THREAD. @SouthCambs promised local residents and the Longstanton Parish Council that it would fund an independent investigation into the status of the Longstanton aquifer after the development at Northstowe caused every pond and well in the village to run dry.

2. Local residents were told that HR Wallingford would be contracted by the parish council to conduct an independent investigation, and residents were asked to submit evidence of water levels in their ponds and wells dating back, in some cases, for more than a decade.

3. As local residents started doing research and collecting evidence, we discovered not only that Northstowe’s drainage system was not built in accordance with the approved plans and that the plans approved by @SouthCambs were in part responsible for draining the aquifer.

4. We also found evidence that planning officers at @SouthCambs had been aware of these issues for years and had failed to take any enforcement action whatsoever despite more than five years of complaints by villagers.

5. Then, it was announced that HR Wallingford would, in fact, not be contracted by the parish council but would instead be working for @SouthCambs, the local planning authority blamed by many villagers for failing to protect the village’s natural environment.

6. Villagers were understandably angry that the evidence they voluntarily provided was now not being used not for an independent investigation but instead was being used to produce a report designed to protect @SouthCambs and developers from legal liability for their wrongdoing.

7. Local residents’ requests for information on the terms of reference for the HR Wallingford investigation and copies of instructions and communications between @SouthCambs and HR Wallingford were ignored or refused, contrary to the Environmental Information Regulations.

7. The parish council continued to support local residents, but then, sometime before 12 October, the chair of the parish council met privately with @SouthCambs chief exec @LizWatts101.

8. It’s unclear what promises or threats were made to the parish council at that meeting, but since then, the parish council no longer supports an independent investigation.

9. We want to know what promises or threats were made by @SouthCambs that caused the parish council to stop supporting our request for an independent investigation into the environmental destruction of our village.

10. We demand access to the details of @SouthCambs’ contract with HR Wallingford and all instructions to HR Wallingford. @SouthCambs is our local council, and we shouldn’t have to go to the ICO or the First Tier Tribunal in London just to get information from our local council.

11. We also demand the funding we were promised by @SouthCambs for a fully independent investigation into the status of the aquifer to be carried out by a qualified hydrologist of our choosing. END.