We issued a statement in response to media articles about boulders having been placed on a roadside in Newnham ward.

Update 13 September 2024

Earlier this year Cambridge City Council issued a Community Protection Warning (CPW) in relation to boulders which had been placed along a roadway in Newnham ward, and which were potentially infringing rights of way. Following assessment of the large number of responses received after the CPW was issued, the council has considered all the responses and has made a decision not to progress with a Community Protection Notice, but is continuing to correspond with the original complainant Queens' College Cambridge.

Statement issued 26 July 2024

The executive councillor leading on this matter is Cllr Rosy Moore (Labour), Executive Councillor for Climate Action and Environment. Spokespersons from the other political groups on this issue are Olaf Hauk (Liberal Democrat) and Jean Glasberg (Green).

A Cambridge City Council spokesperson said: “The council received legal representation regarding rights of way along an unadopted road as there is an entitlement to a carriageway width of at least 20 feet, and boulders/rocks placed beside it infringe upon this.

“Legal action was threatened against the council, or persons responsible for placing boulders there, unless they were removed.

“A Community Protection Warning (CPW) was issued to seek to give the persons responsible for placing the boulders in their current location the opportunity to take remedial action to remove them. The council will consider all feedback received in relation to the CPW after it expires on 13 August.”

Notes

• We are unable to disclose the identity of the complainant at this time as the correspondence is likely subject to Legal Professional Privilege. The Land Registry may provide information regarding rights of access associated with registered freeholds.
• A Community Protection Warning (CPW) does not have a fine associated with it – it is a warning letter, not a formal notice, but it does advise what action is required to be taken. A CPW is always issued before a formal notice requiring action and as such contains no appeal rights. However, if the council chooses to progress the matter by issuing a Community Protection Notice, a person issued with a community protection notice may appeal to a magistrates' court against the notice on any of grounds set out in s46 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.
• The wording of the CPW placed on the boulders states: ‘If you fail without reasonable excuse to comply with this warning letter within the timescales given, then a Community Protection Notice (CPN) may be issued without further warning. A CPN will tell you the things that you must do to put these problems right. Non-compliance with a CPN (not a CPW) without reasonable excuse is a criminal offence and can lead to seizure and forfeiture of items, default works and recovery of costs and / or a fine of up to £2,500 in relation to an individual.’
• The council has opted to use a CPW to deal with this matter due to vehicular access rights being infringed by these rocks, and thus having a detrimental effect on others in the area.
• The council has at no point referred to this activity in the official documentation as ‘a crime’. Some ‘Envirocrime’ tape was used by officers from our Environmental Crime team to affix the CPWs to the rocks – we apologise if the use of this tape gave anyone the wrong impression.