City sewage plant approved for green belt

The relocation of the treatment plant will allow for a new district to be built in the north-east of Cambridge

Plans to relocate a sewage treatment works to make way for new homes have been approved.

Anglian Water has permission to replace its current Cambridge facility, near Milton, with a new plant on land known as Honey Hill, close to Horningsea.

The government approved the new Cambridge Waste Water Treatment Plant, despite the examining authority recommending that consent should be withheld.

A spokesperson from the planning inspectorate said communities would be involved in examining projects that may affect them.

Hundreds of people and groups submitted objections to the planning inspectorate, primarily with concerns about the environmental impact

The water company submitted the plans in April 2023 after it was asked by the government to consider relocation.

Land at the former plant site would be redeveloped as part of the North East Cambridge development, which is proposed to include around 8,000 new homes and new commercial buildings, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The government committed £277m to build the new sewage works and the overall cost was estimated at £400m.

The decision on whether to relocate a sewage treatment works had been delayed twice by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Plans for the new sewage works have been met with backlash from people in the area.

During a six-month examination process objections questioned why green belt land should be "sacrificed" to build the new sewage works.

The examining authority which looked at the application recommended a Development Consent Order should not be granted.

Examiners argued they did not think the case for the principle of the development had been "adequately justified in either infrastructure or wider policy terms".

Steve Reed, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, disagreed.

In a letter, he said the proposed development had been justified.

"The secretary of state considers that the relocation of the existing waste water treatment plant will unlock a long-held ambition to redevelop North East Cambridge and enable the delivery of thousands of new homes and new jobs in a highly sustainable location where development has been frustrated for decades by the presence of the existing waste water treatment plant," he said.

"Approval of development consent is consistent with the government's objective of significantly boosting the supply of homes and consistent with the achievement of sustainable development."