Comment

Representation ID: 168657

Received: 14/04/2021

Respondent: South Cambridgeshire District Council

Policy WAT 14- Waterbeach design principles.
• Second part of policy – There is no definition of what is meant by ‘contribute in a positive way’. How would a planning officer when determining an application know what this means? We had suggested that this term could be replaced by ‘have regard to’. (BC test)
• The Waterbeach Heritage and Character Assessment is one of the evidence documents for the Plan and is mentioned in the policy. We would query the weight that can be given to a planning policy that includes this assessment since the opportunity has not been given to interested stakeholders/parties to challenge the contents of this document. If there is key information that a developer should be aware of in this assessment they would be best summarised and included within the Plan. The supporting text does include some of the contents of the assessment and also that of the Design Principles document which is not specifically mentioned in the policy. This makes for confusing reading. Each has slightly different distinct areas identified in the parish. It would be necessary to cross refer to each of the actual document to find the details. A Plan should be easy to use and not expect the user to have to consult several other documents.
• The policy is for all development proposals in the plan area. For Waterbeach new town, there already exists the design guidance in policy SS/6 of the Local Plan (adopted in 27/09/2018) and the adopted (in 06/02/2019) ‘Waterbeach New Town’ SPD which contain suitable policies and guidance to guide the future design, layout, landscaping and use of materials in its development and has been subject to extensive consultation. It would not be necessary to provide such additional design guidance for the New Town area. The policy wording could be amended to reflect this.