The village alreay experiences the highest number of sewage spillages in the region
A council has approved plans for new homes despite fears from residents of increased sewage spills in a village already suffering from the worst spills in the area.
Huntingdonshire District Council’s development management committee met to decide an outline plan for up to 70 homes on land south of Blenheim Grove in Offord D’Arcy. Offord Cluny and Offord Darcy Parish Council had objected to the plans as they said wastewater treatment plants were already suffering from “capacity problems”.
Simon Young, a parish councillor, said figures from the Environment Agency show that Buckden has an average of 116 raw sewage discharges per year. He said this is 66 per cent higher than the second on the list – Kimbolton at 70 – and four times higher than the average across Huntingdonshire.
He said the villages have “long-been a supporter” of “appropriate developments” but that Anglian Water’s infrastructure is “not fit for purpose”. Anglian Water originally objected to the application in 2025, but this was because the applicant had not identified a suitable connection point to their network.
After two connection points were suggested, they removed their objection. They had always said there was “sufficient capacity” at the nearby Buckden Water Recycling Centre to accommodate the new homes after assessing dry weather flow.
Cllr Young said: “The Buckden Works was discharging raw sewage on August 13, when we all know there’d been no rain for weeks. And the ten hours of discharges in June came after recent light rain – or almost no rain for days. As far as I’m aware, Buckden and the Offords do not have their own microclimate such that it rains more here.”
Cllr Julie Kerr, of St Ives West, said she was “very concerned” by the “high numbers of spillages”.
The independent councillor said: “There really shouldn’t have been any and you have a very poor network by the sounds of it in a village that’s already struggling.”
Council officers advised that it would be “very difficult” to go against the advice of Anglian Water as they do not have the “technical expertise” to be able to defend their decision on appeal.
Cllr Tom Sanderson, of The Stukeleys, said they would not be able to use their decision to “deal with an existing issue”.
The Liberal Democrat councillor said: “Particularly as Anglian Water haven’t raised an objection now, they withdrew the objection they did have, I think it would be very difficult for us to object on that basis.”
Cllr Lara Davenport-Ray said she felt the benefits of the scheme did not outweigh the harms.
The Green councillor said: “If Anglian Water is saying that they have capacity and that there is no problem, then there is no condition that we can word to mitigate a problem that on paper doesn’t exist. Our officers cannot identify harm because they haven’t been shown that there is any harm that’s been created because their experts have failed to do so, but we can.”
The committee first reached an impasse with five votes for and against the application and three abstentions – but it was approved on the second attempt with six for, four against and three abstentions.
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