We want to make sure that everyone has information about:

• the land ownership at Wenny Meadow,
• where the proposed 93 houses will/won’t be built,
• land ownership of the wider East Chatteris Broad Concept Plan site, and
• how the proposed 93 homes at Wenny Meadow relate to the wider plan to build a total of 350 homes on and around Wenny Meadow.

We thought it’d be useful to share some maps to explain. It is important that everyone has an opportunity to understand the proposals (including the wider East Chatteris BCP scheme) ahead of the parish poll.

You can view the full planning application (including documents, plans, and public comments) on the FDC website.

This is an aerial view of the bit of land we call “Wenny Meadow”, with the developer’s plans for 93 homes overlayed on top (plans correct as of September 2021, now subject to minor amendments).

This is the image that was on all of the leaflets that Save Wenny Road Meadow campaigners delivered across Chatteris in September, since we wanted to make sure that the information provided was accurate and clear. It clearly shows which bits of the meadow will be built upon, and which bits will be left as open space. The developers refer to the bit they aren’t building on as the “archaeological protection zone” because of the medieval ridge and furrow landscape, but the ridge and furrow earthworks continue across the entire site.

This image was created by combining the plans submitted by the developer as part of planning application F/YR21/0981/F with an existing aerial view from Google Maps.

This diagram shows the entire East Chatteris Broad Concept Plan (BCP) site, denoted by the coloured parcels of land. This entire site – bounded by Wenny Road, the A142, Wenny Recreation Ground, and The Elms – will be filled with 350 homes in total.

When we refer to “Wenny Meadow” we’re talking about the area shaded in blue. This is land that used to be owned by Arthur Rickwood.

The different colours denote different land ownership. The land in the top-right, shaded in a yellow-green colour, is owned by Fenland District Council. The council’s investment board is preparing a planning application for this land, and in the six months from August 2021 to February 2022 spent £87,285 on planning services, advice, and consultancy.

The 93 homes on Wenny Meadow are just the first phase of this scheme.

The land ownership diagram is from page 19 of the East Chatteris BCP report (2017).

This diagram, taken from page 45 of the East Chatteris BCP report (2017), shows the development broken up into “character areas”. Each of these character areas has been named.

The current application for 93 homes on “Wenny Meadow” only covers “Parkside” and “The Spinney”. The other 250+ homes will go elsewhere across the East Chatteris BCP site.

You can also see the archaeological protection zone marked on the left-hand side. This will be left as “open space”, but will be significantly different in character to the tranquil space and rich habitat that Wenny Meadow currently provides.

This diagram, taken from page 47 of the East Chatteris BCP report (2017), shows the intended highway connections at the site. These are depicted by red dashed arrows.

The entire site is served by just two access points off Wenny Road. These access points will serve all 350 homes, all the way up to the FDC-owned land in the very North East of the site (near The Elms). The two access points will come straight out onto Wenny Road and are relatively close to the junction with the A142.

Because all of the East Chatteris BCP site is accessed via Wenny Meadow, under the current proposals the other parcels of land cannot be accessed unless the Wenny Meadow application is approved. This includes the FDC-owned land. The council has already spent £87,285 of taxpayers’ money preparing for development, without yet knowing whether or not it will benefit from access via the Wenny Meadow part of the development.

This diagram (taken from planning application F/YR21/0981/F) shows the Wenny Meadow site in some detail. The 93 homes are all marked on, as well as the archaeological protection zone. You can also see that where there were two road connections to the wider site in the East Chatteris BCP, the developer is currently only proposing one road connection at the top of the site. This means that all traffic for the remaining 250+ homes will have to enter the rest of the site via that single entry point.

Here is an historic map showing the extent of the former Manor Park. It is shaded in grey on this map, which dates from the turn of the 20th Century.

The upper portion of the Manor Park has already been built on, with a number of homes forming a road named “Parkside” that feature the Grade II Listed icehouse as a focal point in the middle. The eastern end of that part is now a paddock with horses in it.

The lower part represents the part we’ve been referring to a “Wenny Meadow” and is the only part of the wider East Chatteris BCP that we are campaigning to preserve.

The park is recorded in the Cambridgeshire Historic Environment Records with record number 12046, with the location and extent matching that shown in this old map. It is also featured in a book called “The Gardens of Cambridgeshire: A Gazetteer by Cambridgeshire Gardens Trust”.

This final map shows the locations and plans of other medium and large developments which have received planning approval in Chatteris. Together they will deliver about 1,350 homes, which is the number specified in the 2014 local plan. This number has been achieved without the approval of any of the homes in the East Chatteris Broad Concept Plan because 356 of the approved homes are on land not allocated for development in the local plan.

They are:

– 1,000 homes at Tithe Barn (F/YR10/0804/O)
– 248 homes at Womb Farm (F/YR19/0834/O)
– 58 homes near West Street (F/YR15/0512/O)
– 50 homes at land south of Fairbairn Way (F/YR19/0152/O)

The Chatteris Annual Town Meeting took place on Thursday 28th April. The meeting was well attended by Save Wenny Road Meadow supporters and Friends of Wenny Road Meadow members.

We succeeded in securing a Parish Poll on the future of Wenny Meadow. In this update, Kirsty Patterson (Secretary, Friends of Wenny Road Meadow) shares her account of what happened at the meeting.

Thank you to Rob Morris for the photographs of the meeting.

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The Annual Town meeting took place yesterday evening.

These notes come with the caveat that this is my own personal summary of the meeting from my perspective. I was, deliberately I think, wound up at times so there will no doubt be other people who may view the meeting differently from their own perspectives.

What happened?

We requested a parish poll on the question “Would you like Wenny Meadow to be designated as a Local Green Space and protected from development?” which received nearly three times the needed 10 members of the electors to support it.

As a formality, the Town Meeting also had to vote on the question before it could be put to a Parish Poll. The vote was passed with 31 yes, three no and three abstentions. The members of the Town Council (four out of seven were eligible to vote) did not take part in this vote.

What happens next?

There will be a public ballot on the question “Would you like Wenny Meadow to be designated as a Local Green Space and protected from development?” This will take place within the next 14-25 working days and will be an in-person ballot open between 4-9pm.

We will need to publicise the poll once we know when and where it will take place so please let us know if you would be happy to help.

I heard there was drama?

We had, perhaps naively, hoped that by moving straight to a Parish Poll there would be no need to debate the issue at the Town Meeting. It is now up to the electorate. However, it didn’t pan out like that.

The ‘Questions for the public’ which should have been agenda item 6 was moved to the end of the meeting. This was sensible, especially since two members of the Council left as they didn’t want to hear the debate, and the debate was lengthy. It meant a very late night though for those of us attending with children.

A few questions had been asked about housing and green space before I put up my hand. The Chair, Mayor Linda Ashley, nodded at me at which point I stood up to ask my prepared question. I was asked if my question was about Wenny Meadow and Cllrs Benney and Murphy left the room.

Before I was allowed to ask my question, Mayor Linda Ashley and Cllr Bill Haggata said they wanted to ‘show [me] something’. Cllrs Ashley and Haggata presented a pre-prepared speech including a large photoboard provided by the developer. They stated that Save Wenny Road Meadow have misled people, building on the meadow will increase the publicly accessible green space and Cllr Haggata read from the Biodiversity Net Gain Assessment. Cllr Haggata twice stated that there would be a biodiversity net gain of 10%. Unfortunately, Cllr Haggata has misunderstood the documents and was rebutted by a member of the public who read from the developers own letter: “As confirmed by our own report it is unavoidable to not have a net loss of habitat on this site”.

After more than 10 minutes I tried to present my question to the room. The Annual Town Meeting is a meeting of the electors, not of the Town Council. However, Mayor Linda Ashley and the Councillors present did not seem to be aware of that and tried to prevent me from asking a question to the Town Meeting. They stated that I needed to address my question to Councillors only. This was incorrect.

I was threatened with being removed from the room on four occasions for raising my voice. The first time was when Mayor Ashley said ‘when they build on this part…’ and I called out ‘The application has not yet been approved!’. I was also told if I wanted to address a question to the whole room I would have to arrange my own meeting.

Eventually, after further delays, I was allowed to ask my question: I would like to propose a Parish Poll on the question: “Would you like Wenny Meadow to be designated as a Local Green Space and protected from development?” I asked for 10 seconders and received a show of hands. I’m not sure of the exact number of people who supported this motion as the Town Clerk said it was not necessary to record the names and number of supporters but it was in the region of 25.

This should have been the end of the debate, since the question is now in the hands of the electorate, save for the formality of voting on the question at the meeting. I tried to move to a vote on numerous occasions, but this nearly didn’t happen at all. Mayor Linda Ashely even tried to close the meeting without holding the vote at one point.

During the course of the debate several accusations were made:

• Mayor Linda Ashley repeated her assertion that the public has been misled about the size of the development. This is despite the fact our leaflets carried the developer’s own plans for the site.
• Mayor Linda Ashley and Chatteris TC Finance Officer threatened to put up the Town Council Precept to cover the cost of the Parish Poll. They claimed the poll will cost £13,000. Firstly, this figure is over-inflated. Previous Parish Polls for towns much larger than Chatteris have cost in the region of £3-£5,000. The only expense will be polling staff for 5hrs (most likely two), a venue (the Library is available to the Council for free for this purpose) and the printing of ballot cards. Polling cards are not sent out so there is no postage cost. Secondly, how much are they going to add to the Parish Precept? £1.30 per person at worst. And then they would need to take it out again next year! This is what Town Council contingency should be used for and guidance says that Town Councils should plan for this.
• A member of the public became aggressive and shouted at two people at the back of the room. He swore at a third member of the public when they asked him to sit down. He then lunged at a fourth member of the public, putting his face right up to their cheek, and snarled into their face. When electors called on the Chair to manage the situation the Mayor and the Town Clerk said they had not seen anything.
• This same member of the public stated that “When Hilary Bailey was running this campaign she agreed that there would need to be compromise. I was good friends with Hilary Bailey and she would have been happy with this application. Unfortunately, this campaign has been hijacked and Hilary has lost interest and moved away.” This is simply not true and it is totally unfair to bring another member of the public into a debate when they aren’t even present.
• Cllr Julie Smith questioned why we needed to have a poll. They pointed to the fact that the outcome of Parish Poll is not legally binding. I responded that I would hope that a mandate from the public via a Parish Poll would be taken on board by our representatives and that as a result they would adopt a policy to support the designation of Wenny Meadow as a Local Green Space. Another member of the public pointed out that LGS designation is a material consideration in planning matters. I also responded that if the Town Council was to adopt the mandate from a Parish Poll to support LGS designation then it would be contradictory to maintain their support for the planning application and they should withdraw their support.
• Members of the Town Council stated that there is nothing that we, as a community, can do to stop the application from being approved. We were repeatedly told that it is going to happen and Cllr Gowler said we just have to accept it.
• Mayor Linda Ashley stated that the developer would have nothing to do with the open space once the development had been completed and it would be up to ‘us’ what we wanted to do with it (including maintenance).

Cllr Petrou made a very calm statement which, although I did not agree with all of the points he made, was a well-reasoned argument. He then asked that the public be allowed to have their vote.

After several further delays 11-year old Evelyn eventually asked if the vote could be held so she could go home to bed.

More than fifty children aged between 4 and 13 have written to Fenland District Council to ask them to save Wenny Road Meadow from development. Plans to build 93 houses on the former Manor Park are due to be considered by Fenland District Council soon.

Last month, Girl Guide Evelyn Patterson urged Chatteris Town Council to object to the proposals but felt as though she had been ignored. Determined to give children a voice, she created letter templates and spoke to Rainbows, Brownies, and Guides about the fate of the much-loved meadow. Meanwhile, Jacob Patterson, Henry Cole, and Ruan Potgeiter spoke to 2nd Chatteris Beavers and Cubs. They also urged their school friends to write to the council.

Fenland District Council has now been sent in excess of fifty letters from local children. 

On Saturday 2nd October, children representing Glebelands Primary Academy, Kingsfield Primary School, Cromwell Community College, 1st Chatteris Guides, 6th Chatteris Brownies, 3rd Chatteris Brownies, 3rd Chatteris Rainbows, Chatteris District Rainbows, 2nd Chatteris Cubs, and 2nd Chatteris Beavers met to talk about their campaign.

The children were joined by Cllr Hilary Cox Condron, vice-chair of Cambridgeshire County Council’s “Communities, Social Mobility and Inclusion” committee and a board member of Natural Cambridgeshire.

Cllr Condron listened to each of the children talk about their views on the meadow, why they think it’s important, and what it means to them. She spent an hour in Wenny Meadow talking to parents and passing walkers about the plans while the children searched for conkers, climbed trees, and splashed about in heavy rain.

One passing dog walker, speaking with emotion, told Cllr Condron how during lockdown walking on the meadow “saved her”.

Photographs

Please check the attribution details for individual photographs (by clicking on the photograph), as multiple photographers were present.

Cllr Hilary Cox Condron said:

“How wonderful to meet these young campaigners in Chatteris and hear about the letters, council speeches, leafleting and petitioning they have been doing to share how important Wenny Road Meadow is to them as they fight to save it from development. They give me hope, but I left with a heavy heart.”

“As an artist I work with children to explore, connect with and celebrate the nature on our doorsteps. We know how important being in nature is for the development of our children: for wellbeing, for health, for connections to the environment and to start to understand (to really feel) our place in the ecosystem. Being in nature impacts on education, crime reduction and social mobility. Children run and climb trees – they learn to take risks, build resilience, make up fantastical stories and look out for each other. They learn to take care of the nature they love… isn’t that what we are telling them all the time? Isn’t that what they HAVE to do?”

“We talk about the importance of loving where you live, taking care of neighbours, developing a strong sense of ‘place’. Then so easily dismiss local concerns and campaigns as NIMBYism, when taking care of our back yard is exactly what we should be doing. Or as Roy Hopkins wrote – don’t be a NIMBY, be a SWIMBY – and fight for Something Wonderful In My Backyard.”

Quotes from children’s letters:

• 8-year-old Amber wrote: “I do not want the meadow to be built on because it will make me unhappy if we lost this lovely open space.”
• 12-year-old Jessica wrote: “I love Wenny Meadow because I can run and climb, which is something I don’t do at the local park. It’s unsafe to have another estate on a already busy road near the college and new primary school. My peaceful place will be gone and I will stay home more and not get so much fresh air and exercise.”
• 7-year-old Dolcey wrote: “I want a space to walk that is safe”.
• 7-year-old Poppy wrote: “It is a green open space with lots of bugs and creatures. I went there on a school trip and I loved it.”
  
  7-year-old Tyler wrote: “Where will the animals go?”
• 7-year-old Darius wrote: “I love Wenny Meadow because I found cool flowers and leaves. I love the trees and the birds.”
• 9-year-old Hubert wrote: “I do not want the meadow to be built on because there are not many green natural spaces left for nature to thrive.”
• 9-year-old Flynn: “We need to keep green space… the lungs of the earth will slowly disappear and our children will suffer the pollution, heat and floods.”
• 9-year-old Eleanor wrote: “I do not want the meadow to be built on because… the bats will have no insects to eat and not even have a home.”
• 10-year-old Chloe wrote: “I’ve had lovely walks there and climb my favourite tree. I also do my homework there as well.”
• 8-year-old Jacob wrote: “I love Wenny Meadow because it is the best place to discover nature.”
• 12-year-old Caitlin wrote: “We should preserve the meadow for future generations as it is our only space like it in Chatteris.”
• 11-year-old Evelyn wrote: “I love Wenny Meadow because I can use my bird app that identifies the birds that are singing.”
• 11-year-old Amelie wrote: “There are plenty of places to build on other than the meadows.”
• 12-year-old Oak wrote: “I love climbing trees and picnics and hanging out with friends.”
• 11-year-old Honey wrote: “I like smelling the flowers and I like seeing the butterflies.”
• 11-year-old Holly wrote: “During Covid we needed to exercise as we couldn\t go to the gym, so Wenny Road Meadow was a great place to exercise. I have made great memories there. Why would you take that away from someone?”
• 5-year-old Maicee wrote: “I have a great time making adventures there with my dad.”
• 6-year-old Beatrice wrote: “It is the best place to listen to birds and crickets.”
• 13-year-old Samantha wrote: “I like to walk our dogs in the natural environment, and late at night we go wildlife watching. I try to use these meadows for homework and reading as they are quiet.”
• 10-year-old Antonia wrote: “Wenny Road has a secondary school, a new primary school, a cricket club, and football playing fields all of which are opposite the planned development site. Increased traffic on this road could make access to the school site and sports facilities more dangerous.”

More than fifty Chatteris residents took to the streets this weekend in the hope of saving Chatteris’ former Manor Park, now known as Wenny Meadow, from development.

People of all ages handed out leaflets that sought to bring the plight of the meadow to the attention of others. While some people leafleted alone, many parents were joined by children eager to save a favourite local landmark. Since Girl Guide Evelyn Patterson’s heartfelt intervention at a meeting of Chatteris Town Council on Tuesday 7th September, many of the Guides and Scouts who volunteered have decided to make the campaign part of their “community impact” or “campaigning” badges.

Kirsty Patterson, who coordinated the volunteers, said: “People couldn’t wait to do something proactive to support the campaign. People have felt helpless and let down. One parent told me her seven-year-old son had been in tears after finding out during a school visit to the meadow that it might be developed. Children have been begging their parents to help.”

Kirsty added: “I’ve been totally overwhelmed. We only planned to target the roads nearest the meadow, but we had so many people come forward that I couldn’t find something for them all to do. We ordered twice as many leaflets as we thought were needed and they’ve all gone. I had people deliver to one road and then come back for more. Everyone was asking if we were expanding to other parts of the town, so we’ve now got a list of people waiting for another batch of leaflets to arrive. The strength of Chatteris lies in its community, and that has been proven yet again by their efforts this weekend.”

Volunteer Sarah Woods said: “My 10 year old daughter, Milly, feels very connected to the meadow – she picnics, walks our dog, and practices her photography there. She sobbed when she heard about the plans and insisted on being part of trying to save it.”

Sarah and Milly leafleted two streets and have offered to do three more.

Sarah explained why she thought the meadow was important, saying: “Only one in four children play outside in the UK, but the children of Chatteris have the wildlife-rich green space of Wenny Meadow to tempt them away from their consoles and screens”.

The Fenland District Council planning website already records well over 100 objections after just one weekend, and the group says that it is still early days for their campaign. Some of those volunteering with the group are making time to write a more comprehensive objection to the plans, so they expect the number of objections to increase further still.

A spokesperson for The Save Wenny Road Meadow campaign said: “Something we’ve noticed in the last few days is the extent to which those who are coming forward to try and save the meadow represent a diverse cross-section of Chatteris. They include the young, the old, those who’ve recently moved to Chatteris, and people who were born and bred here. It just goes to demonstrate the broad appeal of this amazing place.”

 

Our campaign was featured on ITV Anglia News on 15th November 2018. Thanks for Mandy, Laura and Kirsty for braving the camera to spread the word about our campaign, and to Lawrence for creating this video.

On Friday 12^th October, Dr Sarah Spooner, Senior Lecturer in Landscape History at the University of East Anglia gave a talk in entitled “A Landscape History of Wenny Road Meadow”. The event was co-hosted by CPPF (Chatteris Past, Present and Future, the Civic Society) and the Save Wenny Road Meadow campaign.

Dr Spooner spoke with passion and authority to a full house.  She used historic maps, recent surveys and photographs to compare Wenny Road Meadow to other 18^th and 19^th century manor parks. Bringing in references to the Enclosure Acts, the Napoleonic Wars and even Jane Austen novels, the talk was informative and entertaining. Perhaps most revealing was the LIDAR image (shown here), which clearly exposes the “ridge and furrow” earthworks, which date back to early medieval (15^th century) agricultural practices. Dr Spooner explained that because the land has never been developed, it can reveal its own story to those able to interpret the landscape. Once built on, the meadow’s history will be lost. Summing up, Dr Spooner said ““Wenny Meadow is special. It’s the only thing like it in Chatteris. It’s an important 18th and 19th Century designed landscape; not only has it not really changed since the 1820s when it was first created, but like the ridge and furrow earthworks there just are not that many parks like that in the Fens. It’s also really significant because it preserves that medieval origin. Here you have got not just the 18th Century Georgian and Regency period, but medieval Chatteris as well.”

We’d like to express our deep gratitude to Dr Spooner for her time preparing and delivering the talk.  We feel it has given us further ammunition to resist the proposed development, and will be sharing her findings with Fenland District Council shortly.