Agenda

A petition has been received containing over 50 valid signatures stating the following:

Statement:

We the undersigned petition the council revise its approach to the Ekin Road development project, in order to properly assess the impact of the current proposal options on the wellbeing of its current residents.

Justification:

After two very difficult years of covid lockdowns and restrictions, and now a significant cost-of-living crisis, many residents of the Ekin Road estate are already suffering immensely. The Council must understand this suffering, and whether any of the proposals for the estate will further damage the wellbeing of residents, BEFORE proceeding with any other development investigation. The health and wellbeing of residents should not come second to administrative matters such as planning permission or financing of the project. We are not here to serve our Council; our Council is here to serve us, the people of Cambridge.

In light of this, and in reference to the options presented to residents in March 2023 (a summary of which can be found at https://ekinroad.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Meeting-presentation-March.pdf ), we ask that the Council carry out the following:

1. To urgently review the current proposals for the development of the Ekin Road estate on the basis that there has still been no study carried out on the impact of such proposals on the wellbeing and mental health of all residents concerned.

2. To conduct a full and comprehensive study of all estate residents to ascertain what harms or benefits will come to them as a result of each proposal for the estate, before any further investigative work is carried out.

3. To temporarily shelve all proposals that involve the demolition of any structures on the estate and instead fully investigate refurbishment options first and foremost. This is on the basis that most demolition proposals involve the complete, unnecessary, and wanton destruction of perfectly good family homes which residents, some of whom have lived there for more than 60 years, have no desire to leave.

It is the view of the undersigned that the Council might consider dismissing altogether any proposals for the Ekin Road estate that involve the destruction of any semi-detached family homes, as several would either need to be forcibly acquired from freeholders who strongly oppose any such acquisition, or involve the eviction of long-term council tenants who strongly oppose losing their homes.

The petition organiser will be given 5 minutes to present the petition at the meeting and the petition will then be discussed by Councillors for a maximum of 15 minutes.

Appendices 1 and 2 to the report relates to information which following a public interest test the public is likely to be excluded by virtue of paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972