South Cambs District Council today (28th July 2022) published a statement in response to growing concern among residents. The gist of the statement seems to be:
- At the time Phase 1 was planned, removal of water did not require consent of the Environment Agency. This has since changed.
- Permanent reduction of water levels was neither expected, nor an objective of the planning process. Instead, the focus was on flood prevention.
- The drainage details for the site are not significantly different from those approved. i.e. the developers have not diverged from the approved plans.
- Groundwater developments are now being more fully considered.
- L&G Estates deny that the state of the Kingfisher Pond is connected to the development of Northstowe. There may, however, be unanticipated movement of water away from the area of the pond.
- SCDC will continue to monitor the Kingfisher Pond. If necessary, remedial measures mentioned in the Wallingford report will be considered. Climate changes make it more difficult to draw conclusions from the observations, however.
You can read the statement on the SCDC website or use this pdf version.