Fews Lane Consortium
@FewsLane
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Sustainable development. Democratic accountability. South Cambridgeshire. England.
Longstanton, Cambridgeshire
Joined September 2019
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Fews Lane Consortium. Seeking justice for Cambridgeshire communities. Since 2018.
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THREAD.
This is Clive.
Clive grows fruit, vegetables, and flowers for local markets.
This is Clive’s farm.
Clive has lived here his whole life.
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7K
11K
9. Legal action is also underway against the planning authority and developer responsible for this wrongdoing.
The High Court has granted local residents permission for judicial review, but they need help to fund legal representation.
Can you help?
END.
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8. Local people need help from national journalists to tell their village’s story.
And they need help from major environmental groups and organisations like
@CPRE
,
@NFUtweets
, and
@FFC_Commission
.
Clive grows fruit, vegetables, and flowers for local markets.
The development of Northstowe has drained the groundwater he uses to water his crops and killed 30 silver birch trees on his farm.
Please help us hold
@SouthCambs
to account.
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7. No one will explain why developers have been allowed to take the water that feeds Clive’s well.
On Friday, people from Clive’s village held a public meeting at the parish church, inviting local officials.
But no local officials bothered to turn up.
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2. Developers want to turn Clive’s farm into part of a new town called Northstowe.
They want Clive to sell them his farm so they can make money by building houses.
But Clive doesn’t want to sell them his farm.
Clive likes being a farmer.
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4. To get rid of the groundwater that fills Clive’s well and that Clive uses to grow fruit, vegetables, and flowers, developers installed at least 800 underground well points and pumped the groundwater out of the ground near Clive’s farm.
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3. Clive has a well on his farm.
Clive has a legally protected right to abstract water from the well to grow fruit, vegetables, and flowers.
To stay on his farm, Clive needs enough water in his well to grow these crops.
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5. Clive’s well now runs dry.
The ponds in the village near Clive’s farm all dried up.
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6. Without any water, 30 silver birch trees on Clive’s farm died.
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@RhysGoddard
To the best of our knowledge, no application for an abstraction licence or permit was ever made by any of the developers.
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Clive grows fruit, vegetables, and flowers for local markets.
The development of Northstowe has drained the groundwater he uses to water his crops and killed 30 silver birch trees on his farm.
Please help us hold
@SouthCambs
to account.
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@FifiDeLyonBliss
@SouthCambs
@SouthCambsCops
@SouthCambs
District Council has refused to investigate these environmental crimes for the past 4 years.
They are beyond culpable and are the defendants in the current High Court litigation.
The executive councillor for planning is
@CouncillorTumi
.
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@DairyContrary73
No.
No one from
@Cambslive
has expressed any interest in covering this story.
@AbigailRabbett
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You can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs.
Anyone who thinks that the water shortage affecting the Cam and its chalk stream tributaries is going to be solved without a no-holds-barred legal and political fight is completely delusional.
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@oldlongdog
As far as we know, no application for a water abstraction licence was ever sought from
@EnvAgencyAnglia
.
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@fayeritchie
The internal drainage boards have been extremely supporting of our campaign and have very serious concerns about the impacts of the development on flooding and local agriculture.
It's great to have them on side.
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Left: Pedestrian/cycle path immediately next to guided busway. Busway must be closed to protect safety, says
@CambsCC
.
Right: Pedestrian/cycle path immediately next to A10 carriageway. Design is safe and acceptable, says
@CambsCC
.
A section of the Cambridge busway is set to close next week due to safety concerns.
I’ve come to check out what it’s all about.
Read all about it in next Tuesday’s blog.
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There is no objective evidence supporting the need for 57,000 homes.
Where then, you might ask, did this number come from?
The development industry...
which stands to make hundreds of million of pounds building out poor quality developments across Greater Cambridge.
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Safe to say that the
@GreaterCambs
PR department has completely lost control of this narrative.
Environmentalist & TV Presenter
@ChrisGPackham
is backing
@CambridgePPF
campaign “you can’t mitigate for cutting down 100s of trees like this” 🌳🌸🐝🚌❌
@itvanglia
📺
🖊
#SaveCotonOrchard
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404
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Cambridgeshire’s chalk streams are dying—pumped dry to serve out of control development.
And yet
@SouthCambs
ignored its own policy on protecting groundwater to give
@HomesEngland
permission for 4,000 houses.
Judicial review: 29 & 30 Nov @ RCJ in London.
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When almost everyone is completely apathetic about local government, it takes a surprisingly small group of angry people to actually achieve substantial change.
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Bridget Smith, leader of
@SouthCambs
, does not seem to understand that members of the public cannot be treated like naughty schoolchildren and banned from speaking at public forums for arbitrary and capricious reasons.
The district council is not your classroom, Bridget.
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Another "high quality landscaping scheme", "integrating and promoting biodiversity and sustainable drainage", thanks to South Cambridgeshire District Council and the Greater Cambridge Planning Service.
@SouthCambs
@PlanningShit
@walking_boston
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On Friday,
@SouthCambs
will grant planning permission for another 5,000 houses at Northstowe with no plan to address the loss of local groundwater, highlighted here by
@AquiferChalk
.
This development, which constitutes ecocide, is being pushed through by
@SouthCambs
@LibDems
.
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For community activists, it's actually quite demeaning to have to have local elected officials and senior council officers actively belittle you and your organisation.
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THREAD.
@SouthCambs
promised local residents and the Longstanton Parish Council that it would fund an independent investigation into the status of the Longstanton aquifer after the development at Northstowe caused every pond and well in the village to run dry.
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Dear
@SouthCambs
,
No one needs your time-wasting, whitewash "action plan".
What we need is an adequate Environmental Statement for the next 5,000 houses you want to build at Northstowe—one that examines the cumulative environmental impacts.
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Few individuals in recent years have done as much as
@Sam_in_Cam
to help make Cambridge a more fair, decent, and equitable city.
Sam deserves the collective thanks of everyone who cares about the future of Cambridge.
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Wassailing to save Coton Orchard from
@GreaterCambs
destructive concrete busway.
@BonkersBusway
@CotonBusway
@CotonBuzz
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@VanessaBrownCan
@SurreyPolice
If they come to arrest you, which would seem to be unnecessary as they called you first, be sure to ask which of the necessity reasons under section 24(5) of PACE 1984 the officer is using to justify the arrest.
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This is the third month in a row we have sought to criticise the district council at a public meeting and have been refused permission to do so.
This pettiness shows just how much contempt Bridget Smith has for the democratic process and the rule of law.
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No shops or services in Northstowe. Not even a place to get a cup of coffee.
But a brand new heritage centre and another £250k on the way for another one.
No community facilities built. Not one penny for environmental remediation.
Northstowe.
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Fantastic news here.
Mr Hill was arrested for expressing a political opinion on a public street.
Good to see that the CPS has put this farce to an end.
But questions need to be answered about why the unlawful arrest and malicious prosecution happened in the first place.
The
#CPS
have dropped the charges against me! They've reversed the police decision to charge me over my objection to Charles Windsor in
#Oxford
. Many thnaks to everyone who has supported me. I'm now taking legal advice about action against the police.
#NotMyKing
#DefendDissent
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A powerful speech today from Cllr Naomi Bennett, leader of the
@CambridgeGreens
at
@camcitco
, expressing her concerns about the adequacy of scrutiny, unsustainable growth, and the limited water supply in Cambridge.
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@SusanBu32337082
@cllrkatie
@CambridgeLabour
@Feargal_Sharkey
@camcitco
You can't have riffles without any water.
According to
@CambsPboroCA
, all that
@camcitco
submitted in regards to the Chalk Stream Project was 150 words.
No substance.
Total greenwashing.
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No matter how you go about it, exposing corrupt local government officials is damn hard work.
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It’s particularly infuriating when a council unlawfully hides environmental information from the public and then accuses activists of having no evidence when that council’s environmental wrongdoing is brought to public attention.
@scjlibdem
@pippaheylings
@SouthCambs
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@DairyContrary73
@Cambslive
@AbigailRabbett
@CouncillorTumi
@CouncillorTumi
has refused to meet with us to discuss these issues for the past 4 years.
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@greenarteries
@Feargal_Sharkey
@cam_friends
@TerryMac999
@MonicaHone
@GreenJennyJones
@rhysblakely
@sandralaville
@HannahCCopley
Oddly enough, legal action is underway to hold our local planning authorities to account for the development that is draining the Cam chalk aquifer dry.
Final hearing in R (Fews Lane Consortium Ltd) v
@SouthCambs
DC is listed for 29, 30 November at the RCJ in London.
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We are extremely pleased that our claim for judicial review against
@SouthCambs
District Council, challenging the council's unlawful planning decision concerning Fews Lane, Longstanton (CO/2372/2021), will finally have an interlocutory hearing on 19 May.
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It has emerged that Cllr Bridget Smith, leader of the council at
@SouthCambs
, and senior council officers knew about dangerous levels of PFOS (a “forever chemical”) in drinking water being supplied to South Cambridgeshire residents and took no action to make residents aware.
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Are there any ex-local authority officers who could comment on this?
Where local authority officers have met with a developer about a site 15 or 20 times, is it reasonable to believe that no written documentation or correspondence exists in regards to any of those meetings?
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“This funding has only been sought to greenwash the council’s long-term plans to abstract thousands of tonnes more water from our local aquifer […] asking others to dig them out of an over-abstraction nightmare of their own creation.” —
@ab4scambs
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An incredibly successful public meeting tonight in Over with so much positivity and support from everyone in attendance.
Despite the best efforts of certain public authorities to undermine our momentum, our campaign for environmental justice remains on track for success.
On Tuesday, 30 August, at 7pm, Daniel Fulton of Fews Lane Consortium will give a talk at Over Conference & Community Centre presenting new evidence outlining the role of our public authorities in facilitating the Northstowe groundwater collapse.
Please join us.
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We have pled with
@CambridgeLabour
&
@SCLibDems
to take action to improve performance at Greater Cambridge Planning.
Our pleas have fallen upon deaf ears.
Accordingly, we will be asking the Secretary of State to put both councils into special measures.
A sad day for Cambridge.
@CambridgeLabour
@lewis_herbert
@CllrAlexCollis
@CambridgeGreens
@HannahCCopley
@CllrGehring
This needs to be dealt with. And seen to be dealt with. Planners and planning enforcement are out of order and out of control.
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Quite an interesting planning fiasco brewing in Peterborough, where it’s proposed that the city council should overturn a decision of its own planning committee.
Via
@johnelworthy
in
@CambsNewsOnline
...
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24
@VanessaBrownCan
Probably unlawful under the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR.
@SurreyPolice
will undoubtedly want to carry out a data protection impact assessment and seek advice from the force solicitor.
You may also want to contact the Information Commissioner's Office for assistance.
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This article demolishes the argument by
@cllrbridget
,
@lewis_herbert
& others that
@camcitco
and
@SouthCambs
are powerless to stop development where there is no possibility of adequate water infrastructure.
The planning powers in place in '75 continue in effect via the 1990 Act.
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Chalk stream protection now driving the debate about development in Cambridge.
What’s next?
For chalk stream campaigners to put together the evidence needed for a Government inspector to limit levels of development.
@MonicaHone
@Feargal_Sharkey
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On Tuesday, 30 August, at 7pm, Daniel Fulton of Fews Lane Consortium will give a talk at All Saints' Church in Longstanton presenting new evidence outlining the role of our public authorities in facilitating the Northstowe groundwater collapse.
Please join us.
1
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Why is
@GreaterCambs
pushing a busway to connect Waterbeach to Cambridge when Waterbeach is already connected to Cambridge by an existing rail link?
Could it be that
@GreaterCambs
busways are all about opening up adjoining greenbelt land for profitable greenfield development?
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10
23
Brewer’s Close Pond, Longstanton. Today.
Not one drop of water in sight.
This is what you’ve done to our village.
@HomesEngland
@SouthCambs
@lizwatts101
@cllrbridget
@CouncillorTumi
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19
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This is one of the water voles residing in Jesus Ditch that
@camcitco
is proposing to evict from their burrows, trap, and translocate to create a new “biodiverse” water meadow.
Most often, translocation is a death sentence for water voles.
Let the voles live!
So happy to see our first 3 water voles in Cambridge this evening. Let's hope the city council stop any work to destroy there homes.
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If the leader of
@SouthCambs
told the council on 22 February that the OxCam Arc was ‘no more’ why is she continuing to attend secret meetings of the OxCam Arc Leadership Group?
And why did it take an FOI request for these secret pro-growth meetings to become public?
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Clive refused to sell his farm to developers.
Now,
@SouthCambs
District Council and
@HomesEngland
are happy to see Clive's groundwater sucked out of the ground beneath Clive's farm.
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19
Site of the former Ladywalk Pond, Longstanton. Now bone dry. Can
@SouthCambs
explain why officers excluded the cumulative hydrogeological effects of dewatering at Northstowe from the Phase 3 Environmental Statement?
@MonicaHone
@xr_cambridge
@xryouthcambs
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We are very pleased to announce that Longstanton Parish Council has agreed to a meeting to discuss making available information about the local groundwater collapse.
This is a major step forward for Longstanton and Northstowe, and we look forward to the meeting.
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Victory! - Councils restore public universal access to planning info on threat of legal action
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The congestion charge debacle may be just the thing to wake the local populace up about the incompetence and complete lack of democratic accountability at
@GreaterCambs
.
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“The council ‘lacked transparency, and repeatedly said things that were economical with the truth, misleading and, in some cases, were ultimately exposed as dishonest’.”
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10
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Our friends at
@SouthCambs
and
@HomesEngland
seem to think they can bully
@FewsLane
out of taking our claim for judicial review to a substantive hearing.
It seems that they have rather underestimated our resolve.
You can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs.
Anyone who thinks that the water shortage affecting the Cam and its chalk stream tributaries is going to be solved without a no-holds-barred legal and political fight is completely delusional.
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Unsurprisingly, those responsible for the political failures that led to the Longstanton groundwater collapse are not very pleased about finally being held to account.
Please consider these individuals' motives before believing their vicious attacks on
@FewsLane
.
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10
21
Land designated for ecological mitigation for Cambridge North redevelopment is now being reallocated by officers for "retail and town centre uses, housing" in NE Cambridge Area Plan.
@SouthCambs
&
@SCLibDems
"Doubling Nature"?
You be the judge.
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10
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@FifiDeLyonBliss
@SouthCambs
@SouthCambsCops
@CouncillorTumi
@LibDems
@Conservatives
When we complained to the council, the head of paid service,
@lizwatts101
, directed that no council officer should provide us with any information without her personal approval or the approval of her personal designee.
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Very pleased to have had an enormously constructive and positive meeting today w/
@camcitco
chief exec
@RobertTPollock
. Discussed issues related to planning and identified a number of areas for collaboration going forward. Good to see leadership at
@camcitco
on the right track.
0
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Here's the question for
@SouthCambs
and
@HomesEngland
...
If data on water levels in the Northstowe/Longstanton aquifer were material to the environmental statement for Phase 1, why are they suddenly no longer material for the environmental statement for Phase 3 of the same site?
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Northstowe to blame for empty ponds in Longstanton, says report
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On Friday, we wrote to ask
@SouthCambs
planning committee to reconsider its decision to approve the erection of 4,500 dwellings at Waterbeach new town (S/2075/18/OL).
If
@SouthCambs
fails to do so, its decision will be challenged through judicial review on the following grounds:
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8
20
Cllr Bridget Smith and the
@SouthCambs
@LibDems
love to talk about planting new trees.
But what about keeping the trees we already have?
Why do the
@LibDems
continue to grant permission for development contrary to their own adopted policies?
Ambition vs. Reality...
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High Court grants permission on all grounds for judicial review of
@SouthCambs
planning decision to approve 4,000 houses at Northstowe Phase 3A
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4
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It was very disrespectful for the leader of
@SouthCambs
,
@cllrbridget
, and the chief executive,
@lizwatts101
, to carry on a disruptive private conversation at the dais today whilst Longstanton resident Hilary Stroude spoke about the village’s ponds. An apology is in order.
2
5
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January 2020...
@SouthCambs
finds itself in the dock over its illegal planning delegation scheme.
January 2022...
@SouthCambs
back in the dock again after more illegally delegated decisions.
Who to thank for this incompetence?
@cllrbridget
and
@SCLibDems
.
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14
20
@kateneeeedham
@Allchanges
@Graham21
@MyDoncaster
@TonyNic79072260
@ZFbpe
@Arcadia_For_All
@fee0na
@LGSpace
@SaveOurSparrows
@SheffTreeAction
@DoncasterDamian
@alisonclareteal
@Heather95238955
@OurFutureBot
@JayMitchinson
@RobGMacfarlane
@MayorRos
@MagicMagid
@ChrisGPackham
Is this even the same street? Someone at Doncaster Council needs to be held responsible for this.
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Congrats to
@GreaterCambs
for the
#namecheck
today outside the Royal Courts of Justice.
Moving up in the world!
“We need stronger safeguards for our trees"
The message today outside The High Court after
@STRAWPlymouth
secured a temporary reprieve for the 19 trees still standing in
#Plymouth
city centre
#PlymouthTrees
#StrawPlymouth
@plymouthcc
More here:
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8
18
Community facilities at
@NorthstoweTown
were supposed to have been paid for the by the developer. Not by the taxpayers of
@SouthCambs
.
Regular people.
Fleeced again.
For developer profits.
Not a good look for
@SouthCambs
.
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Extremely dishonest of the
@Telegraph
to completely fabricate the ‘quotation’ used in this headline.
Anyone who knows
@RosieP4
knows how committed she is to building the right houses in the right places and ensuring the sustainability of our future communities.
1
8
19
Very pleased to see that this ill-advised planning application for development of Burnside Lakes in Cambridge has been withdrawn.
@camcitco
2
7
18
The primary reason it's so difficult to recruit local council candidates is because those elected are faced with a burden of work that is vastly disproportionate to the infinitesimal amount of power that elected councillors are able to exercise even when working collectively.
4
6
19
Yesterday,
@SouthCambs
District Council refused to allow the public to inspect the contract documents relating to hydrology consultancy services at Northstowe.
The inspection request was made after significant irregularities emerged concerning the council's procurement process.
3
16
18
It is a shame that Longstanton Parish Council chose to enrich itself financially rather than protect the biodiversity in this green field in Northstowe.
Contrary to its own policies,
@SouthCambs
approved this development despite a net biodiversity loss.
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12
19
Our agenda for local democracy...
• fairness and equality,
• freedom of expression,
• due process, and
• evidence-based decision making.
Let's get local government back on track, working for the interests of local people and their communities.
1
9
18
The most famous ex-hedgerow in Britain is right here in South Cambridgeshire on Babraham Road in Sawston.
Many thanks to
@esthermusbrown
,
@alextomo
, and
@Channel4News
for highlighting this important issue.
1
17
17
Over the past year, Longstanton Parish Council has become increasingly dismissive of local residents' concerns about harmful development in the parish and at the same time has been seen to be quite malleable to behind the scenes influence by developers.
7
12
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.
@SouthCambs
broke the law by allowing a councillor not on the planning committee who wasn't a substitute to vote to approve Bourn Airfield development.
Now, the council is changing its constitution to allow this just so it can avoid judicial review.
Shameful.
3
14
18
The fundamental problem is that our local planning authorities keep approving development whilst leaving the issue of water supply entirely to the water companies, who have a statutory obligation to supply new development.
These are flow deflectors installed in Coldhams Brook & intended to improve low flow speeds to help biodiversity.
There is though no flow.
They are funded by Cambridge Water and the council.
Shouldnt we be dealing with the over abstraction?
@wildlifebcn
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9
17
Dear
@lizwatts101
,
Doors locked. Again.
It may not be best practice to physically lock the public out of
@SouthCambs
council meetings.
But many thanks to Cllr
@AidanVdeW
and Cllr
@PeterFane5
for letting us in through the back door.
KR,
@FewsLane
0
7
17
Dear
@SouthCambs
, You can not reasonably conduct a public consultation on an Environmental Statement that has been chopped up into 147 separate files that are then posted out of order and with no descriptive titles. This has to stop.
@CouncillorTumi
@pippaheylings
@geoffharvey3
8
11
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Why do we care so much if the council breaks the law?
Because this is what one law-breaking council did to our village, its groundwater, and its ponds.
The law ensures that decisions are made properly and in the public interest.
Without the law, these are the results...
2
14
17
Have to say that we're incredibly impressed by quality of the new intake of
@CambridgeLabour
city and county councillors after a number of meetings yesterday and today—an impressive group of experienced community activists ready to hit the ground running.
5
3
17
We've been following local government for a long time, but never until today have we heard of a parish council voting on whether to release information in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
5
8
17
Dear Cllr
@StephenDrew72
,
Could you please advise on who at
@SouthCambs
would be willing to discuss this situation with us.
It is rather urgent given that officers appear to be unlawfully interfering in the affairs of a legitimate community organisation.
Many thanks.
Threats of SLAPPs from
@SouthCambs
, intended to discourage people from supporting
@FewsLane
, have been published on other social media sites.
Will the harassment and misconduct ever end?
This conduct is really crossing the line of acceptability.
@StephenDrew72
@PeterFane5
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14
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And let's not forget that there is a better route along the existing road that can be delivered for a fraction of the cost and without the harm to the environment and local communities.
@GreaterCambs
@BonkersBusway
Hard to believe that
@GreaterCambs
think that the importance of the largest traditional orchard in Cambridgeshire is overstated and propose to tarmac a swathe through it for the C2C busway. Bonkers.🍎🍏🍎
0
7
15
1
6
17
This was the
@EnvAgency
’s position on the development of Northstowe new town in August 2020.
You have to wonder exactly what has happened since then to change their minds.
2
13
17
The Human Rights Act is actually an incredibly well thought out and well written piece of legislation.
Revoking it would be pure madness.
3
8
16