As a Huntington resident I was interested to read that Redrow homes had been given the go-ahead to build 970 new homes, a school, shop and community facilities on green belt north of York (The Press, December 27).

For my husband and me there is a sense of déjà vu: between 2002 and 2008 we lived in Oakington, a village on the edge of Cambridge.

During our time there we were aware of proposals to build a new town, Northstowe, close by.

The proposals were grand:10,000 homes, new schools, GP surgeries and a community centre. Locals were concerned about the impact this would have and we were invited to planning meetings by developers.

When we left in 2008, building hadn’t begun.

Cut to this year: I was visiting a friend in Cambridge who suggested we have a drive out to look at Northstowe as the first 1,000 houses have now been built.

My immediate impression was of large areas of fairly densely packed smart-looking ‘executive’-type homes.

However, in May 2022 the local Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire, Anthony Browne, accused the district council of failing to provide proper services for Northstowe as residents still had no shop, no dedicated community centre, no permanent café, no GP surgery and no pub.

There are also significant concerns about the impact the development is having on groundwater levels and drainage.

I sincerely hope that the planned Redrow development does not come to suffer similar issues.

Dr Jacqueline Bock, Huntington