South Cambridgeshire is one of the best places to live, work and study in the country. This has meant it has experienced rapid growth, which is great for the local economy – but it must be done in a way that does not threaten the unique rural character which makes the constituency so popular in the first place. We must not concrete over South Cambridgeshire. My policies include:
- protect the greenbelt from development, and focus housing in new towns on brownfield sites such as Northstowe
- increase the woodland areas in the constituency, which are good for wildlife, good for biodiversity, good for climate change, and good for those who just want to enjoy the countryside. Cambridgeshire has fewer trees than almost any other county, and just a quarter of the national average. Landowners and developers should be given incentives to plant more trees. We must make sure that developers meet the commitment to plant twice as many trees along the new A14 than are cut down.
- tackle climate change. We have a duty to future generations to stop global warming. I support the target of the UK going carbon neutral by 2050. In South Cambridgeshire, we should encourage more electric cars, for example, by requiring charging points in new build housing, and provide more charging points in the public spaces.
- South Cambridgshire is short of water. Increasingly in the summer, village ponds run dry, the River Camb runs very low, and the wetlands we have are no longer wet. This is devastating for wildlife, not just fish, but also water birds. South Cambridgeshire must get better at managing its water supplies.
