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Sewage plant objectors drop judicial review plan

Helen Burchell
BBC News, Cambridgeshire
Anglian Water Illustrated proposals for what the new treatment works could look like. It is surrounded by fields and further down the road appear to be residential homes. Anglian Water
The relocation of the treatment plant will allow for a new district to be built in the north-east of Cambridge

Campaigners opposed to the relocation of a sewage treatment works on green belt land near a village have dropped their plans for a judicial review of the decision.

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.

The Save Honey Hill group planned to fight the decision in court but has now said its legal team "concluded that there is little point in pursuing a judicial review".

The treatment works are being moved to make way for new homes in the north-east of Cambridge.

A decision on whether it could be moved was delayed twice but approved last month.

LDRS A poster on a wooden fence has a cartoon photo of a wasp inside a red "banned" symbol. The white sign reads "Save Honey Hill - say no to sewage works at Honey Hill between Fen Ditton and Horningsea".LDRS
Hundreds of people and groups submitted objections to the planning inspectorate, primarily with concerns about the environmental impact

While the campaign group was raising funds for the judicial review, it has now dropped those plans.

A statement from the Save Honey Hill group said its legal team had sent a pre-action letter to the government, but following receipt of the secretary of state's response, concluded pursuing the review would incur costs but "might lead to a negligible outcome".

It stated: "Our KC (King's Counsel) noted that the strength of the secretary of state's response demonstrated that his legal team had likely anticipated the grounds on which we might launch a JR (judicial review) early on and that his DCO (development consent order) decision letter was crafted so as to minimise the risk of a successful challenge."

The group said it would continue to engage with Anglian Water, parish councils and other stakeholders and "do our best to ensure that mitigating the detrimental effects of this project on our communities is at the forefront of their minds at all times".

Land at the current plant site near Milton is set to be redeveloped as part of the North East Cambridge development, which is proposed to include about 8,000 new homes and new commercial buildings.

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

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