Comment

Greater Cambridge Local Plan Preferred Options

Representation ID: 56858

Received: 08/12/2021

Respondent: Save Honey Hill Group

Representation Summary:

Agree in principle but needs to be extended beyond residential to large industrial developments and effort made to convert existing buildings, such as shops.

Full text:

Agree in principle. This policy sets out to to take account of changing climate, such as heat waves and flash flood, when designing developments but refers only to new dwellings for low overheating risk. It should be expanded to include large industrial developments such as the Waste Water Treatment Plant proposal to relocate to Honey Hill, especially the office block and visitor centre. More detail is needed to ensure such commercial developments do not suffer from, or contribute to, flood risk after prolonged periods of rain or flash flooding and their operation does not contribute to released heat production. Some existing retail buildings use a "heat barrier" to ensure their entrances are warm; this contributes to CO2 production, is expensive and adds to heat spill. New buildings should use alternative entrance methods to preserve heat and reduce CO2production, and where possible efforts should be made to adjust existing retail buildings. Tree cover as a cooling mechanism cannot be achieved quickly in large urban developments but grass cove, which contributes equally to CO2 absorption, has similar effects and green landscaping allows surface drainage. These also follow the Dasgupta principles of the economics of biodiversity https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/957292/Dasgupta_Review_-_Abridged_Version.pdf