Cambridgeshire County Council is delivering a leaflet to 83000 homes within an eight mile radius of the Hanley Grange site strongly critical of the Hanley Grange proposal. The leaflet calls on residents to make their feelings known to the Department for Communities and Local Government.

The call to arms is signed by the leaders of Cambridgeshire County Council, South Cambridgeshire District Council, Cambridge City Council and the Chairman of Cambridgeshire Horizons, the not-for-profit company charged with delivering the existing programme of 42,500 new homes.

Ickleton Parish Council mounted an all-day exhibition on Saturday 17th May to show what is known of the Hanley Grange proposal. It included photographs and a foretaste of a leaflet which will be delivered throughout participating villages.

200 visitors went along to see the exhibition and the Parish Council raised £130 for the fighting fund. More is needed.

Visit http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/7398076.stm to read the full story. The text of the article is below:

Hanley Grange - a step too far?

This week we were told that yet more houses are to be built in this region.

The East was already due to take 478,000 new homes by 2021, now that figure has increased to 508,000.

The government says it will mean more affordable housing and jobs but opponents say there is not enough transport, public services or even water.

In April 2008 four sites in the East were named in a shortlist of 15 for possible new eco towns - more than in any other region.

The four are in Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Norfolk and Essex.   The list will eventually be whittled down to ten.  If they get the go ahead, it could mean another 35,000 homes being built in the region.

Eco town development

Tim Stone has been a councillor on Cambridgeshire County Council since 2005 and represents the Duxford area, which includes the proposed Hanley Grange eco town development.  Eight thousand homes could be built there on land adjacent to the A11.  The developers say it is designed to improve the severe lack of housing in and around Cambridge. The scheme could include 3,000 affordable homes.

Green and pleasant land?

But Councillor Stone disagrees.  He has set up a "Stop Hanley Grange" campaign.  He said, "This is not a case of nimbyism. It is quite clear Cambridgeshire has accepted thousands of new homes already.   "This is a case of wrong plans in the wrong location. This development does not meet the criteria for eco-towns and would be an environmentally unfriendly blot on the landscape."   Here's Tim Stone's argument against Hanley Grange:

"We need more houses to meet demand in the southern part of Cambridgeshire. Particularly we need affordable houses and houses built to higher environmental standards.

"So why stop an eco-town at Hanley Grange?"

Fierce opponent - Councillor Stone

The East of England Plan, just published, commits South Cambridgeshire to building 23,000 houses by 2021.   The City of Cambridge makes a similar commitment for 19,300 houses. Neither commitment includes eco-towns. This is one of the largest building programmes in the country.  Imposition of a requirement to build an eco-town on top of these commitments is ill-conceived and is a slap in the face for all those who have carefully created the existing plans. What's more there is no clarity as to what an eco-town is, except that houses will be carbon neutral. All houses built from 2016 will have to be carbon neutral in any case.

We shall only have a planning paper from government at the end of the year, which will override existing planning rules.  By that time planning applications may already be submitted. This is no way to run a planning system.  Now that government has agreed the East of England Plan (Regional Spatial Strategy), a review of the numbers can take place to take us on another ten years to 2031.   The eco-town argument can then be incorporated into the review.

And how did Hanley Grange get short-listed as a candidate from the 57 original proposals?

A request under the Freedom of Information Act may shed some light on this murky process.

A single government-appointed inspector could override local planners if they decided to reject an application.

A wolf re-born in eco sheep's clothing?

The Regional Spatial Strategy and Local Development Framework propose one new town for South Cambridgeshire, at Northstowe. The claims of Hanley Grange have already been rejected.

Now the Hanley Grange wolf is re-born in eco-sheep's clothing. It remains a rejected proposal, whatever label is attached to it.

The promoter will seek to demonstrate that there are many jobs in the area. There are. But the proposed 8,000 houses would mean about 12,000 more people seeking work.

Hixton housing - local opposition

There is nothing like the demand for that number and a very large proportion of the residents would have to commute - potentially to London, Cambridge or Stansted, which is hardly an eco solution.

What is more, the majority of the existing population in the dozen villages around the site does not work there. They commute in a spiders' web of directions.

So the need for a concentration of houses getting on for the size of Saffron Walden is far from proved.

Why not?

There are plenty of other reasons why Hanley Grange is a bad idea:

Planners are already over-stretched with the existing massive house building commitments. Another new town the size of Hanley Grange would bring them to breaking point.

Hanley Grange would produce an almost continuous built up area from Cambridge to the Essex border.

Green lung or green field development opportunity?

The site is on a sensitive water catchment area. Building on it could have grave repercussions.

Building on this scale would encourage, not diminish, commuting.   Transport infrastructure can't cope. Already the A505 and the M11 are severely congested at peak hours. The Citi7 bus service through Sawston is plagued by delays. It's standing room only for some trains to London.

Government has already designated Northstowe as a prototype eco-town. You don't build a prototype and a production model at the same time.

With the housing crisis and with both being built together it would be quite possible that neither Northstowe nor Hanley Grange could be populated fast enough for them to become more than ghost towns.

A new town at Hanley Grange, with all its commercial outlets, would have a serious negative impact on Sawston's High Street and the remaining shops in local villages.

Government says eco-towns should enhance the local environment. How can taking 500 hectares of Grade 2 farming land enhance the environment?"

The Stop Hanley Grange website explains how to write to the Department for Communities and Local Government and also includes a petition, as does the Downing Street website.

The eco town debate looks set to become ever more hotly debated over the coming months as supporters and opponents line up to make their cases.

If you have a view on eco town developments, send your comments to the Politics Show website and TV team.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/7398076.stm 

The Politics Show East

The Politics Show with Jon Sopel and Etholle George on Sunday 18 May 2008 at 1200 BST on BBC One.

Cambridgeshire County Council Press Release Against Hanley Grange Development.

Tesco Village.

Sunday Times article 18th May 2008.