Draft Greater Cambridge Local Plan for consultation

Comment

Representation ID: 201777

Received: 25/01/2026

Respondent: Eastern Region Rowing Council

The CamToo Project is a possible synergistic approach to relocating the Cambridge Water Treatment Plant and addressing the need for additional training water for the city’s rowers.

Comment

Representation ID: 205928

Received: 25/01/2026

Respondent: Eastern Region Rowing Council

The CamToo concept is a means of addressing long-standing constraints through the provision of additional safe training water for rowing. At the heart of the proposal is the construction of one or more new river channels connected to the existing River Cam. Addressing the challenges are not straightforward but doing so could create opportunities to deliver wider strategic benefits related to transport connectivity, water infrastructure, flood resilience, climate adaptation and wellbeing.

Comment

Representation ID: 205929

Received: 25/01/2026

Respondent: Eastern Region Rowing Council

Rowing remains a major city-wide activity with a distinctive collegiate and community character. However, growth in participation has been constrained by limited river space, safety considerations and conflicts between different river users. At the same time, questions around the long-term resilience of water treatment infrastructure and flood management have become more prominent. CamToo1 corresponds to the original core site across Stourbridge Common and Ditton Meadows, where a new river channel would run broadly parallel to the existing River Cam. The channel would provide additional dedicated rowing water suitable for daily training, significantly increasing effective river capacity. CamToo2 applies similar principles further north on land bounded by the A14 to the south, the Cambridge–Ely railway line to the west, and the River Cam to the east. The wider channel provides increased operational flexibility and additional water capacity.

Comment

Representation ID: 210713

Received: 25/01/2026

Respondent: Eastern Region Rowing Council

Both the CamToo1 and CamToo2 schemes would increase approximately 50% the length of prime training water accessible downstream from the city boathouses, relieve pressure on one of the most intensively used sporting assets in Cambridge. Beyond rowing, the schemes offer opportunities to:
- support the long-term relocation and modernisation of water treatment infrastructure
- preserve and potentially enable strategic transport connectivity
- enhance landscape quality and public access
- deliver measurable wellbeing benefits
- improve flood resilience and water management.

The question posed is not whether these schemes should proceed as described, but whether the underlying opportunity merits renewed strategic exploration.