The site at Station Road is a hay meadow and is not intensively farmed, unlike most of the surrounding farmland. Consequently it supports a diverse range of wildlife which is not found elsewhere nearby. With around 97% of meadows lost since the 1930s, this site is clearly a rare and threatened habitat in need of protection.
Grasslands are also effective carbon sinks, and disturbing them can quickly release large quantities of sequestered carbon. Consequently the development of this site for housing would be both inconsistent with the environmental aims of the local plan (especially policies CC/CS and BG/BG), and directly at odds with the actions required following the declarations of a climate emergency by the district and county councils. For these reasons, we believe the development of this Greenbelt site would be unjustifiable.

Although the public transport links to the site are good, they will be no better than those in Northstowe. The 20 homes proposed at this site are just 0.2% of the intended total of Northstowe, the boundary of which comes within 50m of the site. An insignificant increase in the housing density of Northstowe would provide the same number of homes, without the additional environmental impact. Indeed, the same number of additional homes in Northstowe would perhaps result in fewer car journeys due to the more circuitous road route into Cambridge.

Whilst the proposals recognise the need to improve pedestrian links to the Busway, they do not consider the need for high-quality, off-road cycle access between Mill Road and the Busway. Station Road and Mill Road are important cycle links between the Busway and Oakington/Longstanton, but Station Road is relatively narrow, with poor visibility. The proposed development would necessitate an additional junction on this important link, which would materially increase the risk and reduce the desirability of cycle journeys along Station Road. Without mitigation, there is a real risk that attempting to increase the number of journeys by public transport by developing this site could result in a greater reduction in active travel journeys in the area.

In summary, we do not believe the claimed benefits of developing the Station Road site outweigh the environmental harm, especially given the possibility of achieving the same housing benefit at Northstowe. Furthermore, we believe there is a real risk that the unintended consequences of developing this site will directly undermine the stated environmental objectives of the local plan.