The Greater Cambridge Greenways project aims to create a walking, cycling and equestrian travel network that will link local villages and Cambridge. The Wildlife Trust is supportive of the principle of creating enhanced opportunities for safe cycling and walking routes through the Greenways programme. Tackling climate change and the loss and damage to natural habitats are two of the most pressing issues for society to address.

However, we believe these recent proposals will have impacts on the natural environment and on local habitats and species.

The project has proposed two alternative options for access via the south of Trumpington Meadows nature reserve near Hauxton: option A: by a proposed new bridge over the river Cam and option B: along an existing shared path. Closer to the city in the north east, the Greenway project has suggested two more alternative options: A: via a newly created path cutting through the wildflower meadows and B: along the existing path towards the Trumpington Park & Ride. Details of these can be seen online. 

The Wildlife Trust strongly objects to a new bridge across the river (10, option A) and a new path through the meadows (13, option A) for several reasons:

• Construction of a bridge will cause disturbance and sedimentation of the river environment, immediately upstream of an area where brown trout have recently returned to breed, where otters and kingfisher frequent and where water voles have returned;
• Access to manage our meadows will be greatly impacted;
• A bridge will further suburbanise the river environment, in an area of the nature reserve which is currently calm and undisturbed, and require removal of mature trees which may provide bat roosts and bird nesting habitat;
• A new path through the meadows will needlessly destroy flower-rich meadows, currently a haven for pollinating insects, ground nesting birds and brown hares;
• There are already existing shared use paths throughout this area, linking Hauxton to Trumpington.

A consultation is open until 5^th August, and The Wildlife Trust BCN will be formally responding. It's vitally important that as many people as possible give their feedback, too.

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