[Members] River Cam March cancelled ; Cambridge South; a new Cambridge town; Ofwat Meeting minutes; Save our River March; Silver St Public Toilets; South Cambs JDR challenges; Cow Trail; East-West Rail plans

[Wendy Blythe]

Dear all,

*Update 12 March, 2020*


Follow up:

We have just been told that the Save our Rivers March for the River Cam
scheduled for tomorrow (Friday, 13 March) has been cancelled in the light
of the government moving towards the delay phase to try to limit the spread
of the Coronavirus. It was felt that the River Cam and water crisis are
such an important topic that it would be better to wait until it is safer
to gather in large numbers and postpone the march until then.



*Budget Announcement-OxCam Arc *

Cambridge South Station gets the go ahead; Development Corporation plans
for 4 new towns, including a new town at Cambridge. See links below.

https://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/developers-lobby-for-fast-track-planning-in-oxford-cambridge-arc

Link to the Treasury Budget report.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2020-documents/budget-2020#contents

*“2.20 The OxCam Arc*

The government has designated the corridor of land connecting Oxford,
Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge (the OxCam Arc) as a key economic
priority. Earlier this year, the government announced the East West Rail
Company’s preferred route for the new line between Bedford and Cambridge.
The government will also, subject to planning consents, build a new rail
station at Cambridge South, improving connectivity to the world-leading
research facilities of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus – the largest
cluster of medical and life sciences research in Europe.

The Budget announces plans to develop, with local partners, a long-term
Spatial Framework to support strategic planning in the OxCam Arc. This will
support the area’s future economic success and the delivery of the new
homes required by this growth up to 2050 and beyond. The government is also
going to examine and develop the case for up to four new Development
Corporations in the OxCam Arc at Bedford, St Neots/Sandy, Cambourne and
Cambridge, which includes plans to explore the case for a New Town at
Cambridge, to accelerate new housing and infrastructure development”

*Water Resources Meeting with Ofwat 30 Jan 2020, Christ's College *

The meeting was convened by Peter Landshoff, Cambridge Ahead Regional
Policy group, who has also set up the Natural Environment Planning and
Policy Group for Natural Cambridgeshire.

https://www.cambridgeahead.co.uk/our-projects/regional-economic-planning/

The only minutes made available of the meeting were redacted. Full minutes
of the meeting were only made available following a request by a customer
to the Environment Agency Drought Project Manager for the East Anglia Area.
He has made the minutes available to the public via a FOI request. See link
below.

https://www.fecra.org.uk/docs/water_resources_30.1.20.pdf

*Save Our Rivers March-River Cam and the chalk streams*

On page 2 of their July 2019 Consultation ( link below) Defra state "The
Water Industry National Environment Programme estimates that water company
abstraction volumes need to be cut by over 700 million litres per day
(Ml/d) to address environmental problems.” See link.

https://consult.defra.gov.uk/water/measures-to-reduce-personal-water-use/supporting_documents/Consultation
on reducing personal water use FINAL.pdf
<https://consult.defra.gov.uk/water/measures-to-reduce-personal-water-use/supporting_documents/Consultation%20on%20reducing%20personal%20water%20use%20FINAL.pdf>



Many of you are asking how much of that reduction applies to the Cam? *What
is the figure **water company abstraction volumes need to be cut by **in
order to save our chalk streams? *

Cambridge school children say “Just like climate change, we cannot simply
rely on the actions of individuals to save our river, we need real
leadership from our councils and water companies”.

They are marching tomorrow, Friday 13 March, to demand a better future for
the River Cam and the chalk streams.

The march starts at 9.45 at Shire Hall. At 10.15 the school children will
march through the city, down Trinity St along St Mary’s St and up Sidney St
arriving at Bridge Street quayside by 11.00. I have been invited to speak
along with Rob Mungovan of the Wild Trout Trust and Stephen Tomkins, Chair
of Cam Valley Forum. Terry Macalister, former Energy Editor of the
*Guardian*, “The river is a voiceless victim of regulatory neglect and
mindless exploitation by profit-driven firms. It needs our help”.

More info: https://www.cambschoolsecocouncil.uk/

*Silver Street public toilets 19/1167/FUL and 19/1350/LBC *

At the Planning Committee last week councillors voted to defer plans for a
new disabled loo above ground and renovation of those below ground.

While no-one disagrees that a refurbishment is certainly needed, the
objections, including from FeCRA, see link
https://www.fecra.org.uk/docs/Silver%20St%20toilets%20letter.pd focussed
on the failure to conserve water using the latest technology, a design
which compromises the willow trees and which disability groups say does not
meet their needs, and the inclusion of a new kiosk which raises concerns
about safety in this very congested area next to a pedestrian crossing.

These issues should have been considered from the start of the project, but
there has been no public consultation since the location of the new toilets
was agreed in 2016.

We hope that the City Council will now withdraw these proposals and consult
fully to ensure that the plans meet the highest environmental standards and
provide properly for people with a disability.


*South Cambs District Council facing judicial review *

Fews Lane Consortium, a South Cambridgeshire community action group that
advocates sustainable development within the district’s villages and
promotes the principles of transparency and democratic accountability claim
that the council has been having secret, unannounced meetings, from which
no agenda or minutes are ever published, in violation of the Local
Government Act 1972. They also say insufficient oversight by elected
councillors has resulted in officers routinely issuing planning decisions
completely at odds with the council’s stated position on climate change and
water consumption. Greater Cambridge Planning Service is shared between
Cambridge City Council and South Cambs.

https://www.elystandard.co.uk/news/south-cambridge-council-third-judicial-review-1-6541517

*https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/local-news/cambridgeshire-council-completely-ignoring-law-17628964?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar*
<https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/local-news/cambridgeshire-council-completely-ignoring-law-17628964?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar>

*Cows about Cambridge*

Delivery of the plastic cow art trail round Cambridge has been delayed for
the time being as a ‘precautionary measure to help minimise the spread of
Coronvirus’. See link.

https://cowsaboutcambridge.co.uk/

*East-West Rail plans on show in Cambridge*

March 20 Ross St Community Centre CB1 3UZ, 2.30-6pm

March 30 Webb Library CB5 8B5, 11.30-5pm

*Cambridge Independent* article, link below

https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/news/east-west-rail-plans-go-on-show-at-series-of-community-events-9099966/

Best wishes,

Wendy



Wendy Blythe
Chair, FeCRA

www.fecra.org.uk
www.facebook.com/CambridgeRAs
www.twitter.com/fecra2
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