Greater Cambridge Local Plan Issues & Options 2020

Friends of Cherry Hinton Brook is a local volunteer group established in 2009 in response to concerns about the general poor state of this chalk stream which runs through the city and provides an important green corridor and open space for those who live, work and commute through a part of Cambridge which is particularly lacking in green space. Its aims are: • Maintaining the appearance of the Brook, for example, by removing litter • Raising public awareness about the importance of the brook for wildlife • Improving the Brook as a home for wildlife • Observing and monitoring the wildlife of the Brook and surrounding area • Working with other organisations with similar interests. For 10 years, we have worked to improve the health and appearance of the brook, for the wildlife that lives there and the inhabitants of Cambridge who benefit from it. Despite our efforts and others involved in its management, this important watercourse come under pressure as a result of the rapid growth of the city. The proposed Greater Cambridge Local Plan must there provide a framework that will ensure the following: 1. Given that further housing and related service developments are being planned, it essential that these should not be allowed if they: • Adversely affect the brook and other tributaries of the River Cam, its sustaining aquifers, land liable to flood, and river-side green spaces. • Adversely affect the chemical or biological condition, or the temperature of these waters. • Adversely affect the city wildlife reserves and other nature reserves, woodland and semi-natural open space. 2. In order to maintain the quality and flow of the Brook and associated waterways, all new developments should have the highest standards of water efficiency to minimise the use of water abstracted from the chalk aquifer, including use of rainwater and greywater recycling, and permeable paving. Large new developments should incorporate sustainable urban drainage systems to help water percolate back into the soil. 3. The plan should map a ‘nature recovery network’ as a framework to guide essential development. This should include the Brook and associated aquatic features and, where appropriate, identify new areas for habitat creation and opportunities for linking them together. 4. New habitats must be created in places that help enhance and create the nature recovery network; consideration must be given to the opening the lakes adjacent to the brook, recognising the need for more access to open space. However, it is essential that the ecology, wildlife and ecosystem services provided by the lakes are protected at the same time, which will mean taking a balanced approach to access and management. 5. The green corridor that links Cherry Hinton Chalk Pits, through Giants Grave, Cherry Hinton Hall, Snakey Path and Cherry Hinton Brook (with the adjacent lakes), Coldhams Brook, to the Cam is sustained in perpetuity, with appropriate mechanisms in place to ensure protection of the wildlife as weel as sustainable public access and use 6. The necessary research, policy, legislation and mechanisms must be put in place to ensure that water abstraction from the chalk aquifer is sustainable, given the climate change emergency and immediate threat that this is posing to water sources in the Greater Cambridge area.

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Summary of Comments: I am attaching the comments of Friends of Cherry Hinton Brook to the consultation as requested, using the form provided. However, the box for the Summary would not accept our 100 word summary (we tried many times). I am therefore copying them into this e-mail and would be grateful if you could ensure that they are submitted: • Unsustainable growth (especially housing and related services) that affects the quality and health of the Greater Cambridge chalk streams must be halted • New developments should have the highest standards of water and drainage efficiency • A nature recovery network should be developed that includes the watercourses • Habitat restoration is essential; the lakes if managed appropriately could provide a new open space where nature is managed and protected • The Green Corridor from Cherry Hinton Chalk Pits to the River Cam, along Cherry Hinton and Coldhams Brooks, must be protected. • Solutions must be found to the problem of over-use and abstraction of water.

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