How the relocation of a sewage plant is causing a stink in Cambridgeshire

  • Video report by ITV Anglia's Claire McGlasson

The proposed location of a new sewage treatment plant near Cambridge has been announced. 

Anglian Water is looking to relocate the carbon-neutral plant to an area between the villages of Fen Ditton and Horningsea, north of the A14. 

It was chosen as the best option from three shortlisted locations. 

The current site on Cowley Road in Milton will be closed to make way for the development of 8,000 new homes. It is part of plans to regenerate North East Cambridge over the next two decades.

Anglian Water claim the new plant will be ‘state-of-the-art’ 

Under current plans water from the plant would be recycled and returned to the River Cam. 

But campaigners say the plan is bad for the environment. Villagers in Fen Ditton and Horningsea insist greenbelt land should not be sacrificed to make way for more development in the city.

Charles Jones from Fen Ditton Parish Council said: "We already have sewage works in our back yard and for some of the houses in Fen Ditton it might even be slightly further away if it moved.

"The point is, in moving, they are going to build an enormous amount of concrete and pipelines and tunnels and it's going to chew up an enormous amount of, what is now, agricultural land with some very fine hedgerows and trees, well used for recreation."

Further consultation with the local community and environmental groups is due to take place this summer.