Response to Local Plan objectives

The East West Rail element of the OxCam Arc proposals will obliterate most objectives of the Greater Cambridgeshire Local Plan for this part of South Cambridgeshire.

The Eversdens are in the western gateway of the Local Plan where “Green infrastructure is the network of green spaces and routes, landscapes, biodiversity, water bodies and heritage, which provide a range of benefits for people, wildlife and the planet.” (Policy BG/GI: Green infrastructure)

East West Rail's current proposed route is wholly contrary to Policy BG/GI. The proposed rail route will have a huge, adverse environmental impact for our villages and will bring a big decrease in the quality of everyday life for all our communities. The railway will create a green ghetto, 17km of embankments, 10 metres high in places in a wall from Cambourne to Shelford through bio-diverse and beautiful greenbelt and will permanently destroy habitats for life, both human and wild.

You state that “The ambition for the Arc is to build a better economic, social and environmental future for the area. There is an opportunity to make the Arc an even more beautiful place to live, work and visit, by making high-quality, well-connected and sustainable communities.”

This is manifestly not the case for the 14,000 residents in the new green ghetto that the proposed railway line creates between Cambourne and Shelford.

Additionally, the Eversdens are located in a 10 square mile area to which the Local Plan, the County Council and the GCP have turned their backs, in relation to local infrastructure. The Eversdens is in desperate need of a cycle path to Comberton to create a better social and environmental future for our area.

Our area is being sacrificed to provide connectivity for the Arc but will receive no benefit and has been airbrushed out of the Local Plan.


[for and on behalf of the Little & Great Eversden Parish Councils]