ECO CITY
journey, helping diners play their part in tackling our most critical challenge.” Plant-based Thrive Cafe on Norfolk Street provides an ethical, sustainable community hub serving coffee and plant- based food. It’s a dog-friendly, multi- functional venue offering space for art exhibitions, performances and workshops, new and used books plus a comedy club. Green homes The government’s housebuilding ambitions for Cambridgeshire (up 25% on previous targets) will doubtless provide an ongoing environmental challenge, but with new biodiversity net gain planning regulations since January this year, there are some protections for green spaces in place. Under these regulations, developers must increase on-site biodiversity by 10% on project completion. Also, the government has pledged a brownfield-first approach, prioritising previously developed (grey belt) land before greenfield sites. It’s good news that many of the latest new home developments are strong on ECO INSPO Environmentally friendly abodes will be on display at the Open Eco Homes event taking place in Cambridge this month
For personal health and the environment, it’s better to cook from scratch remarks owner Louise Palmer-Masterton. “Our customers know that their dining choices are sustainable ones, and we urge restaurants everywhere to join us on this The Cookery School is less flexible, but we send any spare ingredients back home with the students or back into the cafe. Everything we make here is as seasonal and local as possible and ethically sourced. When I launched the business 15 years ago, I was on a mission to teach others about the importance of things like grass-fed beef, free-range eggs, organic fruit and vegetables and reducing sugar. For personal health and the environment, it’s always far better to cook from scratch.” Stem & Glory on Station Road, meanwhile, is an award-winning, carbon- neutral vegan business. “We intend to completely decarbonise eating out,”
sustainability, with existing hedgerows and treelines maintained in order to create the leafy environment we want to live in. Good examples can be found at Cambourne, Eddington and Waterbeach. “With 20 new kilometres of cycleways to support the first phase, our Waterbeach development will be one of the most sustainable places to live,” points out Fiona Reardon-Rose at Urban&Civic. “The sustainable travel hub supports residents to make positive choices for active and sustainable travel, using one of the free-hire bikes to pop to the shops, explore the area, or catch the shuttle service to the station or Park & Ride to Cambridge.”
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