Newspapers

Cambridge Independent – Listen to the extraordinary song from village choir fighting new Honey Hill sewage plant

Cambridgeshire Live – Save Honey Hill campaigners record song in protest of the building of a sewage plant ‘bigger than Wembley’

Ely Standard – ‘It’s Crap’ – Protest choir records song opposing new Anglian Water plant

Cambs Times – ‘It’s Crap’ – Protest choir records song opposing new Anglian Water plant

We are also included in the Planning magazine’s daily news roundup of planning matters:

Planning – Community group taps the power of comic song in battle against sewage plant relocation

Social Media

Anglian Water’s Surveys on Honey Hill and its surrounding areas.

sunset over diggers.

As is fairly obvious to anybody passing, for the past few months Anglian Water have been conducting surveys on Honey Hill. They are surveying the ground for where they propose to relocate the sewage works to. They are also surveying the pipeline that will bring sewage from Waterbeach New Town and also the pipeline that will discharge into the River Cam.

Some of these surveys are under permitted development and Anglian Water received planning consent for these surveys (21/03583/FUL) for the rest.

These photos show the size of these surveys and the associated mud and debris on the roads, pavements and cycle path.

 

Honey Hill Q&A: Liz Cotton interviews travel writer Phoebe Taplin, author of Country Walks around Cambridge.

Liz Cotton interviews travel writer Phoebe Taplin, author of Country Walks around Cambridge.

LC: Phoebe, you have been writing about walks all over Great Britain for many years. What makes for a really great walk, in your opinion?

PT: You can have a great walk in all kinds of landscapes, but my favourites usually have a mix of natural and historical interest plus somewhere to stop for refreshments.

LC: Can you tell us about the Harcamlow Way and why you wanted to walk it and write about it?

PT: The Harcamlow Way is a 140-mile walk, devised in the late 1970s by Fred Matthews and Harry Bitten. The whole route, as the slightly awkward portmanteau name hints, runs from Harlow to Cambridge and back in a giant figure-of-eight. When I first moved to the area, more than a decade ago, I saw the Harcamlow marked on Ordnance Survey maps and followed it to discover the local countryside in more detail. I loved it so much I walked it all several times and, when I realised the original guidebook was long out of print, I decided to write two new ones to help celebrate and preserve the route. The walk now has some colourful figure-of-eight waymarks along the way, which were put up by the Redbridge ramblers’ group.

New waymark for the Harcamlow Way

LC: So you must have walked all around Honey Hill?

PT: Absolutely! The Harcamlow runs near the River Cam through Fen Ditton and Horningsea and through the fen to Anglesey Abbey. Then it turns south again along Quy Water and over the fields to Quy Mill before it heads off towards Fulbourn. So the route makes a big loop around Honey Hill and it’s actually one of my favourite walks: past Baits Bite Lock, Biggin Abbey and the wild areas around Quy Fen. It passes the line of Fleam Dyke, a huge earthen bank and gully that survives further south and was probably built in the seventh century to defend East Anglia from the Mercians. It’s the ditch that gave Fen Ditton its name.

Baits Bite Lock between Fen Ditton and Horningsea

LC: And what have you most enjoyed on your walks here?

PT: So many things! I love the variety of wildflowers out in the fields and fens in summer: the water lilies and forget-me-nots, meadowsweet and bedstraw, clouds of white blackthorn blossom in early spring, the hops in the hedges and carpets of golden buttercups in summer, and the sound of the skylarks singing as they rise out of the fields.

LC: Did anything surprise you?

PT: I was amazed by how beautiful the landscapes around here are. I had an image in my head of Cambridgeshire countryside as flat and monotonous, but there’s really varied scenery along the Harcamlow Way here: river and fen, ancient churches in pretty thatched villages, wide open fields and tree-shaded corners. And I was really delighted to find how rich in history these peaceful landscapes are. The idea that Horningsea was a major centre for the Roman ceramics industry, churning out big pottery storage jars, is so cool.

LC: I know you’ve also written about other nearby villages, but can you tell the reader more about why Horningsea and Fen Ditton are so popular for visitors?

Walking beside the River Cam towards Fen Ditton

PT: People who live here already know why they are popular! As well as the wildlife and the history, there are some outstanding pubs here. Step into the little whitewashed Plough and Fleece on a Thursday night and it’s full of music and song with those gleaming horse brasses over the fireplaces and big candles in the cast iron range at the front. And the garden has those rattan chairs, ringed by hawthorn, sycamore and eucalyptus trees with a view over a field of horses.
There’s some lovely food at the Crown and Punchbowl too, a few doors down. And, heading the other way, that incredible riverside garden at the Plough in Fen Ditton… and that’s even before you get to the King’s Head and the Shepherds! These have to be the best villages in Britain for a rural pub crawl. We’ve had some great family walks along the Cam: spotting dozens of different types of geese and ducks in Ditton Meadows, the cherry blossom in the churchyard and rowing boat-shaped weather vane on top of St Mary’s. And watching the real-life boats on the river, of course, training in all weathers.

LC: You must have been shocked to learn of the plan to build a sewage plant on Honey Hill?

PT: Horrified. What could they be thinking of? The landscapes around Honey Hill are so full of wildlife and so rich in history. It seems quite cynical to abuse the regulations in this way that are meant to stop people building on the green belt.

Over the fields near Horningsea

LC: Finally, where can we buy a copy of your book “Country Walks Around Cambridge”?

PT: Since the Visitor Information Centre in Cambridge closed, you can only get it on Amazon now – or in the half-timbered Tourist Info Centre by Saffron Walden’s market. I wrote in the introduction back in 2015 about this area’s sights: “windmills and watermills, landscaped gardens and wild woodland, fields of poppies or glades of snowdrops.” So often, as the old Joni Mitchell song goes: “you don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone”. I want to say thank you to everyone campaigning to celebrate and protect these beautiful places.

Anglian Water Phase 3 Consultation coming soon – get involved!

sunset over diggers.

A lot has been going on in the last couple of months but now we have reached a very important stage.

Phase 3 Consultation

Everything Save Honey Hill does is aimed at derailing the application to relocate the plant to Green Belt at Honey Hill. Anglian Water has scheduled the Phase 3 Consultation for mid- to late-February. It will run for 8 weeks and all residents will have the chance to comment. Those comments will go to the Planning Inspectors; it is a real chance to get over to them our objections and, if the application is agreed, to lessen the effects on our communities.

So look out for a leaflet from Save Honey Hill telling you what we consider are the important issues and please do complete the consultation when Anglian Water delivers their leaflets (you will be able to do it online or on their form). They will contact 10,600 properties so there is a good opportunity to make our voices heard.

North East Cambridge Area Action Plan

We have tried to influence decisions on plans for North East Cambridge because that is the reason Anglian Water and Councils want the plant to move. We have attended meetings at SCDC and Cambridge City Council, written letters to councillors, Government ministers and MPs, been quoted in local newspapers and generally made a nuisance of ourselves. We think the decision by both councils to approve the proposals for NECAAP is premature; there won’t be a public consultation on it until after the Planning Inspector has decided on the sewage works relocation.

Engagement with Anglian Water

We are also in discussion with Anglian Water at their Community Working Group meetings alongside representatives of the four Parish Councils. Although our aim is to stop the relocation completely, we want to influence the best design if it happens. This includes odour control, screening and maintenance of the trees used, size and location of the stacks, carbon footprint, light pollution and impact on the villages. One of the main concerns is the site access. Option 3 is our preferred access for both permanent and construction traffic as a dedicated service road from the layby on the northern carriageway of the A14 between Junctions 34 and 35 will have less impact on traffic flow and the pedestrian and cycle path on Horningsea Road and less risk to children going to school. If Option 1, Junction of A14 with Horningsea Road, is chosen, then Option 1B is preferable as being less disruptive to traffic and hopefully less likely to encourage HGVs to use the village roads of Fen Ditton and Horningsea.

Next steps

Everyone can help by completing the Consultation when Anglian Water publishes it. State your objections and let Anglian Water and the Planning Inspector know what you think must happen to make the plant less of a huge industrial blot on our landscape.

Our website (and this blog post) will be updated with direct links to the consultation when it is publishes.

Protect the Green Belt: our latest banners highlighting the huge carbon footprint of demolishing a working sewage plant to build a new one less than a mile away.

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Greater Cambridge Shared Planning (GCP) are currently running a public consultation on the First Proposals: Local Plan that why published in September. The consultation ends 13th December.

Whereas this plan is being publicised as being very green there is no mention in the Local Plan that development at North East Cambridge is dependent on moving the sewage works to Green Belt at Honey Hill just outside Horningsea and Fen Ditton.

Save Honey Hill believes that producing a Local Plan without mention of the relocation of a major infrastructure project to Green Belt is disingenuous and lacking transparency.

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Save Honey Hill Gazebo days!

The Save Honey Hill Group ran a series of gazebo events from the end of July through August in line with the CWWTPR Phase 2 Consultation period. The photos showed why we call them gazebo events…! Luckily it was generally sun and not rain we needed protection from!

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The objective of the events was to give our campaign a face and provide a link to the wider general public to inform and educate as many as possible about the consultation period which focussed on mitigation. The opportunity was also taken to highlight and discuss the wider issues of why the sewage works should not be relocated to Honey Hill (NECAAP issues, use of Green Belt, no operational need to move etc.).

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It has been generally agreed within the group that footfall did not see the levels experienced by similar events undertaken during the Phase One Consultation period in 2020 but nonetheless they were deemed a worthwhile exercise and group members manning the events were very encouraged by the resounding positivity and support received from the public. Holding such events during the pandemic was a tricky decision, but we made sure precautions were taken at all stages. There was a very small minority of people who stated their belief that the relocation was a good thing and that Honey Hill was the best place for the sewage works to end up. Interestingly, on the two instances I experienced this reaction, both individuals made their comments while passing through and neither were prepared to stop and discuss their rationale.

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We switched things up this year by trying a couple of different locations for the events eg. The Quy Fen layby and Teversham. Scotsdales in Horningsea were extremely accommodating for one of the events and permitted us our full gazebo set up – we are very grateful to them for their continued support.
Thank you to all those who helped with the events. Everybody put such a huge amount of effort into the organisation and making the gazebos well stocked with information and extremely eye-catching.

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Five reasons why Honey Hill should be preserved…

Here are five reasons why Honey Hill should not be desecrated with concrete and 26m high digester towers1.

These wonderful photos taken by two Horningsea Residents show the deer that roam and live here. Honey Hill is very accessible and thus a valuable green open space for the residents of Horningsea, Fen Ditton, Quy, Teversham and the city of Cambridge. However, people can drive further. Where will these lovely animals live when the green space is surrounded by fences and covered in concrete?

JamesCrosby April 5 2021
James Crosby
PeterHalford April 5 2021
Peter Halford
  1. Anglian Water’s Stage 3 Report, section 2.3.83 []