Right under our noses, a crime against our environment is taking place. Anglian Water is applying to move a fully-functioning sewage works less than a mile to a new location on arable farmland in the Green Belt at Honey Hill between the villages of Fen Ditton, Horningsea and Quy. This private water company is being funded by £227 million of public money1.
Save Honey Hill is a community group formed to reject the proposal to relocate the Cambridge sewage treatment works from Milton to Honey Hill, a beautiful unspoilt, quality green field and arable site and an entry point to Wicken Fen. Honey Hill is in Green Belt land which forms part of an essential green lung around Cambridge.
Update – Deadline 3 – 18th December.
The most recent deadline in the Planning Inspectorate’s timetable for Anglian Water’s Development Consent Order application was the 18th December. The Inspectors asked more questions and Anglian Water, the Councils and other organisations responded to comments made.
We replied to amendments which SCDC and City Council had made to their Local Impact Reports (LIR), comments by Anglian Water and the two Councils on Save Honey Hill Written Representation and Anglian Water’s comments on the LIRs.
Update – Deadline 2 – 6th December.
Save Honey Hill met the second deadline on Wednesday. We submitted comments on the City, District and County councils’ Local Impact Reports, the three Councils’ responses to Inspectors’ questions, Anglian Water’s replies to the Inspectors’ questions, comments on Natural England and the Environment Agency’s responses to the Inspectors and their Written Representations. Our barrister reviewed some of the documents but most were on our knowledge of the local area and what it would mean for residents.
Update – 26th October 2023 – Hearings at the Hilton.
Preliminary meetings were held last week at the Hilton Hotel in Cambridge. Spanning across two days, the meetings are now available as video recordings on the National Infrastructure Planning website. We’ve also put together a summary of the recordings.
Since the meetings, the Planning Inspectors have published their timetable (Rule Letter 8) in which it sets out details of future hearings and deadlines. You can also see here the Examining Authority’s written questions and requests for information (ExQ1) which is comprehensive to say the least at 132 pages.
Read more about the DCO process and the submissions that your kind donations allow Save Honey Hill to contribute.
- HIF Award of £227 to unlock 9000 homes – Chancellors Autumn 2020 Statement/Spending Review p38 [↩]