One of the co-founders of Friends of the Cam, and the organiser of our annual Festival, Tony Booth, is standing for Chancellor of Cambridge University. His decision to do so has been prompted by two other candidates: Lord Brown, ex-CEO of BP, one of the most polluting companies on the planet; and Mohammed El-Erian, the President of Queen’s College, which is determined to extend student accommodation at Owlstone Croft, against the decision of the City Council and local residents, and to the detriment of Paradise Nature Reserve.

Join Rob Larter's talk on May 21st 6.30-8.30, German Lutheran Church, Shaftesbury Road, CB2 8BW. Booking on Eventbrite here.

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 Government has now approved a plan which will see £277m of public money go to Anglian Water, a private water company, to move its sewage plant to Green Belt on the outskirts of Cambridge, and overriding the clear recommendation from the Government’s own independent planning inspectors that the project should not be given consent. The planning inspector found that there was “not a convincing case” for the move and that the harm to the green belt would be “substantial”. Save Honey Hill is mounting a legal challenge, having taken legal advice.

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.