Environment Agency objects to 1,000 Darwin Green homes over water supply
The Environment Agency has objected to plans to build up to 1,000 new homes in the Darwin Green development over water supply concerns.
The organisation has said it has not seen evidence to show the new homes could be supplied with water sustainably.
Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council councillors are due to look at the plans for the next phases of the Darwin Green development on Monday (October 30).
The outline application proposes to build up to 1,000 new homes, as well as a primary school and secondary school, shops, and community facilities.
The developer, Barratt David Wilson Homes and The North West Cambridge Consortium of Landowners, has already lodged an appeal with the Planning Inspectorate over the plans.
The appeal has been made on the grounds of non-determination, claiming the planning authority did not make a decision on the application in time. The application will now be decided by a planning inspector.
Councillors will consider the plans and decide what its position should be at the appeal at the joint development control committee on Monday.
A report published ahead of the meeting reveals that planning officers believe the application should be refused. It says the “risk of harm to the water environment” and “the absence of mitigation” to manage the water resources issue alongside the objection from the Environment Agency attract “significant weight in the planning balance”.
“This harm is considered to outweigh the other environmental, social and economic benefits which the scheme would deliver,” the report states.
The developer said the upcoming planning inquiry would allow the Environment Agency’s concerns about water supply to be tested.
The developer has faced problems in the current phases of the development, with 83 properties earmarked for demolition due to faults with the foundations.
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