Thank you for helping us pass this milestone!

Our cause has been publicised by the Cambridge News, and with your continued support attracted the attention of individuals and organisations who are reaching out to us for more information.

Why Is This Petition Important?

Though the news article talks about the loss of trees, traffic problems and impact on Conservation Area, there is a growing need for a debate on the role of gardens and trees in inner cities. Countless gardens have been lost in central Cambridge and other UK cities to property development.

In this part of Cambridge we have no public park. Gardens, though private, are the only local green spaces we have to:

• combat urban heat - shade and water vapour released by a tree's leaves can lower temperatures by 2-8 ºC on sunny days
• clean the air - trees absorb nitrogen oxide, ammonia, sulfur dioxide and ozone, returning oxygen to the atmosphere
• benefit biodiversity - provide food & shelter for animals that enrich the fauna of the environment
• provide amenity - social spaces to exercise and relax, proven association with higher levels of physical and mental health 

So, why is this Petition important? Pembroke has choices. In their Environmental Policy they claim 'for their buildings & estates' that their ambition is 'to conserve and enhance natural resources.' They have no published Biodiversity Report year-on-year, or a Plan, so how do they propose to achieve these aims?

We need your support to help them make better choices.

• If they need housing for mature students with a child, is the solution to build over 5 gardens with an inappropriate development, or sell one of the properties to purchase 2-3 smaller houses that meet their needs?
• If they believe removing 10 mature trees in as many years, and now killing the last two to leave a green space 3 times smaller post-build for up to 40 inhabitants, with a car park, bin stores and paths, is conserving & enhancing natural resources, we recommend they read up on urban green infrastructure, corporate responsibility and social justice.

They should:

• restore the gardens with diverse planting to meet suitable Biodiversity aims for the site, offsetting the properties carbon footprints, and adopt this strategy at every other site they own
• improve the Conservation Area street scene features as other private homeowners have done, and set a good example of conservatorship
• provide green spaces of appreciable amenity value, so that their resident students have access to facilities that benefit their physical & mental needs

Next Steps

We will continue to bring updates of key developments. Please help us and share the Petition to those also concerned with:

• Conservation Areas where historical features & assets are protected in law but are so often at risk of poor development proposals
• The role of inner city gardens & trees to mitigate the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution

Thank you!