Developer backed think tank calls for housing on Cambridge green belt near rail stations

This is the view from Heathfield north over to Thriplow - I took it two years ago when I was talking to a family on their doorstep, and a sudden sunburst lit up the fields and woods. It is a piece of the green belt that keeps our villages separate and distinctive. It is also land that lies about 25 minutes from Whittlesford rail station, where fast trains will take you to London in about 50 minutes - I know because I catch one most days.

I mention the 25 minutes point because that is the criteria applied by a think tank that has published a report calling for Cambridge to build on the green belt close to rail stations. The report has been part sponsored by Barrett Homes - that was good of them. 

The area around Whittlesford, west to Thriplow and south to Duxford and Hinxton has long been coveted by the developers. Houses would sell in a trice - the pressure to concrete over south Cambridgeshire has never been greater, regardless of the infrastructure of schools, roads etc.

South Cambs District Council has spent over two years consulting locally on the plans going up to 2013. We need to make sure that process - based on democracy and accountability and currently being scrutinized by a government inspector - comes good.