Grantchester Parish Council has taken legal advice and is considering taking the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) to judicial review over a decision to route a controversial greenway cycle path through the centre of the village.
The decision to send the cycle route through the village was made by the GCP in January despite a survey finding that 73 per cent of respondents in Grantchester opposed the plan and preferred an alternative route that avoided the village centre.
The parish council claims it was given assurances by a GCP member that if the village was against the route, it would not be opposed upon them.
However, a wider GCP consultation that included people outside Grantchester found most of those respondents were in favour of the village route and the GCP determined it should therefore go ahead.
Now the parish council has sent the GCP a letter before action and says the next step will be to examine in court how the decision was made.
Parish clerk John Hammond said that after the decision was made on January 4 “we took legal advice and we have followed it up very recently with a Letter Before Action”.
He added: “It’s to do with an assurance that we were given by a then member of the GCP executive board that the views of Grantchester residents would be respected when it came to the survey and the vote. It's the fact that they were given an assurance, the survey was carried out, the survey found against it, but they still went ahead anyway.”
At a meeting on 4 January, the GCP executive board supported proposals for the Haslingfield Greenway project, which aims to create a “sustainable travel corridor” between Haslingfield and Cambridge for cycling and walking.
The route is one of the 12 greenways from the GCP, which aim to enable those around Cambridge to travel into the city without using a car.
Part of the Haslingfield Greenway proposes to go through Grantchester. In a public consultation, 73 per cent of people in Grantchester said they opposed the greenway going through the village. The parish council had suggested alternatives that would have gone around the historic village. But the GCP’s board noted that in the overall feedback, a majority of people – 64 per cent – supported the route.
In a letter to the GCP’s executive board members before the meeting, the parish council wrote that after a “flawed” online consultation that “disenfranchised” many villagers who did not have internet access, a second paper consultation was carried out by the GCP, following a meeting with them, Cllr Bridget Smith and GCP transport director Peter Blake.
The parish council added: “If a local majority was still opposed to the route through the centre of the village, Cllr Smith stated that it would not then be imposed upon Grantchester against its residents’ will.”
The chair of Grantchester Parish Council, Cllr Lesley Sherratt, told the board meeting the proposed route would have a “detrimental aesthetic impact” on the village.
She also claimed there was a “democratic deficit” in separating the village consultation from the overall response and then “discounting” it.
A GCP spokesperson said: “The recollection of the meeting was that Cllr Smith supported a second consultation for the route – which has taken place – but did not suggest any resident group would have a veto.”
Thomas Fitzpatrick, head of GCP programme, said: “The route through Grantchester would provide the most direct connection between Haslingfield, Grantchester and Cambridge, and would also allow the M11 bridge to become step-free, therefore greatly improving accessibility for all users. The overall results from all respondents showed strong support (64 per cent) for the more direct, shorter and accessible route through Grantchester. We know from consultation that people want the most direct route between two places or they won’t use it.
“After the 2022 engagement, further design work with input from Grantchester Parish Council was developed to address suggestions which had been made. This work then went out to further public consultation in June- July last year.
“While the majority of public supported the whole route, we know Grantchester resident respondents opposed this section of the route which is why officers continue to liaise with local stakeholders and the community so the greenway is sympathetic to the environment it runs through. We have responded to the parish council’s correspondence regarding a judicial review.”
