Object

Representation ID: 56604

Received: 23/11/2021

Respondent: South Cambridgeshire District Council

GAM5 New employment site allocations

Mill Hill is the only site allocated in GAM5 so this policy could be site specific to Mill Hill. Is Mill Hill to be an Employment site or a Rural Business Development Area? Both terms are used within the policy.

Paragraph 4.53 – This mentions that there are two new rural business development areas being allocated in the Plan when within the Policy GAM5 there is only one.

We have previously expressed our concerns on the inclusion of the B8 use in the policy wording for both employment policies. This has now been removed from GAM4 but remains in GAM5. Would applications for development of B8 uses be approved on the Mill Hill site regardless of scale or specific location constraints? Without restrictions on the scale of development that would be supported this could result in large sheds and the associated traffic generation. The policy must be clear on what would be supported. Although it has been highlighted to us that such uses already exist on this site this policy criterion would be positively encouraging such a use. If this is the case it could be contrary to the Local Plan Policy E/11: Large Scale Warehousing and Distribution Centres. This is a strategic policy in the Local Plan. This policy would not meet the basic condition test about being in general conformity with the strategic policies in the Local Plan.

We continue to have concerns about the way the policy is drafted. It does not restrict the amount of employment use allowed in the Mill Hill area – this is not supported by SCDC. We are not sure what the parish council’s vision for this area is and how it is envisaged development would take place. Is it proposed to be piecemeal redevelopment on these sites or a comprehensive scheme? There would be implications for the provision of infrastructure to support such development. We would consider that if this site is to be developed comprehensively there should be a requirement included in the policy for a design framework or brief. A brief would help to shape the future development of the site and would be a useful tool to determine the appropriate capacity of the site identifying the constraints and opportunities of the site, setting out the design parameters for the layout and appearance, exploring improved connections and the impacts on existing infrastructure.

There are residential properties including a care home within the boundaries of the Mill Hill area. Whilst recognising that this policy now includes a section that states that any employment proposal has to demonstrate that there will be no adverse impacts on the rural environment and amenity or property of nearby residents, we remain concerned at the potential scale of development that could be allowed by this policy and controlling the amenity impact on nearby residents. We have previously suggested that the parish council should review the extent of what could be allowed by this policy