This is one a a series of articles published in Longstanton Life between February 2016 and the present, showing just how often dire warnings were issued about the destruction of Longstanton’s groundwater, and just how often they were ignored by those whose duty it was to take timely action.
In a front page article dedicated to the groundwater issue, Longstanton Life reported:
A public meeting will be held at 7pm on Friday, 24 June, at All Saints’ Church in Longstanton to update residents on the latest developments concerning the groundwater collapse affecting Longstanton and Northstowe and the legal action recently launched by concerned residents with the support of Longstanton Parish Council. Since construction work began on Northstowe in 2015, there has been a significant decline in the water levels in the Kingfisher Pond and the other groundwater-fed ponds in Longstanton, and in recent summers, some of the village’s ponds have gone completely dry.
A series of reports published last year by the hydrology consultancy firm HR Wallingford confirmed that the development of Northstowe was responsible for the loss of groundwater in the aquifer and the subsequent collapse in water levels in wells and groundwater-fed ponds in Longstanton and Northstowe.
South Cambridgeshire District Council, which is legally responsible for ensuring that the environmental impacts of the development are mitigated, has acknowledged that groundwater levels in the river terrace deposit aquifer are expected to drop by another 2 to 3 meters below their current levels if Northstowe Phases 3A and 3B are allowed to progress without further mitigation measures being put into place.
However, in order to avoid its legal obligations in regard to the environmental effects of the development of Northstowe on groundwater, the district council decided to exclude effects on groundwater from the Environmental Impact Assessments on the basis that the loss of water from the aquifer, wells, and ponds in Longstanton and Northstowe was “not significant’.
On the basis of its assessment that the impacts on local groundwater were “not significant”, South Cambridgeshire District Council granted planning permission for 4,000 houses at Phase 3A and for 1000 houses at Phase 3B at the end of March.
The Environment Agency has confirmed that apart from the Environmental Impact Assessment process, which was the legal responsibility of South Cambridgeshire District Council, there is no other regulatory process to address the loss of groundwater caused by the development of Northstowe. If local residents want the groundwater impacts of the development of Northstowe addressed, the only remaining option is to challenge the district council’s decision in court.
In late April, a community forum was held at All Saints’ Church to discuss the next steps forward for our village, and the consensus emerging from that discussion was that the district council needed to be challenged in court on its assertion that the impacts on local groundwater were “not significant”.
Thanks to the generous support of local residents who came together to raise over £10,000 in only 4 days’ time, and thanks to Longstanton Parish Council, which generously contributed a further £2,500, legal proceedings challenging the district council’s planning decision were issued in the High Court on 6 May.
Susan Ring of Hodge Jones & Allen and Jenny Wigley QC, both of whom specialise in environmental challenges to planning decisions, have been instructed by Fews Lane Consortium, which is coordinating the legal action on behalf of local residents.
If the legal challenge is successful, the court will quash the district council’s current planning permission for Northstowe Phase 3A, and the district council will have to reconsider the proposal properly in accordance with the relevant environmental regulations.
As the legal action progresses in court, we need to be building a campaign to raise public awareness of this issue and to put pressure on the district council for a better environmental outcome for our village. This will be the subject of the discussion at the meeting to be held at 7pm on Friday, 24 June, at All Saints’ Church. I hope to see you there.
Daniel Fulton – voluntary director of Fews Lane Consortium