Stapleford and Shelford environment news from campaign group 2G3S

May update

Litter Pick – we held a litter pick in March with the allotment group, kindly organised by Juliet Hawksworth, and collected a variety of unwanted items and several black bags of litter, see photos. Thank you to Judith for arranging the pick and the social on the allotments afterwards, but what a shame these picks are necessary.

Neighbourhood Plan Conversation Evening – Jenny Flynn, the leader of the group that drew up the plan and steered it through the referendum, gave us a very clear explanation of what is in it and how it can work. She urged us to get involved, to check local councils were taking note of the NP when looking at planning applications. There are also practical things we can do to look after local green spaces, and to ensure that maps and information used in planning applications are accurate. Maybe with the state of the world it’s best to concentrate on our corner of it and try and improve the environment and build a strong and caring community.

Dr Bike continues to hold its volunteer-run weekly bike repair sessions at the Old Slaughterhouse in Stapleford, 3pm-5.30pm every Tuesday. For more information and to book a slot, contact drbikestapleford@gmail.com.

Greater Cambridge Development Corporation – move over GCP…. You have probably heard about the proposal to form a DC, to drive the development the government wants in this area. There was a consultation which closed in early April, and we commented on it. We were concerned about the pressure on water supply and disposal, the pressure on green spaces, and the lack of local democracy. They would be able to acquire land, plan infrastructure, housing, and so on, overriding housing targets in councils’ Local Plans. There will be some local democratic involvement but also a lot of expert members on the Board. If there is further consultation I urge you to take part. We want some control over what happens in our area.

Citizens Assemblies – these are a good way to engage the public in issues such as climate change and what can be done about it. A group of people are selected to represent different ages and regions of the country, and they will have greatly differing views on the issues. Over a period of time they see presentations and talks from experts in the field, and take part in discussions to choose what policies they would favour. The discussions force people to choose, to realise that there are trade-offs and compromises to be made in the real world. Government needs to take the outcomes of these assemblies seriously, as their conclusions are only reached as a result of being well-informed and taking part in in-depth discussions. Democracy in action.

If you are interested in green matters and the environment, send an email to mail2G3S@gmail.com to sign up for our monthly newsletter, or to get more information about our meetings. We welcome anyone who wants to come along to one of our events or to find out more about how we can live sustainably. Also see our Facebook page and our website 2g3s.staplefordvillage.org.uk/.

Helen Hale

Posted April 16 2026

Environment April update

Dr Bike continues to hold its volunteer-run weekly bike repair sessions at the Old Slaughterhouse in Stapleford, 3pm to 5.30pm every Tuesday. Children are welcome to come and learn how to look after their bikes and do simple maintenance and repairs, but please attend with them (for safeguarding reasons). For more information, contact drbikestapleford@gmail.com. You can also book a time slot at that address, though this is not essential. The Saturday sessions will resume later in Spring.

You may have seen some ‘Dr Bike’ sessions advertised to run in a number of villages, the nearest to us being in Sawston on Thursday 9 April and Monday 1 June, at Mill Lane Pavilion car park, 11am to 3pm. These are run by Cambridgeshire County Council, not by us. They do the same thing, so please use them if it’s more convenient for you. You’ll need to book at tinyurl.com/drbike2026.

Repair Café: the next one of these in our area is at Whittlesford URC on Saturday 25 April from 2pm-5pm. Booking is through the Cambridge Carbon Footprint website. We strongly urge you to book a slot in advance – at our last café at Great Shelford Free Church all slots were booked up before the day, and ‘walk-ins’ only got a repair done because there were a few ‘no-shows’.

Local news:

Good news that Stapleford Parish Council is forming a Sustainability Working Group, to look at all sorts of ways to support biodiversity and reduce carbon emissions in the village. It will include an emergency response plan, to use in the event of flooding or wildfires (remember the one behind Gog Magog Way and Mingle Lane last summer?). We look forward to working with them.
Swift boxes – you may remember I mentioned a local group was being set up to promote and enable these nesting boxes to be fitted in local villages. Shelford and Stapleford’s turn has come, so please contact Helen Harwood on 840393, or email helen_harwood_uk@yahoo.co.uk if you’re interested. They also have nesting cups for house martins. Thanks are due to the relevant Parish Councils for funding these.
Our MP, Pippa Heylings, had the opportunity to present a 10 Minute Bill to Parliament on 25 February. She is calling for UK chalk streams to be nominated as a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site. As you probably know, 85% of the world’s chalk streams are found in the UK, and a large number of these are found in East Anglia. If they were to get UNESCO designation they would be protected from over-abstraction and also sewage pollution by the water companies, both of which happen frequently at present.
You will recall I discussed the National Emergency Briefings on Climate and Nature in previous articles. There is now a film made of these briefings, and there will be a showing and discussion in Cambridge on Saturday 18 April at 6pm at ARU. Tickets can be obtained on bit.ly/pebcambs, and other local showings may be arranged in due course and will appear on that website.

Future of Water: on the theme of water, we held a conversation evening in January on this topic. I know we’ve had a wet winter, but we have a chronic shortage in this area. It was noted that there is a move to establish a Cambridge Development Corporation, with an ambitious agenda for growth and development in Cambridge and the surrounding area between now and 2050, with goals for increases in residential accommodation as well as business developments. Any such developments will inevitably increase pressure on water resources.

An example of how the water issue is being treated in planning policy at present is Darwin Green, a proposed development for which planning permission was originally denied due to objections by the Environment Agency that there was not enough water available. In order to overcome this objection, the government advised that water credits and future developments in water availability should be taken into account, along with the expected date of occupancy of the new homes, resulting in the development being given the go ahead, despite the concerns of local councillors that the new reservoir was unlikely to be in place in time and that the effectiveness of water credits is unproven.

The first of the two invited speakers was Vicky Thatcher, head of Water Strategy and Environment at Cambridge Water. Cambridge Water, as the provider of our drinking water, is regulated by OFWAT, the Environment Agency, and the Drinking Water Inspectorate. Cambridge Water is granted a licence (“derogation”) to abstract a certain quantity of water from the underground chalk aquifer per year. This amount is reviewed every 5 years, and the company would be liable to a fine if this limit were exceeded. The plan for the next 25 years sees a growing gap between available supply and demand, due to growing demand and also an expected reduction in the quantity of water that Cambridge Water is licenced to abstract in future. The EA require this amount to reduce due to climate change and other factors so that the level of damage to the environment caused by abstraction does not grow worse. About 1/3 of this gap is to be addressed by reduced demand per customer, with the remaining 2/3 covered by two additional sources: the Fenland Reservoir (scheduled for completion in 2037 but many people expect that the project will overrun) and a pipeline bringing water from Graffham Water, currently planned to go onstream in 2032.

Customers of Cambridge Water consume on average 119 litres/day per person , a little lower than the average consumption in the UK (but still too high). The Cambridge area has a relatively high proportion of properties having water meters: over 80%. Cambridge Water is intending to raise this proportion to close to 100% over the next 5-10 years. Several members of the audience noted that they consume only about 70 litres/person/day – Vicky claimed her own usage was similar. Cambridge Water aim to achieve the reduction in average consumption by a combination of public information to change behaviour, making clear what’s normal and what is required (peer pressure etc), and by identifying anomalously high water readings (or sudden changes) that indicate a leak, and taking action to eliminate it. This includes informing and visiting properties to identify the cause. “Leaking loos”, where a constant stream of water runs from the cistern into the toilet bowl, are a common cause of high consumption and can be undetected by the occupant if not looked for. In previous articles I have suggested ways to reduce your water consumption: don’t always flush the loo, use water butts and save kitchen water for watering the garden, take quick showers not deep baths, don’t use a hose to water the garden, and throw used water on the garden not down the drain. If you plan an extension, think about designing the gutters to discharge rainwater to a soakaway rather than down into the drains. This sends water down into the aquifer rather than into the sewage system.

The second speaker was Yair Perry of Water Sensitive Cambridge, who design and install rain gardens and other ways of rainwater harvesting, to reduce risk of flooding and where possible prevent pollution of waterways from excessive run off from hard surfaces. Their slogan is “Let’s keep more rain out of the drain”. Yair described how WSC had successfully mitigated road flooding in Chesterton by installing a roadside rain garden, and talked about their programme of installations in schools, notably the Icknield Primary School in Sawston, where pupils can learn about the issues and participate in the planting of the rain gardens. Their “Slow Flow” planters, possibly combined with a water butt, are designed for capturing water from downpipes in residential and other buildings, absorbing rain that would otherwise run off during heavy showers (where a water butt alone would not prevent this once full). (Thanks to Peter Woods for much of this article).

If you are interested in green matters and the environment at all levels (individual, local, national, international), send an email to mail2G3S@gmail.com to sign up for our monthly newsletter, or to get more information about our meetings. We are a friendly group and welcome anyone who wants to come along to one of our events or to find out more about how we can live sustainably. Also see our Facebook page and our website 2g3s.staplefordvillage.org.uk/. Helen Hale

Posted March 24 2026

Food Waste Caddies

Food waste caddie collections will start in Stapleford and the Shelfords in June.

South Cambs Council is going to introduce free weekly collections of food waste later this year. The Government has passed legislation to reduce emissions from food waste by tasking councils to collect it regularly.

Food waste squanders energy and effort used in its production, and produces methane as it rots if it’s in landfill. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas.

Whilst we have always been able to put our food waste in the green bins in South Cambs, the green bin waste is composted, which is less effective than sending the food waste to a biodigester. The new bins will be able to take all food scraps, meat bones, egg shells, teabags, etc, and research suggests that separating out food waste results in a much better compliance rate.

You will get a small caddie for the kitchen (no need to use a liner bag, save plastic.)

A paper bag or newspaper will be OK if you prefer a liner), and a bigger one to put out for the refuse collectors.

Here is something you can do to help the planet. Of course, it’s even better if you can compost your veg scraps. And even better to create less waste to start with, by using leftovers in soups, curries etc, see lovefoodhatewaste.com for recipe ideas.

Helen Hale

Posted Feb 17 2026

Dr Bike workshops update

2G3S run their own weekly workshops,every Tuesday afternoon in Stapleford, under the name "Dr Bike Stapleford".

But the term "Dr Bike" is used by other similar groups that are nothing to do with our Stapleford workshops.

In particular, there are three South Cambs DC-funded Dr Bike sessions being offered in Pampisford Village Hall on 9th March, 9th April and 1st June as well as other locations in South Cambridgeshire on other dates.

You can find out more about these sessions at https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=876905885319963&set=g.252172550607524

Just to be clear, these are not related to 2G3S or the Stapleford workshops, but we are happy to advertise them as they offer a similar service. None of the Pampisford dates clashes with our Tuesday workshops, so they do provide an alternative way of getting your bike checked out or fixed.

Here are the details of our own "Dr Bike Stapleford" sessions. These are volunteer-run weekly Bike Repair workshops held at the Old Slaughterhouse in Stapleford (on Church Street near the Three Horseshoes pub). The workshops open every Tuesday at 3 pm and run to around 5:30 pm depending on how busy we are.

At all the Dr Bike Stapleford sessions we offer a free 23-point check, and we can do minor repairs for a donation (just to help us maintain a stock of commonly used spares).

Children are welcome but must bring a responsible adult with them as well as their bike. We can’t undertake work on e-Bike electrics, but we can deal with the non-electrical aspects of e-bikes such as brakes. Some of our volunteers are experienced in hydraulic bike brake repairs/fluid change.

If you are interested in joining our team of volunteers, or have any questions on Dr Bike Stapleford, get in touch using drbikestapleford@gmail.com.

Stapleford and Shelford environment news from campaign group 2G3S

Repair Café – our next one will be on Saturday 7 February at Great Shelford Free Church, 2pm-5pm. Do try and book your repair in advance, bookings can be made at cambridgecarbonfootprint.org/events. This helps us plan our schedule so we can avoid people having to wait, and also means we can do our homework in advance to assess the repair.

We can tackle a wide variety of repairs including jewellery, electrical and electronic devices, as well as clothes and fabrics. The repairers are brilliant and can fix a lot of things but there are no guarantees. Please note that we will not be able to replace cracked screens on phones or tablets. But we will collect small portable non-working (unfixable) electrical items and ensure these are properly disposed of.

If anyone would be interested in helping on the admin side of things, please email us on the address below.

Planning Meeting – our next planning meeting is on Thursday 19 February at 8pm at the community room in Cox’s Close, Stapleford, where we will be arranging our upcoming events. Do come along and meet us, find out what we’re up to and suggest activities or meetings you might like us to run.

Book Club – our next meeting, at 8pm in the Three Horseshoes in Stapleford, is on Tuesday 24 February. The book is ‘Urban Jungle: The History and Future of Nature in the City’ by Ben Wilson. As so many people live in cities they cannot be forgotten, we all need access to green space, and cities somehow have to contribute to reducing the climate crisis.

Neighbourhood Plan for Stapleford and Great Shelford – you will recall this was passed by residents with a resounding YES at the referendum in 2025, and we are arranging a meeting in March where the Chair of the steering committee, Jenny Flynn, our District Councillor Peter Fane, and the two relevant Parish Councils will come and discuss with us how the Plan will be implemented and what we can do to help. More details in the next magazine and on our website soon.

Thermal Cameras – you may have read about these in the last magazine. Cambridge Carbon Footprint are offering another opportunity to borrow and learn how to use a thermal imaging camera for free, for residents and organizations across Cambridgeshire. Join a free one-hour online training session to learn how to interpret thermal images, identify draughts, gaps in insulation, and heating problems, and to make your home cosier and more energy efficient. Great for homeowners and renters alike! The next date for training is Monday 9 February 7.30pm-8.30pm. To book, go on the Eventbrite site and search Thermal Imaging Training.

CCF can only lend thermal cameras to people who have attended the training. Loan periods are: Fri pm to Mon am, or Mon pm to Fri am, and cameras can be picked up from one of 18 volunteer camera hosts around the local area. I think our nearest one is in Whittlesford. More information, and interviews with experts, volunteers and organisers can be arranged on request. Contact Fran Sutton at fran@cambridgecarbonfootprint.org 07713 841391.

Organic Gardening Course at Sawston Village College from 2 February. Ross Lilley will be running a 4-week fruit and veg evening course looking at how to get our allotments and gardens ready for the new growing season. For further details and to register for the course, see the SVC website under Grow Your Own: Fruit and Vegetable Gardening. It will be on Mondays from 7pm to 9pm. Ross is also running a one-day workshop on seed saving and sowing, on 7 March – see the SVC website.

National Emergency Briefing - on 27 November last year, unfortunately on the same day as the budget so you probably didn’t notice, a group of the UK’s leading experts briefed an invited audience of over 1,200 with the latest implications of the climate and nature crises for health, food, national security and the UK economy. Many MPs were there, including our own Pippa Heylings.

The briefing was chaired by Professor Mike Berners Lee. You can watch his introduction, and also listen to all of the expert briefings, on the National Emergency Briefing website. Once you have taken in their sobering advice, you may well want to sign a petition asking for a televised briefing, to bring it to everyone’s notice what the situation is, and how we can be prepared. Those in public office have a responsibility to tackle this.

Posted Jan 9 2026

Environment update from local campaign group 2G3S

Repair cafe

Great Shelford Free Church 2pm - 5pm - 7th February 2026

Bring along your broken item and a skilled volunteer will help you fix it! We can tackle a wide variety of repairs including electrical and electronic devices, as well as clothes and fabrics.

Please do book in your item for repair – this helps us plan our schedule so we can avoid people having to wait, and also means we can do our homework in advance to assess the repair. The link to the booking form can be found on the event page on the CCF website here, and also on the 2G3S website.

Bookings will open on 13th December, and will close on the Monday before the event (2nd Feb) or earlier if we reach full capacity.

Please note that we will not be able to replace cracked screens on phones or tablets. The repairers are brilliant and can fix a lot of things but there are no guarantees.

We will collect portable non-working (unfixable) electrical items and ensure these are properly disposed of.

We are always busiest when the cafe opens at 2pm – best to aim to arrive on time for your booked slot if you have one, or anytime between 2:15 and 4:15 if you don’t have a booking.

You can read more about what happens at a repair cafe in our blog post.

Posted Dec 1 2025

Planning Meeting – our next planning meeting is on Monday 5 January at the community room in Cox’s Close, Stapleford, where we will be arranging our upcoming events. Do come along and meet us, and suggest activities you might like us to do.

The Future of Water – we are organising a conversation evening about water, a very important issue around here. We will have speakers from Cambridge Water and Cam Valley Forum (or another water quality organisation), and our councillor Peter Fane will talk about planning issues. It will be on Thursday 22 January at 8pm at Cox’s Close Community Room in Stapleford. Check our website or Facebook page nearer the time to confirm details.

Good News evening – we held this event at the end of November, and people came along with items of good news and shared them over refreshments. We all felt a little more cheerful about the state of the environment and had hope for the world by the end of the evening. We heard about groups of people getting together to change things, such that more traction is building to bring about change at government level. At international level we considered how although COP30 didn’t achieve much in relation to phasing out fossil fuels, there was progress for indigenous groups’ voices to be heard. Jonathan Porritt, a well-known green campaigner for many years, has written that solar and other renewables will promote energy security, democracy, fairness, and reducing climate change, referring us to evidence that this will be so. The magazine ‘Positive News’ discusses lots of issues such as these and can be seen at Cara Café in Great Shelford (care of one of our members). We heard about an artist with Cambridge Carbon Footprint, Hilary Cox Condron, who has designed the mural on a bridge along the Chisholm Trail. She has also worked with local schools to express through art their lives, what they love about where they live and about nature, and their dreams for the future, including making pledges to improve their local environment in some way. What the primary school children said in her video was very impressive, so articulate and informed. Another member reported on how a group of villagers in Fowlmere have collated the times of the various different buses that call in the village to make one simple timetable, which they posted through every letterbox and displayed at the bus stops. Bus usage has increased since this has been done, thus helping to ensure the bus services continue to be run in the future. And locally, we heard from the Stapleford Tree Project, which has planted well over 100 trees around the village, mostly on public land such as verges or street corners, and at the primary school with the help of children, and are continuing to plant this season. Stapleford St Andrew’s church has a link with a church of the same name in Nachingwea, Tanzania, and for many years they have raised money to support projects to help life in the African village and its surroundings improve, from donating bicycles, sewing machines, school libraries, educating girls, and a number of other projects that have been identified by people in the two villages communicating and visiting. Most recently they have facilitated the setting up of a women’s group to meet regularly and make sanitary towels that can be washed out and reused. Girls used to miss school because they didn’t have adequate protection, and it’s a big societal step that the women can meet regularly and talk about periods, contraception, and other problems that were considered taboo.

It was heartening to talk to people who have got up and done something to help make the world a fairer, greener, kinder place to be. Perhaps, thinking about new year resolutions, we could all be kinder to each other and our surroundings, consume less, and spend our money wisely.
Greater Cambridge Local Plan - Cambridge City Council and SCDC have released a draft of the new local plan for ‘Greater Cambridge’ for the next 20 years. This includes, in our part of South Cambs, small housing developments, a new settlement of 6,000 houses near Little Abington, expansion of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus into the Cambridge Green Belt and plans for large logistics warehouses adjacent to the A14 and A11. There is obviously a risk that these further conversions of countryside and farmland into built environment will increase pressure on water resources and cause a loss of habitat for wildlife. More information can be found at Greater Cambridge Shared Planning. A public consultation on the draft plan runs until 30 January, so do voice your concerns if you have them.
If you are interested in green matters and the environment at all levels (individual, local, national, international), send an email to mail2G3S@gmail.com to sign up for our monthly newsletter, or to get more information about our meetings. We are a friendly group and welcome anyone who wants to come along to one of our events or to find out more about how we can live sustainably. Also see our Facebook page and our website 2g3s.staplefordvillage.org.uk/. Helen Hale

Posted Dec 12 2025

Stapleford environment news

What can go in my green bin?

Yes:

Garden waste, like grass cuttings and leaves
Untreated wood
Straw and sawdust
Food waste including meat, fish, dairy, cooked food, fruit and vegetable peelings. (Wrap in paper bags or newspaper - not compostable 'plastic' bags)
Cooled wood ash, bagged in a paper sack
Used paper tissues and kitchen paper

No:

Any plastic
Plastic type bags/sacks and biodegradable/compostable 'plastic' food waste bags
Cat or dog waste
Soil, stones or turf
Treated wood
Rubble
Loose ash of any kind, and coal ash
Batteries (inside the bin)

What can go in my blue bin?

Yes:

Paper, newspapers, magazines and envelopes
Cardboard
Cartons (for example, Tetra Pak)
Empty plastic bags (except black bin bags)
Non-metallic plastic packets or wrappers, for example: bread bags, pasta bags
Plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays (excluding any black plastic which cannot currently be recycled)
Food and drinks cans
Empty aerosols
Greetings cards
Wrapping paper (no metallic plastic)
Tinfoil and foil trays
Biscuit and sweet tins
Glass jars and bottles
Shredded paper (must be bagged in a paper or clean plastic bag)

Batteries must not be put inside bins as they cause fires in the lorries and at the waste and recycling site. To recycle household batteries including AA and AAA cells, button batteries, size C and D, put them in a small tied plastic bag and place it loosely on top of your blue, green or black bin lid.

No:

Food
Liquids
Nappies
Clothes, textiles or shoes (take to charity shops or clothing banks)
Expanded polystyrene or Styrofoam
Foam/sponge
Non-packaging plastic (for example, toys and bowls)
Metallic plastic wrappers e.g. crisp packets
Black bin bags
Recycling in plastic bags (except completely transparent ones)
Flat glass or mirrors
Pyrex
Kitchen paper and tissues
Dirty packaging
Paint tins
Batteries (inside the bin)

Posted June 12 2025

Sawston Greenway route through Stapleford and Great Shelford

The section through Great Shelford and Stapleford, which forms the central part of the Sawston Greenway, was selected for early delivery (construction in 2023/2024). However, large scale utility upgrades by Cadent Gas were installed during this time which meant further road closures could not be undertaken, as diversion routes around the utility works would be affected. The early works through the villages will now be delivered from late winter 2024/early spring 2025.

A meeting with Great Shelford and Stapleford Parish Councils demonstrated a desire amongst parish councillors to see the early delivery of the whole of the section from Hinton Way, Mingle Lane and extend along the entire length of Church Street to London Road.

The diagram above shows the section being delivered as an early work (purple line) and the red circled area shows the extended works area being sought. It has been requested the GCP extend the current early works section to incorporate the southern section of Church Street and the London Road junction.

Posted Oct 29 2024