De denktank Centre for Cities pleit al jaren voor woningbouw in de groene gordels. Britse steden hebben zo veel meer huizen nodig, dat alleen hoger bouwen in de stad of omvorming van verouderde industriegebieden (brownfields) niet genoeg is. Door 5 procent van de green belts rond tien steden op te offeren aan woningbouw, berekenden de onderzoekers, kunnen anderhalf miljoen huizen worden gerealiseerd op loopafstand van stations. Niet milieuonvriendelijk, maar juist duurzaam.
Vanaf 1947 is de green belt policylandelijk beleid. Er kwamen groene zones rondom de steden, waar grootschalige ontwikkelingen werden tegengehouden. Rond Londen was het doel het uitwaaieren van de stad te stoppen en woningbouw te concentreren in groeikernen op afstand van de stad, zoals Luton en Milton Keynes. Op andere plaatsen zorgden ze ervoor dat grote en kleinere steden niet aan elkaar vastgroeiden, zoals rond Manchester, Leeds en Birmingham. In Engeland is 13 procent van het grondgebied green belt, in Wales en Schotland spelen ze een bescheidener rol.
Glacial and interglacial periods
The Cambridge region was affected by the series of glaciations, the last of which resulted in
vast quantities of gravel being deposited in the river valleys.
Post-glacial topography
The dominant topographic feature of the area to the
south of Cambridge is the valley of the River Cam and its
tributaries. The land on either side of the river is very
fertile, reasonably light and easily worked, with gravel
and clayey alluvial soils. Christopher Evans describes the
area as ‘a pinchpoint in the landscape’, where a network
of river tributaries flow between ridges to the west and
east.
Early human occupation
There is extensive evidence of human occupation in the
Trumpington area during the last 5000 years. Much of this
has been revealed by detailed archaeological field work and
excavations in advance of developments around the southern
fringe of the previously built-up area, including – from west
to east – Trumpington Meadows, the Park & Ride site, Glebe
Farm, Clay Farm and the Hutchison (Cancer Research UK)
and Addenbrooke’s Hospital sites.
Recent research has identified a far greater density of Iron
Age and Roman settlement in the area than had been
understood by previous generations of archaeologists such as
Cyril Fox.
Neolithic, c. 4000-2400 BC
The Neolithic period included the introduction
of farming, the use of pottery and more
sophisticated stone tools. The River Cam was part of a north-south
route from the Fens to the Thames. Archaeological excavations at the Trumpington Meadows site in 2010-11 revealed evidence of Neolithic occupation, including three probable Neolithic ring-ditch monuments on the ridge to
the east of the river valley, with Mildenhall and Peterborough ware pottery and burials, and pottery from north Cambridgeshire
Bronze Age, c. 2400-800 BC
Archaeological work has identified
field systems and settlement patterns
around Trumpington village. The
archaeological excavations at
Trumpington Meadows in 2010-11
identified possible Early Bronze Age
burials
Writing in
the Victoria County History in 1938, J. Grahame Clark went
so far as to say that the “twin settlements at Grantchester and
Trumpington, on either side of the ford of the Cam, were the
Early Iron Age predecessors of Cambridge …”. Within the
Trumpington area, Iron Age/Roman settlements have been
identified in locations including the river valley south of the
ford to Grantchester; a gravel pit opposite the cemetery to the
east of the High Street/Shelford Road junction (now the rear
of the first houses on Shelford Road); the grounds of Anstey
Hall; to the west of Trumpington Road; on the Hutchison and
Addenbrooke’s Hospital sites; and along Hills Road. There
was an important Iron Age/Roman cemetery at Dam Hill (the
area between Latham Road, River Farm, and Chaucer Road).