Each month I write a column for the Cambridge Independent (online here but it will ask you to acccept coookies or pay) that’s also published on the City Council website.
However I believe in a principle known as POSSE, which stands for Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere. You never know when someone else’s site will go away or add a paywall, so it’s worth having your own copy, under your control.
So here it is.
As the leader of Cambridge City Council, I often find myself reflecting on the issues that keep us up at night, not just as politicians, but as neighbours, parents, and members of a vibrant, interconnected community. And the recent hot weather, which has made it hard to sleep for many of us, has given me lots of time to consider the connections between climate change and two of the issues which got me into local politics in the first place – water and food.
Before I became a councillor I studied food policy and campaigned for food security. In 2024 the council’s support for the Cambridge Sustainable Food Partnership helped the city obtain a Gold Award from Sustainable Food Places, recognising Cambridge as leading the way in transforming local food systems to better serve our communities, the environment and the local economy.
However, it was always clear that water supplies in Cambridge were limited and precious, and the needs of farmers, developers and residents sometimes came into conflict. In 2019 I organised awater crisis forum with experts and local people to talk about the wider issues of how to get enough water to support the city as it developed, and the use of water for farming was one of the issues we discussed.
And now everyone is aware of how close the connection is, as farmers across the country are facing the loss of vital crops because of the drought that has accompanied the extreme hot weather. Crops are failing to reach normal growth levels, and many farmers are struggling to hit environmental targets tied to government funding.
I was pleased to see the government’s recent announcement regarding emergency support for farmers facing this severe drought. It is a welcome and necessary intervention because the combination of prolonged heatwaves and dwindling water supplies has a massive impact on agriculture. But while financial lifelines help keep farm businesses afloat in the immediate term, which is essential, we must be honest about climate change. Emergency aid for a single dry season is a temporary patch; our real focus must be on long-term resilience.
Earlier this year the Cambridge Room and Cambridge Resilience Web organised a series of discussions about the city’s ability to cope in an emergency, and we talked about our food supply. A striking takeaway from those discussions was how little direct government support or statutory framework exists for local food growers, despite food security being as fundamental to our well-being as energy or building materials.
Our current food system is highly complex, centralised, and reliant on “just-in-time” deliveries. Neither major supermarkets nor small local stockists hold significant reserve storage anymore. When supply chains fracture, whether due to extreme weather, geopolitical shocks, or transport disruptions, it is the most vulnerable people in our communities who suffer first and hardest. We cannot simply cross our fingers and rely on fragile, distant supply lines; we need to treat local food infrastructure as critical national priority, just like water or electricity supply.
Here in Cambridge, we have already laid strong foundations. Our Gold Sustainable Food City status has helped embed sustainable local food sourcing into our planning policies, supported independent local food businesses, and helped residents gain practical cooking skills. Furthermore, during the early years of the Covid pandemic we learned vital lessons about protecting our neighbours, rapidly scaling up our network of community food hubs from 3 to 10 across the city to ensure nobody was left without basic necessities. I hope we remember those lessons.
Community initiatives work best when they have support from government, and one way that can be done is through apparently dry documents like planning rules. The government recently published updates to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), but apart from the coverage of moves to allow more development near transport hubs like rail stations, it is unlikely to make the headlines.
As the cabinet member for planning I get to read the whole thing, and it has some really good news if you’re interested in planning for sustainable development. For example, local authorities were given clear support to enforce tighter water efficiency standards in areas experiencing serious water stress, something we are facing in East Anglia.
This is already a planning priority, and the emerging Greater Cambridge Local Plan – which covers Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire where there is a lot of high grade farmland – will be asking developers to come forward with plans for the highest water-efficiency standards in the country. For new residential developments of 100 homes or more, we are looking to set the ambitious target of 80 litres per person per day.
Achieving this will require housebuilders to integrate greywater recycling and rainwater harvesting directly into home designs, helping us conserve our precious local chalk streams and underground aquifers. And now we have a national policy to back us up.
Managing our water and safeguarding our food supply are two sides of the same coin. Extreme weather events are no longer temporary anomalies but our new baseline. Emergency bailouts for crop failures offer momentary relief to farmers and shoppers, but true security comes from structural reform, smarter planning, and supporting local supply chains. By acting decisively across local, regional, and national government, we can ensure Cambridge remains a resilient, fair, and sustainable city for everyone.
Some Links
Sustainable Food Places: https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/news/2024/03/11/cambridge-sustainable-food-partnership-receives-prestigious-award-for-transforming-the-citys-food-system
Water crisis forum: https://katiethornburrow.com/2020/02/dealing-with-the-water-crisis-in-the-cambridge-area/
Resilience Web forums: https://www.resilienceweb.org.uk/news/how-resilient