Plans to turn Bourn Airfield into new 3,500-home Cambridgeshire village branded 'reckless'
ITV News Anglia's Matthew Hudson reports on the new village given the green light
Permission has been granted for a new 3,500-home village on the site of an old Second World War airfield - a move described as "reckless" by a local councillor.
Plans for the village at Bourn Airfield, close to Cambourne near Cambridge, were first submitted in 2021 but years of wrangling over local infrastructure and concerns over water supplies led to delays.
South Cambridgeshire District Council has now approved planning permission, saying the "benefits outweigh the risks".
Councillor Heather Williams, leader of the Conservative opposition, is concerned at what cost.
"This will have a huge impact and unfortunately they are now going to have to just sit and wait to see what happens," she told ITV News Anglia.
"The worry that we have, is that it's this one today but what is tomorrow?
"We're seeing massive development here. I’m not opposed to growth but it cannot be at any cost.
"We’ve seen three new towns in a very short period and we know there are problems and unless those solutions are in place I think it’s quite reckless that the district council has actively promoted and pushed to have this development to go ahead."
It comes after Housing Secretary Angela Rayner announced an overhaul of the planning system, with mandatory housing targets re-introduced to pave the way for 1.5 million new homes over the next five years.
The deputy prime minister has reversed a decision made by the Conservative government to scrap housing targets, which will free up some green belt land for construction.
"We've seen as as well with the change of government the change of focus on mandatory figures," said Ms Williams.
"But... we're already had three new towns here .There is a limit to what one area can do and it really is quite frightening for where we're going to be in 20-25 years' time. I don't think it will just be water that we are concerned about," she added.
South Cambridgeshire District Council initially considered planning permission for the new development three years ago but concerns from the Environment Agency over water resources in the area led to delays.
"The Environment Agency had concerns over the water scarcity in the area," Lib Dem councillor Henry Batchelor told ITV News Anglia.
"Over the three years we didn't want to grant permission until that was satisfied. The Environment Agency is now satisfied so we as a local authority are confident we can press ahead, approve planning and start construction.
"It’s a good place for development as it’s in between two new communities, the land isn’t being used for anything else, it’s a disused airfield and the benefits of the scheme outweigh the negatives.
"One of the huge positives is that this will have £100m worth of community benefits in the form of infrastructure, hospitals, schools and local shops to support the community of this size."
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Cambridge Water said: "We are working on developing alternative new supplies of water, including a transfer of water from Grafham Reservoir and the proposal for a new reservoir in the Fens in partnership with Anglian Water.
"These schemes will ensure a resilient and sustainable supply of water into the future.”
Earlier this month a report by the think-tank UK DayOne recommended that homes for up to 350,000 people should be built in Tempsford in Bedfordshire.
If the town is built, it would be bigger than Northampton or Milton Keynes and twice the current population of Cambridge, despite the village of Tempsford currently having a population size of just a few hundred people.
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