Date set for court battle over cycle path through Grantchester

Grantchester Parish Council is set to take the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) to a judicial review in March over a decision to route a controversial greenway cycle path through the centre of the village.

The decision to send the Haslingfield Greenway cycle route through Grantchester was made by the GCP in January 2024, despite a survey finding 73 per cent of respondents in the village opposed the plan and preferred an alternative route that avoided its centre.

The case will hang on whether South Cambridgeshire District Council’s Liberal Democrat leader, Cllr Bridget Smith, gave an assurance to the parish council that if the majority of the village voted against the route through Grantchester it would not be “imposed” on the village.

The council has been granted a three-day hearing, starting on 25 March, and will have the opportunity to cross-examine GCP chief executive Peter Blake and Cllr Smith.

In the order granting the judicial review, the Honourable Mrs Justice Lang writes: “The court should seek to determine whether Ms Smith made a clear and unambiguous promise, purportedly on behalf of the defendant, that a

‘through Grantchester’ cycle route would not be imposed on Grantchester if its residents were against it, at the meeting with the claimant on 17 October, 2022. The claimant asserts that this promise was made; the defendant denies any such promise was made.”

The parish council’s lawyers will cross-examine Cllr Smith and Mr Blake. Meanwhile, the GCP will have the opportunity to cross-examine the council’s witnesses, parish council chair Lesley Sherratt, vice chair Joshua Newman and Cllr Sarah Greaves.

At a meeting on 4 January, 2024, the GCP executive board supported proposals for the Haslingfield Greenway project, which aims to create a “sustainable travel corridor” between Haslingfield and Cambridge for cycling and walking.

The route is one of the 12 greenways from the GCP, which aim to enable those around Cambridge to travel into the city without using a car.

The parish council had suggested alternatives that would have gone around the historic village. But the GCP’s board noted that in the overall feedback to its survey, a majority of people – 64 per cent – supported the route.

A GCP spokesperson said: “While the majority of public supported the whole of the Haslingfield Greenway route, we know Grantchester resident respondents opposed a section of the greenway.

“Grantchester Parish Council indicated they were submitting a judicial review on the scheme and we will present our case at the substantive hearing.

“As confirmed in an answer which Peter Blake gave at a GCP joint assembly meeting in 2024, the recollection of the meeting with Grantchester Parish Council was that a second consultation for the route was supported – which has since taken place – but did not suggest any resident group would have a veto.”