Save the date: Saturday 21st June. Friends of the Cam will be holding its 5th River Rights Festival at which we will be rededicating the rights of the river. We will have live songs, music, poetry and short talks, and as the Cambridge Folk Festival and Strawberry Fair have both been cancelled this year, this is the summer festival fixture in the city!
The Federation of Cambridge Residents' Associations (FeCRA) has invited Peter Freeman, Chair of the Government’s new ‘Cambridge Growth Company’, to explain what his vision for the growth of Cambridge means for its infrastructure, water and housing, and this is an opportunity for us to question him directly. Places are free, and booking is on Eventbrite here.
The Financial Times' 'long read' ‘Can Cambridge be a model for kick-starting the British economy?' featured Friends of the Cam steering group member Wendy Blythe stressing the problems that the growth proposals will cause for the river and local communties.
Friends of the Cam submitted an objection to the plan to build a fixed dedicated bus route from Cambridge (Grange Road) to Cambourne, via Coton, destroying a traditional orchard of national importance in the process. The Department of Transport have now announced a Public Inquiry, and Friends of the Cam have registered as an interested party and will be making our objection. The reasons for this objection are set out below.
The Public Inquiry on the relocation of Milton waste water treatment plant has concluded. In the Inquiry, Save Honey Hill exposed the weakness of Anglian Water's case, and Friends of the Cam submitted objections to the unnecessary and damaging development. The Planning Inspector was due to report to the Secretary of State by July 2024, but the Government has yet to announce its decision. The latest deadline of 12 January 2025 has now been abandoned, and an anouncement is said to be made in April, 2025, to take account of new planning legislation.
Friends of the Cam campaign for an unpolluted river, against over-abstraction from it, and the unsustainable growth in buildings and infrastructure that impact on both. Designating short stretches of rivers may lead to some very limited local improvement of water quality, at the expense of water quality elsewhere. Friends of the Cam opposed the DBA application in the consultation for reasons given below.
Friends of the Cam are a Cambridge based campaigning group committed to restoring the health of the river Cam and its tributaries for the benefit of nature. We are pledged to ending pollution of the river and overabstraction linked to unsustainable growth in the area. We have developed a charter to express these commitments which we invite others to sign.
The River Cam and its tributaries are suffering badly from over-abstraction, agricultural run-off and sewage discharge leaving them in poor condition with very low flow levels and dirty water. At the same time the area is in the midst of a dash for growth in building houses and offices which is putting further strain on natural water flow and preventing the restoration of an already depleted system.
We can act by constantly opposing the conditions that are wrecking the River Cam and its streams. We can spread the word, persuade others, write letters, attend policy meetings, expose the role of water companies, businesses including farms, greenwashing efforts, planning officers, Councils, monitoring agencies. We can counter the unsustainability of building and infrastructure proposals. We can strengthen alliances with all those national and local groups who act with clarity and integrity to protect our River and counter unsustainable growth. We declare the Rights of the River Cam at a public ceremony every Midsummer's day in June as a way of spreading the word and creating a network of River Defenders prepared to act to protect the River.
Subscribe to our newsletter and receive updates of events and campaigns.