The meeting on the 26th was conducted online. It was well-attended, though not all those named below were active participants – some were present as observers. For the sake of brevity, the account of the meeting below is a summary of the points made. Where helpful, comments are attributed to an individual. Most of the contributions by SCDC were made by Stephen Kelly.
Attendees at the meeting
LEGG:
Alex Riley
Annmaria Brash-Hall (Longstanton Parish Councillor)
Andy Wycherley (Longstanton Parish Councillor)
Steve Smith
Debbie Poyser
SCDC:
Stephen Kelly (Head of Planning)
Liz Watts (Chief Executive)
Mike Huntingdon (Planning)
Luke Mills
Councillors:
Tom Bygott (District Councillor for Longstanton)
Natalie Warren Green (District Councillor for Longstanton)
Paul Littlemore (Northstowe Deputy Mayor and Northstowe Town Councillor)
Firouz Thompson (County Councillor for Longstanton)
Bill Handley (Cabinet Member for Communities)
Homes England:
Matt Brown
Emma Brown
Maddie Davis (Arcadis)
Observing:
Russ Smith (Cambridge Angling Club)
After LEGG’s opening statement was read, Debbie Poyser clarified the aims of the meeting as follows:
No-one disputes that something has gone wrong. SCDC accepts this, as did every candidate in the recent by-election. We now need the next phase of research into what’s gone wrong, specifically:
- We need the CCTV survey to be finished and the results made known.
- We need ionic continuity testing so we can check whether our groundwater is getting into the Northstowe drainage system.
- We need a detailed hydrology survey as a follow-up to the HR Wallingford one, which was intended to be introductory.
- We would like the data from the monitoring that is supposed to have been taking place to be made available
- We need regular monthly face-to-face meetings to check on progress.
Who owns the problem?
Early in the discussion, it became apparent that the question of where ownership and responsibility lie is far from clear-cut. Numerous organisations have been party to the development of Northstowe phase 1:
- Gallaghers (the original developers)
- L&Q (the current developers). They own the Kingfisher Pond.
- SCDC (the Local Planning Authority)
- Longstanton Parish Council – Northstowe was part of Longstanton Parish until it reached sufficient size to have its own Town Council.
- HR Wallingford, a private firm of hydrologists who produced a report mainly on the Kingfisher Pond, commissioned by LPC and paid for by SCDC.
- The Environment Agency
- Homes England
- Anglian Water, who own the Northstowe Phase 1 lake.
Stephen Kelly made it clear that SCDC does not have a free hand to act in Northstowe. The site belongs to L&Q and some of the actions LEGG is seeking are within L&Q’s remit, not SCDC’s. According to SK, SCDC does not have the power to compel the developer to reveal information. The CCTV investigation intended to monitor possible leakage of aquifer water into the Northstowe drainage system, is a case in point. It remains incomplete and the results have been only partially shared by L&Q.
Kelly agreed that SCDC were aware of the clear correlation between the dewatering of the Northstowe site and the effects that ensued in Longstanton, but could only “ask the developers to volunteer this information.”
It should perhaps be noted at this point that L&Q were invited to provide a representative at this meeting, but declined to do so. – Editor
Obtaining more data
LEGG suggested that a further hydrological survey would reveal the truth about the connection of the loss of Longstanton’s groundwater with the dewatering on the Northstowe site. This could include ionic continuity testing, which involves adding a traceable chemical marker (such as salt) to a water source, such as the Kingfisher Pond, and tracking it’s movement through the aquifer.
This would establish whether or not water from the Kingfisher Pond, which has an established continuity with our groundwater, is ending up in the Northstowe lakes. If positive, this test would indicate a failure in the way planning was carried out. However, this would require the cooperation of both L&Q, who own the Kingfisher Pond, and Anglian Water, who own the Phase 1 lake. L&Q’s responses to LEGG’s 8 preliminary questions clearly indicate that L&Q does not consider itself responsible for the problem.
Stephen Kelly added that even if further tests were to be sanctioned by all the parties involved and these confirmed leakage from the aquifer into the drainage system, it would not necessarily constitute the breach of planning control that would be necessary to initiate further action.
Annmaria Brash-Hall (LEGG, LPC) suggested that Longstanton was being made into a sacrificial lamb and that everyone was shirking responsibility for the consequences of dewatering. In her opinion it was SCDC’s responsibility to represent the residents of Longstanton and “do something about it”.
Stephen Kelly insisted that in the absence of a proven breach of planning permission, SCDC had no statutory ability to insist on a resolution. Normally, where a dispute exists between one party claiming damages against another for its actions, the legal remedy is through the courts. This might happen if, for example, a resident’s insurance company became involved in court action as a result of damage to an insured property.
He reiterated that SCDC’s procedures had been correct and appropriate and that it has no statutory ability to insist on matters being resolved, because there had been no breach of the planning permission that they could find.
A classic ‘Catch 22’. It seems that action cannot be taken to discover further evidence because parties involved cannot be compelled to cooperate unless the evidence already exists. – Editor
Positive outcomes
Tom Bygott (District Councillor, Longstanton) called attention back to the aims originally stated by Debbie Poyser. Which of these could be progressed following this meeting?
- Stephen Kelly was prepared to sound out HR Wallingford about what might be achieved by a second survey, though SCDC are very cautious, given that the previous survey gave rise to so much bad feeling and a threatened judicial review. However:
- A second major survey would be difficult to fund unless it could be shown that there had been a breach of planning permission.
- SCDC will put more pressure on L&Q to complete and publish the results of the CCTV survey.
- The possibility of undertaking ionic testing should be investigated.
- SCDC was happy to agree to further meetings.
LEGG takes these as positive outcomes from this meeting but they must be actively and promptly pursued, in particular by SCDC’s officers.
Homes England
At this point Matt Brown and Maddie Davis of Homes England were asked for their comments. They pointed out that Phase 1 predates their involvement, but they are happy to be involved, to attend meetings and to share any relevant data they develop. They recognise the concern in the community.
Phase 2 has had limited monitoring via boreholes, but for Phase 3A groundwater monitoring is required and that is being extended into Phase 2, including drilling additional strategic boreholes. These will be maintained long-tern and will provide data for better modelling of water level evolution in coming years.
Conclusion
Alex Riley again stressed LEGG’s dismay that nobody is prepared to take responsibility for the damage done to Longstanton.
Stephen Kelly suggested that we had indeed made some progress re. the ionic study and chasing the CCTV survey and the information from Homes England was helpful. Difficulties remain in linking causes and effects. He suggested that if causal effects could not be established, it might be time to investigate remedial measures to at least make good some of the worst damage, such as the deplorable state of the Kingfisher Pond.
Alex responded that one-off measures to ‘fix’ the Kingfisher Pond would satisfy nobody – the KP is just one example of the degraded environment we are having to live with.
Tom Bygott proposed that we compile a list of the data being collected at various points and distribute it to today’s meeting participants so that they know exactly what data is available.
Next meeting
Scheduled for 24th February at 5p.m. in Longstanton. Meeting to be face-to-face.
First page: the start of the story
Previous page: LEGG’s response to SCDC’s answers