Battle over 'stealth' plans for 30,000 new homes: Council accused of rushing through huge development amid fears it will threaten services and 'limit water usage'

'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'.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. 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. 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.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.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'.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)'But introducing roughly 30,000 new homes without a plan for local infrastructure is crazy. This will be the destruction of Huntingdon if we're not careful.''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.'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.'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.'It's happening already because we're in a growing area but it's going unnoticed. 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.'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.'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.'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.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?"'There is a fear that we'll be waiting for these new facilities but that they won't be built. The infrastructure needs to come first, otherwise it won't happen.'Meanwhile the narrow countryside roads and town centres could 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.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'. New sewage infrastructure being put in across Lodge Farm in preparation for new housing on Alconbury Weald and Lodge Farm housing 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 populationThe 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.'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. Around Huntingdon and the surrounding towns and villages, 32,200 houses are planned for construction from 2021 to 2046. Of these, 4,400 have already been completed and 11,300 have been granted permission. Dismayed campaigners have claimed that councillors are blindly following the Government's housing target without considering the needs of existing 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.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.Meanwhile hundreds more will be constructed at several other sites in between and around the two 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. Meanwhile a total of 190,619 people live across the district of Huntingdonshire. But campaigners have claimed the plans could cause a population boom with 100,000 people moving to the 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.'The damage this will do to the local community by imposing the population of a city on our area is beggars belief. It's political mismanagement and naivety, it's crazy.'We're talking about agricultural land being turned into thousands of new houses but we are the bread basket of Britain here.'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. A show home on a finished phase at Alconbury Weald where 6,500 homes will be built. The development started in 2014 and 1,000 properties are already occupied Ground work begins on the next phase of the Alconbury Weald development There will be 4,900 new homes built through a development at Lodge Farm. Around Huntingdon and the surrounding towns and villages, 32,200 houses are planned for construction from 2021 to 2046'I find the democratic deficit at the district council to be incredible. The consultation on these plans has been very suppressed and only now are residents waking up to what's going on but it could be too late.'Mr Baxendale claimed there is 'no evidence for how the proposals are deliverable', adding that he feels 'pain, anger and frustration' as a resident of 40 years.According to the Pause the Plan campaign group, a district‑wide survey of more than 1,000 people showed that over 90 per cent of respondents do not trust the evidence base behind the draft proposals and 93 per cent said they should not be fixed until clearer evidence is available.Meanwhile 80 per cent cited road congestion and almost 70 per cent said they were concerned about raising water and wastewater limits.Nearly 60 per cent pointed to pressure on schools, healthcare and the impact on the countryside and farmland.Mr Baxendale told the Mail: 'Congestion is the number one issue but we're also the driest area in the UK and the water authority has said [to expect] different demand for the existing population.'The implications for water are horrendous, it could start a revolution.'The GP surgeries and hospitals are at absolute capacity. There's a seven-hour wait in A&E for a real emergency and, as for GPs, you already have to wait ten days for blood test results.'Accessibility to the NHS here is comparable to third-world country standards and it's a deteriorating situation. It's unimaginable.'But I can't see developers being willing to invest in these sites because the risk is too great, particularly when the plan talks about the cost of the infrastructure. I don't know where the money will come from.'Campaigners insist they are not 'Nimbys'. In fact, quite the opposite. Residents who object to the current plans have said they would support the proposals if the doctors' surgeries, hospitals and schools were developed alongside the tens of thousands of new homes.They are also furious that the plans come after the Government identified Huntingdonshire as a 'high growth area' and then raised its housing target by 50 per cent, Lib Dem councillor Brett Mickelburgh told the town hall. However, the community will be destroyed without these vital public services – particularly when many are already on their knees, residents said.Audra Green, 59, who has lived in Hemingford Abbots for 30 years, said: 'I've lived in this beautiful part of the world since 1996 and I'm not averse to change but frustrated by the number of homes planned for the area. There doesn't seem to be any joined up thinking.'Our biggest concern is the impact on local infrastructure - roads, GP surgeries, school places, water capacity. There doesn't seem to be plans for any of that.'It's really scary if you look at the roads, for example, because we can't cope with the amount of congestion we have already, let alone if thousands more people move to the area.'It will have a huge impact because it will just be gridlock. The road network is crumbling.''The area is also regularly flooded and we have a Victorian drainage system which is always under pressure and collapses.'Last year we had so many problems, people ended up with sewage in their gardens and there were sinkholes too. Our infrastructure just cannot cope.'Ms Green pointed to recent plans in the nearby town of Northstowe. Despite South Cambridgeshire District Council granting planning permission for a new Lidl supermarket, Anglian Water objected to the development saying it 'lacks the capacity'. According to the Pause the Plan campaign group, a district‑wide survey of more than 1,000 people showed that over 90 per cent of respondents do not trust the evidence base behind the draft proposals(Pictured: Building work at Alconbury Weald) Dismayed campaigners claim councillors are blindly following the Government's housing target without considering the needs of residentsThe utility company added that its nearby water recycling waste centre at Uttons Drose could not accommodate more sewage and that the development would be unsustainable due to environmental risks and increased discharge rates, which could cause the water quality to deteriorate. Ms Green added that doctors' surgeries and hospitals are already on the brink of collapse, with specialist referrals and A&E wait times already overstretched to treat the existing population.She said: 'GPs are overworked, underfunded and the waiting times that people are experiencing are dreadful. Our GP surgeries are at breaking point.'I had to wait 14 months just to get a dermatology appointment and I'm currently on a 30 to 40-week waiting list for another thing so I paid to go private instead.'If you have to wait 14 months, something is very, very wrong. It's beyond beggars belief that the council expects to build all these houses without new infrastructure.'The system is already creaking, building this amount of houses - how will that work?'Hemingford Abbots is a 1,000-year-old settlement and we only have about 300 homes. But across the main road there are now plans for 3,800 houses. Where does that leave us?'Ms Green added that it's hard for residents to put faith in the housing plan because 'developers are not accountable'.She said: 'There is no incentive for them to do more building when we don't know if these houses are going to be filled.'It's the same with the schools - they won't be built in case people move into those homes. It's farcical and infuriating because so much money is being wasted over this debacle.Ms Green added: 'It feels like these plans are being pushed through by stealth, it's an absolute disgrace.'But councillors have described the plans as an 'unavoidable reality', much to the dismay of campaigners.On September 9, Huntingdonshire District Council approved the proposals. After the motion passed with a majority of 25 to 17, and eight abstentions, a six-week consultation will now be undertaken.Overall 32,200 homes will be constructed over the next 25 years - of which 4,400 have already been completed and 11,300 have been granted permission.Conservative councillor David Keane said after the vote: 'Most of us don't particularly like change, unless we've chosen it.'But there's one unavoidable reality: we do need homes.'However, the Liberal Democrat-run local authority has not received unanimous support for its plans.Reform councillor Peter Gammons described the number of houses as 'outrageous' as the target would be 33 per cent higher than the national average - which sits at between 22 and 25 per cent.He said: 'It would be a betrayal of the residents who voted for us and already angry at the disappearing of their communities.'Sarah Conboy, leader of Huntingdonshire District Council, told the Daily Mail: 'The Local Plan is vital to ensuring development across our district is well planned, sustainable and delivers the homes, jobs and infrastructure our communities need. 'To contribute towards the Government's aspirations to build 1.5million new homes during this parliament we are required to allocate enough new homes to meet the housing target set for us through the Government's standard method for calculating them. 'This includes an uplift to promote housing affordability. We are building a strong evidence base to support the plan and demonstrate that our proposed strategy and site allocations are both justified and deliverable. 'I encourage residents, businesses and community groups to take part in the consultation from 16 September to 28 October and have their say. 'This is an important opportunity to help shape a sustainable future for our district.' A spokesman for Anglian Water said: 'Our region is one of the fastest-growing in the country, it's also one of the driest. 'We're investing in a multi-billion pound programme of new reservoirs and pipelines to help deliver the Government's ambitions for housing growth.'But to ensure we’re safeguarding supplies for existing customers and protecting the environment, we also need to ensure that designs for new homes include water-efficient appliances, as well as technologies such as rainwater harvesting and greywater recycling systems.'Working with other water companies and Government agencies like the Environment Agency, we've developed standards we’d like to see applied to new homes, and it's these standards we've asked to be included in Huntingdonshire District Council's plans. 'This isn't about placing restrictions on existing customers, it's about designing the homes we build in future to be as water efficient as possible. 'Our customers are amongst the most water efficient in the country, and we've especially seen that in how customers have responded to the drought this summer. 'We're asking that councils and Government support the efforts our customers are making by requiring new homes to be built in a way that saves water.'Do YOU have a story? Email William.G.Hallowell@dailymail.co.uk