Support

North East Cambridge Area Action Plan Issues and Options 2019

Representation ID: 33705

Received: 08/05/2019

Respondent: Brookgate

Agent: Bidwells

Representation Summary:

Brookgate Land Limited support the Indicative Concept Plan, particularly in terms of the opportunity for residential-led mixed use development on land they control. The AAP should however be clear that the Indicative Concept Plan only refers to a broad arrangement of uses across the AAP site and is not prescriptive. The Local Authority therefore needs to take a flexible approach to ensure the AAP can adapt to change.

Full text:

Question 4 - Have we identified all relevant constraints present on, or affecting, the North East Cambridge area?
1.2 Brookgate Land Limited consider that paragraph 4.16 (Odour) requires further clarification and comment.
1.3 To support the hotel and office applications, Brookgate Land Limited commissioned Arup to prepare an Odour Assessment Report to assess the odour from the Cambridge Water Recycling Centre. The Report has been shared with the Councils and is publicly available.
1.4 The Arup 2015 report confirms that the entire Phase 1b site is suitable for residential use. This was based on Anglian Water's own monitoring data and included an allowance for higher temperatures in the Summer months to ensure a robust approach.
1.5 The 1.5 ouE/m3 contour line from the Arup report (i.e whereby residential uses are no longer likely to be suitable) is shown by a dotted blue line below [in attached file].

Since the preparation of the above Arup 2015 Odour Assessment, the Councils have commissioned their own independent Odour Impact Assessment, as referred to in paragraph 4.16 of the NEC AAP document. This Assessment involved an odour measurement survey which was conducted at the Water Recycling Centre (WRC) in summer 2017 and the report is dated October 2018. Despite several requests to be provided with copies of the Assessment by Brookgate Land Limited as part of on-going discussions regarding the development potential of the Phase 1b site, the report was only made publicly available on 13 March 2019 when it was released as part of papers for the 20 March 2019 Joint Development Control Committee meeting.
1.7 The Odour Impact Assessment is due to also be reported to the City Planning Committee on 3 April 2019 and the South Cambridgeshire District Planning Committee on 10 April 2019. The Odour Impact Assessment is therefore being reported through the committee cycle but is not being subject to consultation, despite it being recognised as a key technical evidence base document relevant to the NEC AAP area.
1.8 Brookgate Land Limited therefore object to the lack of opportunity for consultation on the findings of the Councils Odour Impact Assessment.