A £160m busway scheduled to be built through one of Cambridgeshire’s last traditional orchards would cause irreversible ecological harm, a public inquiry has been told.
The plans being examined for an off-road busway linking Cambourne to Cambridge follow a route through Coton Orchard, a 24-hectare (60-acre) orchard and nationally recognised priority habitat. A public inquiry, held by planning inspectors appointed by the transport secretary, is examining the scheme until 21 November.
Coton Orchard is one of the county’s last large traditional orchards, home to century-old Bramley trees, rare moths, bats, birds and butterflies. Its age and structure mean it is classed as an irreplaceable habitat under national planning policy.
The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) and Cambridgeshire county council, who are proposing the route, say the busway is essential for housing growth, congestion reduction and sustainable travel.
But more than 24,000 people have signed a petition opposing it, and Coton parish council has proposed an alternative using an on-road section of the A1303, with buses given priority. “The community does not feel they have been listened to,” said the Coton parish councillor Carolyn Postgate. “They fear a massive waste of public money: people believe that the on-road solution is, on balance, a much better solution.”
Anna Gazeley, whose family has owned the site for generations, said the scheme was “sacrilege” when viable alternatives existed. “To sacrifice a century-old orchard for no discernible public good is unthinkable,” she said.
There is particular disagreement over the issue of biodiversity loss. GCP said it had “voluntarily committed to delivering 20% biodiversity net gain (BNG) across its infrastructure programme” and that Coton Orchard had been assessed “using the statutory Defra metric”. It said only 0.42 hectares qualified as traditional orchard habitat, and three trees had been deemed “irreplaceable” and would be “translocated”.
However, Dominic Woodfield, a chartered ecologist, told the inquiry that GCP’s consultants, WSP, misclassified large areas of the orchard as grassland, even though “most of the site falls squarely within the priority habitat definition”, and had “disregarded trees”, including veterans. This had “a very, very profound impact” on the BNG score, because grassland is replaceable and can be offset elsewhere.
Gazely told the inquiry: “You cannot replace a habitat that has taken decades to form with credits from another council-owned site … species that rely on these trees will simply disappear.”
GCP said the scheme was necessary to accommodate housing expansion, with thousands of new homes and jobs coming to the area. They said it would help unlock developments such as the 3,500-home Bourn airfield site, whose planning consent requires the busway once the first 500 homes are built. They said they had “thoroughly assessed other options, including on existing roads, but found these won’t give people the same benefits as our scheme.”
The inquiry is taking place as the government advances its planning and infrastructure bill, aimed at accelerating the delivery of housing and infrastructure. Environmental groups warn it could weaken protections for irreplaceable habitats, saying developers should be required to avoid harm on site, rather than relying on off-site biodiversity offsetting.
Inspectors will submit recommendations to the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, after evidence concludes on 21 November. Environmental groups say the decision could set a national precedent for how irreplaceable habitats are treated in future infrastructure schemes.
