Water loss puts farm at risk after housing development work

A Cambridgeshire grower with abstraction rights says his business is in jeopardy because intensive dewatering work to prepare a housing development site left his well dry and useless as a water source.

Clive Hayden, 65, has been forced to scale back production at Larksfield Nursery, near Longstanton in South Cambridgeshire, due to the “pitiful amount” of water available from his well.

The grower has been supplying New Covent Garden flower market, but is now trying to diversify into soft fruit and vegetables.

See also: Water warnings as Met Office issues first ever ‘Red’ alert

Clive Hayden © Fews Lane Consortium

Work on the first phase of the Northstowe town development, located between Cambridge and St Ives, started in 2015 and the project will eventually deliver 10,000 new homes.

Local campaigners say the initial work to pump groundwater away, to prepare the land for building, which happened in summer 2015 and then in spring of 2016, has dried up Mr Hayden’s well, as well as ponds in Longstanton.

Mr Hayden says his business is no longer sustainable. “We’re doing everything making the most of what little water I have, but it is still not sufficient to keep the place going.”

An independent report, commissioned by South Cambridgeshire District Council, concluded last year that construction work between 2015 and 2016 had lowered groundwater levels, and was to blame for emptying ponds in Longstanton.

Drought to blame?

But the developer L&Q Estates, which worked on phase one of the Northstowe project, denies it did anything wrong and instead points to longer-term drought conditions 

An L&Q Estates spokesperson said: “Temporary dewatering of trenches was undertaken simply to allow the safe installation of foul and surface water drainage pipes.

“This is standard practice and an approved construction method.

“While we sympathise with Mr Hayden’s apparent difficulties, we contend that they are in no way caused by historic, temporary dewatering.

“We understand that East Anglia moved to drought status in May 2019, following three years of exceptionally dry weather. This seems far more likely to be the cause of the current difficulties.”

Determine

Mr Hayden says he is determined to fight on and persevere the land owned by his family for the past 70 years.

He is hopeful he will eventually be able to sell fresh fruit and vegetables to the 10,000 new homes, but a lack of water is putting those plans in jeopardy.

Mr Hayden is also concerned the water situation will worsen when work begins on the next phase of the Northstowe housing development.

Earlier this year, South Cambridgeshire District Council gave planning permission to Homes England to create the next 4,000 houses at Northstowe.

Local campaign group Fews Lane Consortium has been granted a judicial review of this “phase 3a”, after campaigners raised concerns about the impact on chalk streams, local ponds and wetland habitats.

Homes England, which was not responsible for phase one of Northstowe, said it would continue to monitor groundwater levels.

The Environment Agency (EA) said it was satisfied with the inclusion of the groundwater monitoring conditions for the Northstowe Phase 3a planning permission.

EA officers have met with Mr Hayden to discuss his protected rights to water, in accordance with his abstraction licence.