Tag: University

The Case for Protecting Fenner’s Cricket and Sports Ground

Another guest blogpost from Protect Fenner’s Action Group.

Hughes Hall has recently bought two plots of ground on Fenner’s from Cambridge University Cricket and Athletics Club Ltd (CUCAC Ltd), and has informed local residents of its plans to build new student accommodation on green Protected Open Space adjacent to the college and near the cricket pitch.

photo as caption
Recent cricket match on Fenner’s,
looking towards Covent Garden and the land Hughes Hall has purchased for development
(photo: Lionel Sheffield)

The Protect Fenner’s Action Group:

  1. Opposes Hughes Hall plans to build on recently purchased green Protected Open Space on Fenner’s Cricket Ground.  Fenner’s is highly rated by the city council for its recreational, environmental and heritage value for the whole city.
  2. Will fight to ensure that Fenner’s Protected Open Space status remains intact so that land never built on before is kept for recreation, and a damaging precedent for the city is averted.
  3. Objects to the sale of such land for building, and will urge the Planning Authority not to support building on it.
  4. Objects to Hughes Hall attempts to enclose this historic cricket and sports ground within the college campus, to use for its private benefit what by tradition has been a community asset with open public access.
  5. Objects to the closure of public access paths and will campaign to reinstate access to this historic recreation space.
  6. Urges Hughes Hall to find alternatives, respecting local, national and university policies which prioritise the preservation of scarce green spaces for climate resilience and community well-being.

Cambridge’s Petersfield Ward lies in the bottom 20% nationally of the ‘Environment Domain’ in the government’s Index of Multiple Deprivation. Indeed, Petersfield Ward has only one public park – St Matthew’s Piece – vs 56 official parks in Cambridge’s other 13 wards.

Map of Protected Open Spaces in Petersfield Ward

Context

The President of Hughes Hall said in a recent communication that “Hughes is the only Cambridge college with a cricket pitch in the middle of it, and that is one of the things that makes our college attractive.” The college website states that the college campus surrounds the cricket ground.

In fact, Fenner’s and Hughes Hall are, and always have been, separate entities, and although the President sees the proximity of Fenner’s as an asset for the college, its enclosure within the expanding college campus would be a significant loss to the wider, non-collegiate community.

At a time when open green spaces and sports grounds are increasingly under pressure in urban communities, especially in Cambridge, we will make the case to reinstate public recreational access.

image as caption
Hughes Hall diagram of land purchased on Fenner’s for building student accommodation: proposal shown to residents, 30 November 2023

This latest purchase is part of Hughes Hall’s plan to increase and extend its estate by buying and building on land around the cricket pitch. We think that Hughes Hall actions and proposals are unneighbourly, environmentally aggressive; they represent an unacceptable loss to the wider community, and the closure of public access took place without sufficient public scrutiny.

The Protect Fenner’s Action Group‘s Supporting Arguments:

  1. Although the President of the college says that their plans will have no impact on cricket at Fenner’s, this claim is strongly contested within the cricketing community and concerns are frequently raised about the diminishing number of games now played there. Steve James, Hughes Hall alumnus and former England Test cricketer, disagrees with Hughes Hall, and told The Times, “I do think it is wrong and a great shame.”
  2. Fenner’s is owned by a private limited company, Cambridge University Cricket and Athletics Company (CUCAC Ltd). This company has sold land around the pitch to Hughes Hall, knowing that the college wants to build on it.
  3. While not planning to build on the cricket pitch itself, the President of Hughes Hall informed neighbours last year of the college proposals to build up to 100 student rooms near the cricket pitch on part of the outfield adjacent to the college – open grassland, that the college was purchasing on Fenner’s. He recently reported that the college has also bought the cricket ground car park.
  4. This is not just “private land” as described by Hughes Hall, but part of an historic site for the city and English cricket, with an exceptional status for protection. Building on this green open space would run contrary to the current Local Planning Authority, Cambridge City Council, designation of the whole of Fenner’s – on and around the pitch – as Protected Open Space.
  5. According to the local authority Local Plan 2018 it is irrelevant to Protected Open Space status whether the land is privately or publicly owned. What matters is the assessment of its recreational and environmental value to the city as a whole. Fenner’s is rated among Cambridge’s top ten Protected Open Spaces.
  6. The cricket ground is within the New Town-Glisson Road Conservation Area, and in 2011 was designated by Cambridge City Council as a significant open space and recreational asset. Fenner’s amounts to 30% of the open green space in the whole of Petersfield ward, which is a densely urban part of the city. See Open Space and Recreation Strategy, Cambridge City Council, October 2011, in particular Section 1.0 Introduction (pp 4-8); maps of Market and Petersfield Wards (pp 51, 57 respectively); Section 4.29 Petersfield Ward Profile pp 55-56.
  7. Fenner’s has been a cricket/sports ground since 1848, when it was rented and prepared for town and gown sports by Francis (Frank) Fenner. The freehold was bought by the University Cricket and Athletics Club from Caius College in 1894, by which point the ground had a defined curtilage. Hughes Hall was developed on a separate, adjacent plot of ground on the north east side of Fenner’s boundary – the first building dating to 1895.
  8. Fenner’s backs onto Covent Garden (which pre-dates the cricket ground, and is part of the Mill Road Conservation Area), and many of the Covent Garden properties face onto the open ground. The surrounding roads in the New Town-Glisson Road Conservation Area were built around it, and the ground is therefore an integral part of the jigsaw of this urban landscape and its heritage.
  9. Fenner’s is made up of the pitch itself and the surrounding outfield, which now includes the Cambridge University Cricket School. The outfield is normally used for cricket-related and other sporting/recreational activities. It has been the home of first class national and international cricket since its foundation, and a quality sports field which many local clubs and schools enjoyed the use of.  Sadly, this has diminished over recent years, with significantly fewer matches and apparent less investment in the pitch and facilities.
  10. Although private (ie owned by CUCAC Ltd), until recently Fenner’s was open to public access with ungated pathways from Mortimer and Gresham Roads. They were used by private individuals enjoying the green open space at different times of day, and sports spectators during matches.
  11. Over the last 24 years, however, Hughes Hall has progressively bought land from CUCAC Ltd., gated off public access to Fenner’s without community consultation, and built substantial blocks around the ground. These include the Fenner’s Building (2000) and Gresham Court (2014).
  12. The most recent purchase involves two further plots of ground on Fenner’s – green open space on the north east side, adjacent to the college, and Fenner’s car park. These purchases significantly increase the encirclement of the cricket pitch, and if college plans are approved it will be the first time building is allowed on Fenner’s land designated as Protected Open Space.
  13. While Hughes Hall students have right of access to Fenner’s, to walk around the pitch from the college to their accommodation in Gresham Court, the ground is no longer open and accessible to the public, and local clubs and schools are rarely seen.
  14. We think that building on open green space and closing off public access is to the detriment of the wider community, and that it has happened without sufficient public scrutiny.
  15. The campaign group strongly objects to the college enclosing what has been enjoyed by the public for nearly 200 years, and formally designated as a recreation asset within a city ward. The building on precious green open space at a time when it is an increasingly scarce and valued resource within the city, would be an irreversible set back. If Protected Open Space status can be overturned at Fenner’s when Hughes Hall’s priority is accommodation rather than an imperative educational need, then a damaging precedent will be set for Cambridge.
  16. The City Council acknowledges that these green spaces are ‘fragile, finite and irreplaceable’ (Open Space and Recreation Strategy, 2011, p 4 paragraph 1.2). Cambridge University also states that it will discourage piecemeal development on green spaces within the city in its Strategic Framework for the Estate (2016), and has worked with the City Council and South Cambridgeshire to develop a new centre called Eddington in North West Cambridge.
  17. Hughes Hall has expanded its student body nearly 4-fold since 2000, from c.270 to 900 + students. This expansion inevitably creates pressure on resources but if the college is serious about reducing carbon emissions, building on Fenner’s should not be an option. There are other choices. Eddington is being developed to cater for university and college future needs, and is very close to many of the teaching and research departments. Alternatively older buildings can be efficiently retrofitted, and there are substantial brownfield sites within the city if the college wants to build new accommodation closer to its core campus.
  18. Although the President of Hughes Hall says that there are no suitable local brownfield sites, it is worth noting that over the last 25 years Anglia Ruskin University (very close to Hughes Hall) has acquired and successfully developed local brownfield sites that could also have been available to Hughes Hall.  Hughes Hall has perhaps not been looking at these sites because it has had its eyes on acquiring land around Fenner’s cricket pitch.
  19. We understand the college wishes to expand, but think that buying to build on more land on Fenner’s is not the right place or approach; that it should pursue alternative options, which would sit more comfortably with its own climate engagement initiatives and the City Council’s policy to be net carbon zero by 2030.
  20. CUCAC Ltd has said that it has sold land around the pitch because Fenner’s is an expensive ground to run. We think that selling the outfield piece by piece is an unsustainable business strategy, and that CUCAC should seek funding elsewhere, perhaps facilitated by a wider use of the sports field.

And don’t forget the Protect Fenner’s Action Group Petition. Please read the details and sign. You can add a comment after you’ve signed and verified your signature by email.

For balance, readers are welcome to view Hughes Hall’s stated position: Hughes Hall land purchase and development (11/10/2024)

Protect Fenner’s Action Group believe that our green and open spaces are of fundamental importance to our city’s character, ecology, and our own wellbeing.  We must support all efforts to preserve them in the face of the constant drive to build and develop.

Please email protectfennersactiongroup@gmail.com to support our local campaign to save Fenner’s and green spaces in Cambridge for future generations. We will let you know when further details, including architects’ plans, are published.

Protect Fenner’s Action Group in the local and national press

Petition to Protect Fenner’s Cricket Ground

Another guest blogpost from Protect Fenner’s Action Group.

Hughes Hall have confirmed that it has purchased land on Fenner’s and plans to extend the college campus, including student accommodation, onto the ground adjacent to the cricket pitch.  This is currently designated as Protected Open Space in the Glisson Road-Newtown Conservation Area, used for all sorts of cricket-related activity, and is a precious green lung in an increasingly built up city.

image as caption
Recent cricket match on Fenner’s,
looking towards Covent Garden and the land Hughes Hall has purchased for development
(photo: Lionel Sheffield)

Hughes Hall is proposing to build accommodation blocks for up to 100 students on the iconic Fenner’s Cricket Ground. 

This means scarce and precious green space in the most densely populated part of Cambridge will be lost forever. 

In planning jargon, Fenner’s is Protected Open Space with a quality rating similar to the Botanic Garden and Parker’s Piece. 

If protected recreational grounds like Fenner’s are developed it will set a dangerous precedent for the whole city. If this is allowed, what green space is safe in the future?

Protect Fenner’s Action Group Petition – Read full details.

Please read the details and sign. You can add a comment after you’ve signed and verified your signature by email.

Image as caption
Diagram of land purchased by Hughes Hall on Fenner’s Cricket Ground,
for building student accommodation
(Proposal shown to residents, 30 November 2023)

For further information, see our guest blog posted in June, on this website Fenner’s Protected Open Space – at risk?

Thank you everyone.

Our green and open spaces are of fundamental importance to our city’s character, ecology, and our own wellbeing.  We must support all efforts to preserve them in the face of the constant drive to build and develop. 

Please email protectfennersactiongroup@gmail.com to support our local campaign to save Fenner’s and green spaces in Cambridge for future generations. We will let you know when further details, including architects’ plans, are published.

Protect Fenner’s Action Group in the local and national press

Fenner’s Protected Open Space – at risk?

A guest blogpost from Protect Fenner’s Action Group.

Cambridge college preaches on environmental issues while planning to build on local protected green space.

Hughes Hall, which recently set up the Centre for Climate Engagement, is proposing to build student housing on protected green open space in the Mill Road neighbourhood. If this is approved, it will set a precedent that makes precious green areas in Cambridge much more vulnerable to development.

In November 2023, the President and Bursar of Hughes Hall told a meeting of local residents about their plans to expand their site, and to build accommodation for 100 more students on part of Fenner’s cricket ground. Fenner’s is a hidden gem that used to be open to the public to wander in, and we are already concerned that over the last 20 years Hughes Hall has privatised it with locked gates.

We haven’t yet seen the plans, but whatever the design details, we are shocked and angry that Hughes Hall feels entitled to build a large development on one of the most highly protected recreational spaces in Cambridge – a space that also acts as a vital green lung within our ward and our dense city centre.

Photo as caption
Recent cricket match on Fenner’s,
looking towards Covent Garden and the land Hughes Hall has purchased for development
(photo: Lionel Sheffield)

What stands out is the precedent this sets, and the choices the college is making. It is going against local, University and national policies aimed at saving green spaces to alleviate climate change, and increase community well-being. 

Fenner’s is formally designated as a Protected Open Space in the Cambridge Local Plan 2018 [SPO 18, Outdoor Sports Facilities, Fenners Cricket Ground, Petersfield Ward, p290].  Such a designation is a national planning tool that local authorities can use to preserve open spaces in areas or urban zones which are under increasing pressure from developers. This is an issue which the Greater Cambridge Planning Authority and the Universities are working together to address, as the city is rapidly expanding.

This mooted development could be considered to be in breach of the Cambridge Local Plan.

In protecting existing assets, including heritage assets, landscape and water management, development should:

  • seek to protect existing public assets, including open space and leisure facilities. Where the loss of such assets is unavoidable, appropriate mitigation should be provided, including where applicable the replacement of assets in an alternative location, in addition to infrastructure generated by the needs of the development;
  • ensure public rights of way are protected, and enhanced where possible;
Cambridge Local Plan 2018 Policy 14 f,g, p58

Not only is Fenner’s a Protected Open Space, it is also rated in the City Council’s Open Space and Recreation Strategy (October 2011) as the 10th most important Protected Open Space amongst 311 across Cambridge (SPO 18, p105).  It amounts to one third of the total open space in Petersfield Ward, and is hugely important in a ward which is densely built up, without much open green space.

Cambridge’s Petersfield Ward lies in the bottom 20% nationally of the ‘Environment Domain’ in the government’s Index of Multiple Deprivation. Indeed, Petersfield Ward has only one public park – St Matthew’s Piece – vs 56 official parks in Cambridge’s other 13 wards.

Map of Protected Open Spaces in Petersfield Ward

Unfortunately there are caveats built into the Cambridge Local Plan Protected Open Space policy, with some potential overrides around education and sports need.  Hence our alarm to hear that Hughes Hall is buying land from the Cambridge University Cricket and Athletics Club Ltd (which owns the cricket ground), and commissioning architects’ plans to build a substantial amount of student accommodation.

However the National Planning Policy Framework [Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, December 2023] imposes duties upon local planning authorities, in regard to open spaces.

  • Access to a network of high quality open spaces and opportunities for sport and physical activity is important for the health and well-being of communities, and can deliver wider benefits for nature and support efforts to address climate change. Planning policies should be based on robust and up-to-date assessments of the need for open space, sport and recreation facilities (including quantitative or qualitative deficits or surpluses) and opportunities for new provision. Information gained from the assessments should be used to determine what open space, sport and recreational provision is needed, which plans should then seek to accommodate.
  • Existing open space, sports and recreational buildings and land, including playing fields, should not be built on unless:
  • a) an assessment has been undertaken which has clearly shown the open space, buildings or land to be surplus to requirements; or
  • b) the loss resulting from the proposed development would be replaced by equivalent or better provision in terms of quantity and quality in a suitable location; or
  • c) the development is for alternative sports and recreational provision, the benefits of which clearly outweigh the loss of the current or former use.
National Planning Policy Framework, Section 8, Promoting healthy and safe communities, Open space and recreation, ¶102,103

It is hard to predict how the National Planning Policy Framework may help our case until we hear what Hughes Hall and Cambridge University Sport offer in mitigation of any potential breaches of section 8 of the National Planning Policy Framework (above).

College and City values undermined

Hughes Hall recently set up the Centre for Climate Engagement About us – Centre for Climate Engagement (climatehughes.org).  The Centre’s mission “is to encourage academic excellence in climate law, governance and organisational change, and to translate and transfer this knowledge to corporate boards to accelerate the race to net zero emissions and climate resilience.”

Image as caption
Hughes Hall diagram of land purchased on Fenner’s for building student accommodation: proposal shown to residents, 30 November 2023

And yet the College does not see fit to translate these aspirations into its own actions. What does its own Corporate Board have to say about building on precious green open space which it is lucky enough to have on its own doorstep, and which is recognised as a much broader community amenity? 

Given the College’s apparent commitment to environmental and climate issues, residents wonder why the development team hasn’t taken a much longer-term and environmentally responsible approach to secure buildings or brown field sites to develop close by – as Anglia Ruskin University has done over the last 20-25 years.

  • Anglia Ruskin University has made significant progress on the East Road site in modernising the faculty accommodation within the framework of the agreed 2009 masterplan. A planning application was subsequently approved and this work is now largely complete and provides around 9,000 sq m of new accommodation.
  • When the masterplan was written in 2008, Anglia Ruskin University needed around 12,000 sq m. The campus on East Road remains one of the tightest in the sector. However, implementation of the masterplan has left a shortfall in teaching space. The most recent Anglia Ruskin University estate strategy and corporate plan 2012-2014 has identified a need for at least 6,000 sq m of additional space. As well as catering for growth in student numbers, there is also a need to enhance existing space and recently redeveloped space, e.g. for laboratories, which are not meeting current requirements, and to reconsider the future of Anglia Ruskin University’s library on the site. This will require the masterplan for Anglia Ruskin University to be revisited.
  • The East Road site and area remain the most sustainable location for Anglia Ruskin University during the next plan period, and any future needs for this institution should, in the first instance, be met close to this site. Therefore, any development proposals that come forward in these areas should consider whether faculty development is an appropriate use.
Cambridge Local Plan 2018, Policy 43: University development, ¶5.27/28/29, p152

There are other alternatives too. The University of Cambridge has been working with Greater Cambridge Shared Planning to help Cambridge grow sustainably in the future.  They explicitly acknowledge the importance of ceasing piecemeal development in the city centre, and avoiding eating up existing green spaces.  The new development of Eddington to the north west of Cambridge is part of this wider plan, with spaces designated for accommodation, education, social, cultural and sporting activity– with which several colleges are already successfully engaged.

  • The University of Cambridge has plans to grow undergraduate numbers by 0.5 per cent a year and postgraduates by 2 per cent a year in order to maintain its globally successful institution. The University of Cambridge’s key growth needs are being met by the developments in West and North West Cambridge and around Addenbrooke’s, including those satellite centres where the plan is seeking densification and a broader mix of uses. The development of the University of Cambridge’s North West Cambridge site is assessed in accordance with the North West Cambridge AAP. The policy acknowledges existing plans of the University of Cambridge on sites outside of the city centre and also provides an opportunity for redevelopment of sites in the city centre where plans are evolving. The University of Cambridge has other, less advanced, plans for development of faculty uses, for example at Madingley Rise. These will be considered on their merits, and against other relevant policies in the plan – for instance, at Madingley Rise much of the open space is protected.
Cambridge Local Plan 2018, Policy 43: University development, ¶5.26, p152

If Fenner’s, what’s next?

Fenner’s Cricket Ground is an iconic and historic site existing long before Hughes Hall came into being. The land was formerly part of the medieval Open Fields of Cambridge. In 1846, Francis Fenner leased what was, by that time, a former cherry orchard, from Gonville and Caius College for the purpose of constructing a cricket ground. In 1848 he sub-let the ground to Cambridge University Cricket Club.

The local streetscape has been shaped by the boundaries of Fenner’s and the views and open space of the ground are characteristics of the Conservation Area.  This land has never been built on. Why does Hughes Hall think it is appropriate to build on it now, for their own benefit and to the detriment of others? 

Our green and open spaces are of fundamental importance to our city’s character, ecology, and our own wellbeing.  We must support all efforts to preserve them in the face of the constant drive to build and develop. 

Please email protectfennersactiongroup@gmail.com to support our local campaign to save Fenner’s and green spaces in Cambridge for future generations. We will let you know when further details are published and our petition is launched.

Protect Fenner’s Action Group in the local and national press