A smallholder and nurseryman from Cambridgeshire says nearby developments are ruining his way of life and preventing him from watering his crops.
Clive Hayden owns Larksfield Nursery near North Stanton to the north of Cambridge where he grows flowers, fruit and vegetables. Having refused to sell his house and land a number of times over the last 10 years, he is now in the middle of a planned new town development of 10,000 homes known as Northstowe.
However, despite having a protected abstraction licence for a well on his property which he uses to irrigate his crops, he says that since Phase 1 of the development began, he has had problems refilling his water supply after developers lowered the water table to below 16 feet to allow the building works to take place.
Mr Hayden told Cambridge News, “The cause of my problems is Phase 1 of Northstowe. All the deep drainage works… I am doing everything I can to minimise water usage to keep what I can going,” Mr Hayden said. “Normally I would have at least one more crop in a year from that greenhouse, but that is the last crop that that greenhouse is going to have.”
Not only has his cropping been affected, but 30 silver birch trees on the property have died, as well as a general decline in wildlife. A spokesperson for Homes England said: “The small holding in question is part of the Northstowe residential allocation in the South Cambridgeshire Local Plan. It lies within Phase 2 of Northstowe and has outline planning permission for housing. Nevertheless, the town has been planned in such a way that the small holding could remain if that is what the landowner wishes.”