It’s a question we’ve asked before, and it still hasn’t gone away: should a new bus route between Cambridge and Cambourne be allowed to cut through one of the area’s last remaining traditional orchards?
The controversy centres on the Greater Cambridge Partnership’s (GCP) plans to improve public transport in the region. At first glance, it sounds modest enough: an 8.7-mile (14km) route to help buses bypass congestion. But the proposal includes about a mile of “dedicated busway” – a specially constructed off-road track for buses – which would carve through the heart of Coton Orchard, destroying part of an ancient and biodiverse landscape.
Controversy draws widespread attention
This row has received extensive media coverage. Behind the busway proposal is the aforementioned Greater Cambridge Partnership, made up of local authorities, Cambridge University, and representatives of local and regional enterprises. Opposing the scheme is the Coton Busway Action Group, which has allied with other local organisations to preserve the orchard. Their campaign has attracted support from an array of national figures.
The GCP has a page of frequently asked questions about the project: as of 6 April 2023, it featured 16 entries – and a quarter of them mentioned the orchard or raised questions about tree loss.
The core of their explanation is this:
“Approximately 500 trees would be removed from Coton Orchard. The majority of these are relatively young on dwarf rootstock and between two and six of the older trees. The total area of the remaining active orchard measures 9.02ha; of this 1.52ha will be lost to the scheme. This would leave roughly 80% of the remaining active orchard untouched and unaffected by development.”
A visit to the orchard
East Anglia Bylines visited Coton Orchard on 4 April and interviewed owner Anna Gazeley. She has many stories to tell as she walks around the orchard.
“That one there is a champion tree. It’s the second largest Bramley tree they’ve recorded in the British Isles.”
“In the early 1800s a little girl called Mary Ann Brailsford planted an apple seed in her family cottage garden. Many years later, after the owners of the cottage had changed, somebody came along and said: ‘Wow, that tree in your garden has got some magnificent apples. May I have one to make apple pie?’ Later he came back and said: ‘That’s the best cooking apple I’ve ever used’. And the owner said, ‘Well, if you want, take scion wood to graft from it and propagate it commercially. And I want you to name it after me. His name was Matthew Bramley. And so the Bramley seedling was born.
“That original tree is now 200 years old, and it’s dying. Its custodians grafted from it and produced 200 saplings. They gave us two, one to put safely out of the proposed busway path, one, nibbled by a muntjac, to put right in the path of the busway. The young tree is genetically the same because it’s from the mother tree. Yet, as you can see, for the young to genuinely fill the place of the old tree – even though it’s in the same soil – will take 100 years.”
“This one’s from Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is the origin of all the varieties of domestic apple that we have.”
‘Gift of Excalibur: a symbolic gesture for the orchard’
“A forge in Toledo sent us a letter and said: ‘We’ve read about your campaign in the Times. We still make replica swords for English Heritage and we’d like to gift you Excalibur.’ They sent it: a full-size sword! I wrote back: ‘It’s beautiful. But what’s the connection?’ He said: ‘Avalon means isle of apples, and the chieftain of Wales anoints a champion apple tree to guard Excalibur, which was forged in Avalon.’ A myth, of course, but charming. We built our own stone circle over there, in which we put Excalibur, and we’ve planted 12 new potential champion trees.”
“This one here is Anne Frank’s tree. It’s a sapling grown from the white horse-chestnut that Anne Frank looked at out of a window. That tree fell in a storm. It’s been gifted all around the world. So people ask the question, who’s Anne Frank? Why is it important? One of the things that she said was that nature gave her hope. She was in a very dark, horrible situation, and being able to see the seasons change on this tree out the window was a big contributory factor for her being able to survive in hiding.”
Anna discussed the harm that the busway would do to the orchard.
Dividing a habitat damages its ecosystem
“If you cut a habitat in two, you don’t get two habitats. What you get is that both sides will collapse, because you need to have a certain critical size for wildlife to survive. And people are saying there’s 500 apple trees being taken down, but as you can see, in front of you, there are also hundreds of very mature, big oak, ash and elder that haven’t been widely spoken about by the GCP. They haven’t said how they’re going to mitigate for it.
“People think, Oh, Coton Orchard, apple orchard. But there’s an awful lot of other trees. More importantly, we haven’t used pesticide for 30 years, so it’s really, really healthy soil. In orcharding, unlike other types of farming, you don’t need to disturb the soil. You plant a tree and then you leave it be for years and years. Minimally disturbed soil allows the mycorrhizal fungi to develop, and they form these networks between the trees. Apple trees age very quickly. Dead wood is a healthy habitat, supporting a lot of our rarest species.
“A dark crimson underwing moth was found last year! 14 species are found and supported here, plus loads of birds – things like the turtle dove, lesser-spotted woodpecker, house sparrow – we’ve got them in abundance here, but they’re on the red list because their numbers have dropped by so much. It’s just like a lot of life here.”
The view from the other side
East Anglia Bylines contacted the GCP. A spokesperson said:
“We recognise the importance of Coton Orchard to wildlife. Its ecological characteristics stem more from the wider habitat types to which the trees contribute, than from the number of trees themselves. The habitats within the orchard have been thoroughly surveyed and assessed using appropriate guidance.
“At the orchard, approximately 500 trees are in the area in which we are looking to build and operate the busway. The Cambourne to Cambridge proposals would impact on less than 20% of the remaining active orchard. We understand the need to strike a balance and continue to seek to work with the owners of the orchard to do this.”
Anna commented:
“They always say this, but it’s a bit like me saying to you, a very deserving child needs a kidney transplant – would you like me to take your right lung or your left lung? Chopping down 500 trees – you can’t mitigate for them. The Council have got a firm of solicitors and they send me threatening letters. But each time I get some advice from a solicitor that’s several hundred pounds an hour. The council are saying there’s no biodiversity. But you can see with your own eyes that to say there’s no biodiversity here is ridiculous.”
What you can do
The Department for Transport plans to hold a public inquiry into the project some time in 2025. At the time of writing, neither the DfT nor the GCP gives any further information about this probe. But readers can keep an eye on the websites we link to, and pick up news when it happens.
And some other reading matter is the poem cycle Wassail! that Debbie Whitton Spriggs wrote in support of the campaign – a walk through an orchard year, with the author’s own illustrations, background notes, and a foreword by Nick Gates. It’s obtainable from Footpath Press for £10.
More from East Anglia Bylines
