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Barratt has won its appeal against the planning refusal of a 1,000-home scheme in Cambridge on the advice of the Environment Agency.

Darwin Green was rejected by the South Cambridgeshire and Cambridge City Council鈥檚 joint development committee last November after being warned that the scheme鈥檚 water supply demand posed a significant risk of deterioration to water bodies in the region. 

However, a letter sent from the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government on Wednesday this week revealed that the government had overturned the local authority鈥檚 decision.

According to the letter, the decision was made by Rushanara Ali, minister for building safety and homelessness, who supported the recommendation made by the Planning Inspector.

The Planning Inspector said that while it did not find all of the Environment Agency鈥檚 evidence 鈥渃ompelling鈥�, it was satisfied that the weight of evidence suggested that abstraction pressure is contributing to ecological deterioration.

However it concluded that the cause of this abstraction pressure could be linked definitively with the scheme.

鈥淚t is common ground that the impact in terms of water demand will be felt cumulatively with abstraction also needed to serve other planned growth and it is not possible to isolate the exact location of abstraction serving the appeal proposal,鈥� it said.

>> See also: A vision for 150,000 homes but no water to supply them. Does Gove鈥檚 Cambridge 2040 plan stand a chance?

It added that the government had confirmed that the availability of a sustainable water resource 鈥渘eed not be an impediment to the consideration of planning permissions envisaged in Local Plans鈥�.

The secretary of state agreed with the Planning Inspectorate鈥檚 conclusions and said that 鈥渁ppeal scheme is not in conflict with any development plan policies, and is in accordance with the development plan overall鈥�.

The Planning Inspectorate said that if the secretary of state 鈥渃oncludes that water demand would have unacceptable consequences for water supply and quality鈥� then they may wish to impose an additional planning condition that would delay the occupation of the development until a new pipeline to transfer water from Grafham Reservoir into Cambridge Water鈥檚 supply zone was operational.

The secretary of state considered that such a condition was 鈥渘ot necessary鈥�.