On Tuesday 17th March Friends of the Cam had a meeting with Daniel Zeichner as part of the Sewage Campaign Network Day in Parliament. The report of our meeting, as well as a report of an evening meeting focused on the Channel 4 drama-documentary Dirty Business hosted by Clive Lewis MP for Norwich South, is attached.
This is a critical time for Cambridge and its surrounding area as the Government is in the process of imposing an unelected body - the Greater Cambridge Development Corporation - on the city region. On Monday, 23rd March Cambridge Past Present and Future are hosting a discussion ‘Who Decides Cambridge’s Future’ and FotC’s steering group member (and Chair of FeCRA) Wendy Blythe is on the panel.
Friends of the Cam occasionally make presentations, including to community groups and students. Recent talks have included those to local Women's Institutes, Friends of Midsummer Common, University of Cambridge Student Environment Group and Anglia Ruskin students studying the rights of nature. We welcome invitations to speak. The attached presentation on Threats to the river Cam and what we can do about them will give some idea of content. Please feel free to quote, with acknowledgement.
Robert Macfarlane writes about his experience of Friends of the Cam’s river festival and declaration in his new book ‘Is A River Alive?’
One of the co-founders of Friends of the Cam, Tony Booth, stood for Chancellor of Cambridge University (Film explaining why here).
We were pleased to host Rob Larter on May 21st 2025, who spoke about how the West Antarctic Ice Sheet change is the largest source of uncertainty in future sea-level rise predictions and how accelerating sea-level rise impacts coastal erosion and the risk of coastal flooding events around East Anglia. A copy of Rob's slides can be found here. He highlighted how a relatively small rise in sea level has a disproportionate effect on the recurrence interval of extreme high wate
HOLD THE DATE: The 6th River Rights Festival will be held on Jesus Green on Sunday 21st June. More details coming soon!
The Federation of Cambridge Residents' Associations (FeCRA) hosted Peter Freeman, Chair of the Government’s new ‘Cambridge Growth Company’, to explain what his vision for the growth of Cambridge means for its infrastructure, water and housing, and this was an opportunity for us to question him directly. Friends of the Cam challenged the appropriateness of growth in our dry, increasingly hot, and water stressed region, which is also threatened by flooding from sea level rise.
The Financial Times' 'long read' ‘Can Cambridge be a model for kick-starting the British economy?' featured Friends of the Cam steering group member Wendy Blythe stressing the problems that the growth proposals will cause for the river and local communties.
Friends of the Cam are objecting to the plan to build a costly, unnecessary, fixed dedicated bus route from Cambridge (Grange Road) to Cambourne, via Coton, destroying a traditional orchard of national importance in the process. Friends of the Cam presented evidence to the Inquiry on September 30th. The case for the busway is being made by local County and District Councils, and the Greater Cambridge Partnership.