Langdyke Countryside Trust is one of a number of organisations opposing draft plans for a major housing development bordering the Castor Hanglands National Nature Reserve.
A letter to Peterborough City Council calls on the authority to remove the proposed plans for the housing development from the draft local plan.
Langdyke chair Richard Astle says in the letter: “This development directly threatens the integrity of the John Clare Countryside project and undermines key environmental and cultural policies set out in the council’s own policies”
His letter is sent on behalf of a number of organisations and individuals including the John Clare Trust, Nene Park Trust, Peterborough Civic Society and the Wildlife Trusts of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. It is backed by local parish councils and major private landowners who support the John Clare Countryside project.
The JCC initiative aims to restore and protect a nature-rich landscape between Peterborough and Stamford, supporting health, biodiversity, carbon capture and the local visitor economy, aligning closely with council priorities and Government goals. Langdyke is one of the leading organisations behind the JCC project.
The letter says the proposed 3,000-home development – on land already owned by Homes England and bordering Castor Hanglands – poses unacceptable risks including:
- Irreversible ecological damage to ancient woodland, limestone grasslands, and priority species such as the Nightingale.
- Irreversible harm to a site of national cultural heritage through its place in the work of John Clare, Britain’s greatest poet of the natural world.
- Contradiction of Local Plan policies, notably LP6 and LP38, which commit to safeguarding biodiversity and protecting sites of ecological significance.
- Incompatibility with climate resilience goals, green infrastructure aims, and the Council’s stated vision for a healthier, greener Peterborough.
The local plan proposals, the letter says, would effectively sever the landscape recovery area, reducing its potential to deliver on biodiversity climate adaptation and heritage-based tourism.
It adds: “It would put at risk a major landscape scale recovery programme that promises millions of pounds of investment in the area. It could also render the local plan unsound due to policy inconsistencies and strong planning objections.”
Richard;s letter urges the council to instead enshrine support for the JCC plan through a dedicated policy.
He adds: “JCC has the potential to deliver on key opportunities for the city, let’s not destroy that opportunity
John Clare Countryside Vision Project