'Furious' residents fear they could be cut off from GPs, schools and water as proposals to build more than 30,000 new homes have been 'pushed through by stealth'.
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proposals → fear → stealth
Huntingdonshire District Council in Cambridgeshire has been accused of attempting to usher in a new housing plan without consulting locals, who are going to war over the 'destruction' of their community.
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who → accuse → community
The proposals could see 'a population the size of a city' put an increasingly desperate strain on public services that locals say are already at 'breaking point' as they decry the Liberal Democrat-run town hall's 'failure' to invest in the area's 'crumbling' infrastructure.
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they → see → infrastructure
Instead the council is rushing through plans to build thousands of new homes without the public services to support them – leaving residents who have lived in Huntingdon and the surrounding areas for decades fearful that access to GP surgeries, hospitals, schools and roads could collapse.
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access → rush → surgeries
Meanwhile a water company has warned that locals will have to cut down their usage by dozens of litres per day, it has been claimed.
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it → warn → day
Irate residents say no local infrastructure provisions have been made to support the tens of thousands of new homes – and are pushing back, claiming the 'farcical' plans are 'being pushed through by stealth', which they slammed as an 'absolute disgrace'.
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they → say → disgrace
Yet Liberal Democrat council leader Sarah Conboy said: 'If we could guarantee all of the infrastructure first we would do that, but we can't.'
Nearby Houghton resident Paul Bootham, 66, of the campaign group Pause the Plan, told the Daily Mail: 'People are very, very angry because there have been no major spends by the council in the past decade and suddenly they want to erect a whole new city worth of people.
The pretty village of Houghton where irate locals fear they will be cut off after the council pushed through a 30,000 homes plan 'by stealth'
Houghton resident Paul Bootham, 66, (right) of the campaign group 'Pause the Plan', with Audra Green, 59, (centre) from Hemingford Abbots and resident Ray Baxendale, 80 (left)
'
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council → say → Abbots
But introducing roughly 30,000 new homes without a plan for local infrastructure is crazy.
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introducing → introduce → infrastructure
'I'm angry and disappointed because I'm not anti-housing, the infrastructure just needs to be there to support the proposals.
'I live in a beautiful area, my village was considered the best place to live in England but we're dependent on nearby towns for public services.
'
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we → disappoint → services
The reality is that we'll get the houses but we won't get the schools built or the GP practices, hospitals or shopping centres.
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schools → get → houses
It's a new town by stealth because there has been no realisation about what the council is doing and people are really quite shocked.
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people → do → what
It's happening already because we're in a growing area but it's going unnoticed.
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it → happen → area
You can't see a GP very easily here now, people who live in the villages have to go to nearby towns to see the doctor.
'
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who → see → doctor
It's very difficult to get an appointment as you can imagine, and with tens of thousands of new homes it's going to be even more difficult, if not impossible, to see a GP.
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it → get → GP
'If each new home has four people living in it, that's nearly 100,000 new people in the area - it would be nearly the size of Cambridge.'
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it → have → Cambridge
Mr Bootham, who chairs Houghton and Wyton Parish Council, said residents fear that while these homes are built, public services will be left in the lurch, with no new schools, GP surgeries or hospitals to support the growing population – meanwhile residents could also face water shortages.
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residents → chair → shortages
He added: 'What happens is the houses come years before the infrastructure follows because developers can't afford it anymore and it then becomes a choice of "do you want new roads or new schools?"
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you → add → roads
'There is a fear that we'll be waiting for these new facilities but that they won't be built.
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they → be → facilities
The infrastructure needs to come first, otherwise it won't happen.'
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it → need → ?
Meanwhile the narrow countryside roads and town centres could face 'gridlock'.
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roads → face → gridlock
Mr Bootham claimed that with the current number of houses planned for construction, there will be an extra 200,000 car journeys per day – driving on roads that are already in disrepair.
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that → claim → disrepair
And he said that with water in Cambridgeshire already in 'crisis', residents will be forced to reduce consumption from 140 litres per person every day to 90 litres – which he fears could push infrastructure 'to the point that it breaks'.
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it → say → point
New sewage infrastructure being put in across Lodge Farm in preparation for new housing on Alconbury Weald and Lodge Farm housing sites
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infrastructure → put → sites
Francis Mizuro, who runs the St Ives Electric Boat Riverboat Company and ferries tourists to the historic Houghton Mill, is fearful of how the huge development business will affect his trade
Residents fear that while these homes are built, public services will be left in the lurch, with no new schools, GP surgeries or hospitals to support the growing population
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services → run → population
The campaigner added: 'This is Oliver Cromwell country where revolution and the English Civil War started - but there's a fear these proposals will mean losing its character.'
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proposals → add → character
Some of the areas where new sites have been proposed for housing development include villages listed in the Domesday Book, a survey and valuation of landed property in England that was completed for William the Conqueror at the end of the 11th century.
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that → propose → century
Around Huntingdon and the surrounding towns and villages, 32,200 houses are planned for construction from 2021 to 2046.
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houses → surround → 2046
Of these, 4,400 have already been completed and 11,300 have been granted permission.
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11,300 → complete → permission
Dismayed campaigners have claimed that councillors are blindly following the Government's housing target without considering the needs of existing residents.
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councillors → claim → residents
At one site, Alconbury Weald, 6,500 homes will be built – with development having started in 2014 and 1,000 properties already occupied – while Lodge Farm will see 4,900 new homes.
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Farm → build → homes
In the corridor between the towns of Huntingdon and St Ives, 4,000 will be built at Wyton Airfield as well as 3,800 at the Lattenburys.
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4,000 → build → Lattenburys
Meanwhile hundreds more will be constructed at several other sites in between and around the two towns.
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hundreds → construct → towns
However, only 26,650 people currently live in Huntingdon town and the population of St Ives is even smaller at 17,360, according to ONS figures.
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population → live → figures
Meanwhile a total of 190,619 people live across the district of Huntingdonshire.
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total → live → Huntingdonshire
But campaigners have claimed the plans could cause a population boom with 100,000 people moving to the area.
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people → claim → area
Ray Baxendale, 80, who has lived in Houghton since 1986, said: 'It's vandalism of the local area with the number of houses proposed to be built.
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It → live → houses
The damage this will do to the local community by imposing the population of a city on our area is beggars belief.
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this → do → belief
'We're talking about agricultural land being turned into thousands of new houses but we are the bread basket of Britain here.
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we → talk → Britain
I'm absolutely furious and we have been accused of being "Nimbys" which couldn't be further from the truth - but finding support for these plans is like finding a needle in a haystack.
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finding → accuse → haystack
A show home on a finished phase at Alconbury Weald where 6,500 homes will be built.
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homes → build → Weald
…and 63 more, not listed.
The Aporia
