Draft Greater Cambridge Local Plan for consultation

Comment

Representation ID: 211196

Received: 30/01/2026

Respondent: Environment Agency

Section 4.12 (WCS) – Wastewater Infrastructure Upgrades: We are pleased that Anglian Waters DWMP, published in 2023, has been consulted. However, given that this document was produced prior to the change in Government growth priorities for the region, the risk
assessments and strategy proposals within that DWMP may no longer be correct. We do note that section 4.14.8. of the WCS mentions the new, emerging DWMP and we
encourage GCSP to continue to work with Anglian Water as discussed. Following the publication of the next iteration of the DWMP (due 2028) it will be appropriate to review and update the WCS where necessary.

Comment

Representation ID: 211197

Received: 30/01/2026

Respondent: Environment Agency

Section 4.13.5 and 4.14.16 (WCS) – effluent re-use: Whilst there is merit in exploring the possibility of treated effluent for other purposes, there are currently regulatory mechanisms that must be complied with, including under waste legislation. This may pose additional costs that would need to be considered and their impacts on developers and/or end users.

Comment

Representation ID: 211199

Received: 30/01/2026

Respondent: Environment Agency

Section 4.14.4 (WCS) – Load standstill summary: This paragraph states that the majority of the new revised determinants’’ permits are above the relevant TAL, with some exceptions. Table’s 4.15 and 4.16 appears to show
that 17 or 18 sites (depending on development scenario) will require below TAL limits for Phosphorous when growth is applied. There may be implications for growth in
locations where WWTWs are not able to meet tighter standards. We also note Huntingdon WWTW appears in Table 4.16, is this an error?

Comment

Representation ID: 211202

Received: 30/01/2026

Respondent: Environment Agency

Section 4.14.19 (WCS) – TAL and WINEP: The TAL being applied to the WWTWs in AMP8 is to drive improvements in those waterbodies to try and achieve Moderate or Good WFD Phosphate (P) status. Should those same WWTWs need to increase their DWF, then we will review the permitted P limit with the likely outcome that it will need to be further tightened to maintain the aim of the AMP8 driver. Not all WWTW sites will be able to accommodate a below TAL limit and this may have implications for growth in those catchment areas.

Comment

Representation ID: 211203

Received: 30/01/2026

Respondent: Environment Agency

Section 5.3.19 (WCS) – WINEP summary: It appears that not all obligations for sites have been listed. For completeness, we suggest this section is updated to include all obligations.

Comment

Representation ID: 211204

Received: 30/01/2026

Respondent: Environment Agency

Section 5.8.1 (WCS) - We consider that the statement in this paragraph provides an overly optimistic view of
the impact of development on river water quality. Whilst development can be an investment driver to upgrade WWTW, it will not be the case in all situations. The
reference to the proposed new Cambridge WWTW and ‘ultra-low’ phosphorous permit is dubious given there is no definition of what ‘ultra-low’ means, and investment at this
WWTW may still not be sufficient to achieve phosphorous limits that would improve downstream water quality due to infeasible costs and/or technological constraints. We
are unclear as to why the reference to the proposed new WWTW has been left in this section, given it is stated on Page 2 that the funding for the relocation has been
withdrawn.

Comment

Representation ID: 211205

Received: 30/01/2026

Respondent: Environment Agency

Feedback on Water Supply Evidence: 4.2.3 Meeting local demand & Figure 4-5: Whilst we are pleased to see that this has been updated with the No/Low deterioration
risk level of water available for use (WAFU) the significance of this doesn’t appear to be report. The main report conclusions look to still be based on the full
WRMP level of WAFU when concluding that there’s sufficient water up to 2040. We recommend that the GCSP consider what further measures it can put in place to ensure that the most ambitious water supply and efficiency targets are met. In accordance with the Shared Standard, these can include stipulating how policy requirements will be met through a Water Efficient Design Statement at the earliest stage. 3). Recommend tracking through AMR to demonstrate how developments continue to comply with the policy over the duration of the plan.

Comment

Representation ID: 211206

Received: 30/01/2026

Respondent: Environment Agency

Water supply evidence: 4.2.2/ 4.2.3 Non-household growth: It is unclear whether the report has considered that all non household allocation is available for GCSP, or whether it has considered the apportionment to Huntingdon District Council (HDC). As the report has not been able to incorporate the latest developments for HDC, we strongly recommend that GCSP commit to furthering these conversations to determine whether its planned growth can be sustainably accommodated within AMP8 (2025-2030) and what actions GCSP can take for the
duration of its proposed plan. We suggest that this part of the service industries be explicitly considered by the local plan and that any available forecasts from Cambridge Water Company (CWC), or any other partners, be reviewed by GCSP.

Comment

Representation ID: 211207

Received: 30/01/2026

Respondent: Environment Agency

Water Supply Evidence: 5.5 Future for non-household demand We would like to highlight the need for GCSP to incorporate a policy which addresses the potential high water demand new data centres can introduce for the duration of its plan. We are seeing other water companies developing policy which includes declining applications for data centres that do not incorporate a closed loop systems for water cooling. This is a developing topic, and we would strongly encourage a statement within policy CC/WE which will address data centres’ water efficiency, and that stipulates that water for cooling should not come from nonpotable sources and applications will be resisted where alternative cooling methods can be applied.