Grantchester Parish Council loses High Court battle over greenway with Greater Cambridge Partnership

Grantchester Parish Council has lost its High Court battle with the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) over plans for a greenway route through the village.

The council challenged the GCP’s decision from January 2024 to construct the Haslingfield greenway through the centre of the village.

The greenway is one of a network of 12 planned by the GCP between Cambridge and surrounding villages to encourage cycling and walking.

But barristers for the parish council said it would cause harm to the historic village’s character and appearance and that an alternative route should be adopted..

In a ruling on Monday, Mrs Justice Lieven dismissed the challenge.

The judge said that the parish council was “supportive of the greenways proposal in principle but considers the ‘through Grantchester’ route to be unacceptable”.

The council argued that Cllr Bridget Smith, the Liberal Democrat leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council who at the time sat on the GCP’s executive board, had given a “binding commitment” in 2022 that the greenway would not run through the village if residents were opposed to it. But the GCP argued that no such commitment was given.

In a survey, 73 per cent of respondents in the village opposed the plan and preferred an alternative route that avoided its centre.

When it made its decision, the GCP’s board noted that in the overall feedback to its survey, a majority of people – 64 per cent – supported the route.

It was also suggested that if the alternative route was adopted, cyclists would use the village anyway as it would be more direct and quicker.

Mrs Justice Lieven found that Cllr Smith made “no binding promise of the requisite level of clarity and unequivocality”, adding that it would have been “a fairly extraordinary thing to do” had she done so.

The GCP previously argued that Cllr Smith had supported a second consultation for the route – which took place – but “did not suggest any resident group would have a veto.”

In April 2024, Thomas Fitzpatrick, head of GCP programme, said of the matter: “The route through Grantchester would provide the most direct connection between Haslingfield, Grantchester and Cambridge, and would also allow the M11 bridge to become step-free, therefore greatly improving accessibility for all users. The overall results from all respondents showed strong support (64 per cent) for the more direct, shorter and accessible route through Grantchester. We know from consultation that people want the most direct route between two places or they won’t use it.

“After the 2022 engagement, further design work with input from Grantchester Parish Council was developed to address suggestions which had been made. This work then went out to further public consultation in June-July last year [2023].

“While the majority of public supported the whole route, we know Grantchester resident respondents opposed this section of the route which is why officers continue to liaise with local stakeholders and the community so the greenway is sympathetic to the environment it runs through. We have responded to the parish council’s correspondence regarding a judicial review.”

The historic character of Grantchester, which was home to First World War poet Rupert Brooke, is now familiar to millions of viewers of ITV drama Grantchester, which was adapted from James Runcie’s Grantchester Mysteries novels.

The GCP and Grantchester Parish Council have been contacted for comment following the decision.