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PACT - Howard Mallett Centre and St Matthew's Piece Campaign

PACT has recently attracted a lot of media attention with its campaign to restore the former Howard Mallett site to green open space.

This campaign has been catalysed by Citylife's proposals to demolish the existing building and replace it with an 'Innovation Centre.' Their proposed building would be twice the height of the original structure, but would occupy a fractionally smaller area than the existing footprint.

PACT's objection is not to Citylife's proposals, merely to their choice of site!

So how did the idea to return the site to its original state, as open space, start? It all began with PACT's AGM and public meeting 15 months ago, in November '05, to discuss the future of St Matthew's Piece. Two representatives from Citylife attended and at the end of the lively discussion there was a show of hands to see who wanted to return the site to open space. In a hall with over 60 attending, only Citylife voted against this proposal, with three abstaining.

Two months later, Citylife held a public exhibition of their proposals. The Cambridge Evening News ran an 'online poll' asking people if they wanted Citylife's development or to see the site returned to open space. 86% of voters were in favour of returning the site to open space; and only 14% were in favour of the Citylife proposal.

The Howard Mallett Centre only obtained permission to be built on part of this park because its original purpose complied with the "Rest And Recreation" condition under which the park was given to local residents in perpetuity. PACT now feels that, given the slow and sad demise of the Howard Mallett as a youth centre, the building should be demolished and no other development should be built on the site. We consider that the land should be reinstated as public open space.

As a first step towards achieving this, PACT applied for planning permission to demolish the building, which was approved. The issue of PACT's further application -- to change the use of the land back to open space -- was finally aired at the City Council's Area East Committee meeting held on the 8th February 2006. The proposal was passed unanimously. PACT doesn't, legally, own the land. But gaining the permission has enabled us to make our objectives a consideration in any following planning application and we hope that we can influence the future of the site for the benefit of the local community.

Many of you will be interested to hear that Citylife had acquir ed the land on a 125-year lease before applying for planning permission for the site. To get planning permission, Citylife had to get approval for a 'change of use' to reflect the predominantly industrial use that their proposed centre has been designed for. This proposed use is wholly contrary to the "rest and recreation" mandate of the land on which it stands, and the building itself would be a large and intrusive structure on the northern end of St Matthew's Piece. Neither PACT, nor, it seems, the majority of Cambridge residents, consequently consider CityLife's proposal to be appropriate for this precious piece of land.

Yet Citylife were given their planning permission on 11th October 2006, by 4 votes to 3. PACT members were appalled at the way in which the meeting was conducted. Many people felt that Councillors were bullied into making their decision, with little or no regard either for our own planning permission for open space, nor a 600-signature petition in favour of such a return of the land to much needed open space.

Rather than walk away and accept this decision, PACT has resolved to do all it can to find a legal means of overturning it. PACT has consulted with many organisations, looking for legal advice and assistance. The breakthrough came when we found charities called Planning Sanity and the Environmental Law Foundation (ELF) which both help out people worried about environmental problems in touch with legal help. They introduced us to one of the top environmental law solicitors in the country, Cambridge based Richard Buxton and the solicitor was given volumes of notes and documents to read through.

We soon realised that we actually had very good grounds to challenge the planning application. Richard Buxton's team presented a draft application for judicial review to the City Council, who, after some deliberation, agreed to submit to judgement on 2 out of the 4 grounds. This now means that the Council's decision on Citylife's planning application will be quashed... and we will have to wait and see how this drama unfolds. Without doubt, Citylife will proceed with their application. Only this time, all the relevant considerations must be looked at. All we can hope for is that Councillors listen to local opinion and act upon it rather than chase their own agendas.

All this has been going on and there is more to consider. There are still land ownership squabbles going on between the County and City Councils over a strip of land that lies to the South of the existing Howard Mallett building. Until this issue is resolved, plans cannot move forward, so PACT is fighting for the City Council to keep the land, a decision that was completely endorsed at the last Area East Committee meeting.

Funding has been an issue. Initially, we thought that we could get Legal Aid, but this is now not so clear. PACT members are keen to raise money to continue to fight this campaign, as there is more than one issue to deal with. We are looking for people who might like to help in some way... And right now we need funds to keep this project alive!

Every little bit of effort would be much appreciated. PACT regard our campaign as the only chance that the local community has of retaining what is fast becoming a rarity -- local open space. Please help us keep it for you and future generations. Without your help, the land will be lost to industrial purposes: with it we can reclaim our green heart, which was given to local residents, in perpetuity, for rest and recreation. Our target is £5000. Please help us raise this money.

For offers to help PACT in this campaign, or for further information, phone Richard Allen on 01223 368123 or e-mail [email protected]