Anna Gazeley’s Opinion: An environmental bonfire is fanning the flames of Cambridge growth

Opinion | Anna Gazeley, whose family own and run Coton Orchard, established in 1922, warns about the impact of growth on our environment and discusses the march of the Cambourne to Cambridge busway scheme.

Just 48 hours after a budget in which Chancellor Rachel Reeves greenlit East West Rail and promised £10million for “ambitious plans” to expand Cambridge, she was photographed flanked by Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Peter Kyle and MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology director Jan Löwe on a visit to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.

Mr Kyle described the city as a “furnace of the future” set to drive the country’s progress.

The question I can’t help but ask is: what will be fed to the flames of their ambitions?

Cambridge has already recorded the UK’s highest temperatures, its rivers rank among the worst for water quality – 89 per cent suffering unacceptable levels of nutrient pollution – and it is the most nature-depleted county in a country that itself is among the most nature-depleted in the world.

Can we afford to ignore the Environment Agency’s warnings about water shortages, given that the Fenland reservoir project (still little more than a desktop plan) won’t meet the needs of the current local development plan, let alone a ‘supercharged’ Cambridgeshire?

Matthew Bullock, co-founder of the business and academic organisation Cambridge Ahead, has likened economic growth to a bonfire: “You can get a bonfire going and expand it as long as you keep feeding the centre. But you can’t pick a bonfire up and move it somewhere else.”

Mr Bullock’s analogy points to the extraordinary growth of Greater Cambridge, which has outpaced the rest of the UK over the past decade.

Mathematician Phil Bo remarked on social media: “We (the public) are the hedgehogs,” referring to the plight of hedgehogs that perish in bonfires due to their lack of a fight-or-flight response. “As the smoke fills her lungs, she’ll just curl up tighter, hoping it will stop, hoping the danger will soon pass her by.”

This is why the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) urge people to check bonfires for hedgehogs before lighting them.

And so, onto the Cambridgeshire ‘bonfire’ go century-old trees in Coton Orchard, Honey Hill, the Gog Magog hills, Madingley Hill, tonnes of healthy soil, acres of farmland, precious chalk streams… the list goes on.

The match has been struck for Honey Hill, with the decision on moving Anglian Water’s waste water treatment plant there now in the hands of Steve Reed, who will decide whether that fire will be lit.

The next strike? Coton Orchard, which lies directly in the path of the Cambourne to Cambridge (C2C) busway, a project tied to the creation of a ‘travel hub’ – essentially a large car park (park and ride) at Scotland Farm on the A428.

Local conservation charity Cambridge Past, Present & Future (CPPF), supported by Sir David Attenborough and an alliance of prominent individuals and organisations, anticipated an opportunity to address omissions, errors and significant changes in circumstances that have emerged in the 19 months since the draft Transport and Works Act Order (TWAO) for the C2C busway was approved on 21 March, 2023.

They believed this would take place at a full council meeting on 10 December, before the application left local control and was submitted to the Department for Transport (DfT). However, the first indication that the TWAO had already been submitted came on 12 November, 2024, in the form of notices posted on hedgerows and fields slated for destruction if the order is approved.

A walk through the paths and fields west of Cambridge reveals just how much land and how many walking routes are at risk – decisions that councillors might well reconsider if given the chance today.

The 1,926-page TWAO application contains alarming details. Run-off from the busway will be discharged into Bin Brook, a chalk stream, threatening its fragile ecology.

The “significant effects on traditional (Coton) orchard and hedgerows could be compensated through habitat creation off-site” it states (something with which PTES biodiversity officer Steve Oram vehemently disagrees) “although location is yet to be agreed”.

The environmental effects are described as “significant,” as is the loss of “best and most versatile” agricultural land across Madingley Hill, where farming families have produced food for generations.

The cost, both human and environmental, is staggering – and so too is the financial burden. Taxpayers might be surprised to learn that £15.3million has already been spent preparing this application. If approved, the busway will cost a minimum of £200million and deliver commuters to... Grange Road.

As Andy Campbell, former boss of Stagecoach East, put it, this “fundamentally flawed” route offers no practical onward journey to places people need to get to: Addenbrooke’s, workplaces or sixth-form colleges.

Liberal Democrat county council leader Lucy Nethsingha has called the busway a “key part of decarbonisation... and moving Cambridge towards net zero.”

Yet the application admits only “a minor benefit given the time taken to reach net zero (60 years) and the relatively small overall carbon reduction.”

So, is there a better alternative? Self-funded, CPPF has proposed a straightforward and practical solution. More than 50 per cent of the proposed route already runs alongside or on existing roads, demonstrating that an off-road busway is not operationally necessary.

Instead, a dedicated bus lane down Madingley Hill could improve efficiency for city destinations while also enabling buses to use the A14 to connect with science parks, Waterbeach and Ely to the north, or the M11 south via junction 13 to reach Addenbrooke’s and the Biomedical Campus.

This alternative would cost just 10 per cent of the projected off-road scheme budget and avoid inflicting devastating environmental harm.

With the application now submitted, the clock is ticking. Campaign groups and key stakeholders have until 8 January to object to the Secretary of State for Transport. We are calling for an outright dismissal, but if she deems this inappropriate, a public inquiry will be necessary – one that would require substantial fundraising to cover legal fees.

What can you do? Write to your MP. Sign the petition – joining more than 21,500 others who have already voiced their concerns. Donate to the fighting fund if you can – and spread the word far and wide. This is not a done deal!

Please speak now, before the flames are lit. Once consumed, our heritage and nature will be lost forever, and all we will be left with is the tax bill to pay for their destruction.

Visit cotonbuswayaction.com for more information on the campaign and how to help