This submission is from 30 villagers of Babraham. We would like this document to be regarded as 26 individual submissions. The list of signatory names and addresses are found on an accompanying document "signatories".

We believe that the BRC submission needs to be placed in context of other sites brought forward and listed in Appendix 4: proformas for all HELAA sites (Part A) including: 51604; 51604a; 40297; and 40509. All sites together surround Babraham village. We do not feel that this process adequately explains the risk to our village as demonstrated by earlier accepted developments in our Parish including the GCP Babraham P&R and automated bus route; the soon to be completed Hawthorns; and S/RSC/H1 (c).

These individual sites taken both individually and together will have a significant adverse impact on Babraham village character, its surrounding environment, local wildlife habitat and historic interest. Specifically, these submissions, if accepted, will:
1. Amalgamate the villages of Sawston and Babraham to create a ribbon of housing stretching from Trumpington village, through the Shelfords and Stapleford. The new proposed housing would extend out to the A11 and A1307 to connect with the proposed Babraham P&R, Granta Park, Abbington and Pampisford.
2. Increase the current housing stock of a village regarded by Greater Cambridge Partnership as suitable for “infill only” by 2650% from 130 houses to 3710 houses.
3. The most recent Housing Needs Assessment (November 2021) advises that Babraham village should accommodate 10 additional houses over the next 10 years. The proposals far exceed this advice.
4. Take no account of the historic importance of Babraham village, its link to farming through the Bennet and Adeane family who built Babraham Hall and also introduced numerous agricultural innovations leading to a rich farming heritage. Their insight and commitment to the village over the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries created the unspoilt parkland setting surrounding Babraham Hall and the unobstructed open farming landscape in which they sit.
5. Build on land once farmed by Jonas Webb, who first created the Babraham enclosures and then became a world renowned farmer in the Parish of Babraham. He pioneered early animal husbandry winning all major farming prizes. A Grade 2 listed statue commemorating his life stood for over a Century in the Cambridge Corn Exchange before being relocated to the centre of Babraham village.
6. Build on the few open landscape windows within the linear settlement, not least an ancient water meadow running alongside the River Granta to the South East.
7. Destroy important wildlife habitats in the form of river systems, riverine habitat corridors, floodplain grasslands and ancient water meadows.
8. Build around and adversely affect the setting of the 13 Grade 1, 2* and 2 listed buildings within the village and wider Parish.
9. Surround Babraham Hall’s historic open parkland setting on all sides with new housing and laboratories, destroying the open, rural landscape character entirely.
10. Take no account of the numerous and important archeological findings including Anglo Saxon settlements and graves only recently identified during exploratory digs in preparation for the Greater Cambridge Partnership guided bus route between Babraham and Sawston.
11. Place a considerable number of houses and research facilities on and close to floodplains stretching along the River Granta.
12. Put overwhelming pressure on the already overburdened river Granta in the form of additional water abstraction requirements, and damage the ecological balance of Cambridges chalk streams and associated habitats.
13. Place unsustainable and excessive pressure on limited village amenities, dominate a small historic village and infrastructure designed for only 130 houses.
14. Add to what has already been a large programme of building over the last 5 years within Babraham Parish including:
a. 120 house Hawthorns development near completion to the North of Sawston Road
b. Doubling in size of the Babraham Research Institute between the A1307 and River Granta.
c. 260 houses over 12 hectares of Green Belt to the South of Sawston Road planned for completion in 2020-2041.

Accompanying documents include a list of signatories and an overview of Babraham and what the villagers of Babraham hold dear.