The Trumpington Residents' Association supports the policy's approach of placing limits on further development within and on the edge of Cambridge within the proposed Plan, apart from already approved sites and specific areas to the north west, north and north east of the city centre, but not around Trumpington (page 32). We support the statement that housing needs alone do not provide the 'exceptional circumstances' to justify removing land from the Green Belt on the edge of the city (page 39). We support the emphasis on growth in new settlements (page 40).

We refer again to the sites to which we had objected in the Call for Sites process and our strong support for the omission of most of those sites from the proposed developments within the Plan.

Our greatest remaining concern is site 056 (the so-called 'Cambridge South'), one part of which was between Hauxton Road and Shelford Road to the south of Addenbrooke's Road and another part adjacent to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, land which has been partly incorporated in Policy S/CBC (see S/CBC and the Development Strategy Topic Paper, pages 129-136).

Local sites included in the Call for Sites process:

131: Land west of Trumpington Road: 540 homes
592: Clare College Sports Ground, Bentley Road, Cambridge: 110 homes
091: Telephone Exchange and Car Park, Long Road, Cambridge: 100 homes (see R14, page 72)
089: Cambridge 'D' Telephone Exchange, High Street, Trumpington: 50 homes
160: Trumpington Park and Ride site, Trumpington: 290 homes
042: Land north of M11 and west of Hauxton Road, Trumpington: 750 new homes
056: Land south of Addenbrooke's Road and east of M11 plus land south of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, 'Cambridge South': revised proposal for c. 5000 homes and 436,000 sqm of employment space, incorporating the original sites 132, 590, 127, 129, 128;
132: Land south of Addenbrooke's Road, Trumpington: 280 homes (see Site 056)
590: The Davey Field, Cambridge Rd, Great Shelford: 72 to 87 new homes (see Site 056)
398: Land off Cambridge Road, Gt Shelford: c. 120 homes
099: Land east of Cabbage Moor, Great Shelford: 400 homes
054: 144 Cambridge Road, Great Shelford: 25 homes
488: Land at 6 Cabbage Moor, Great Shelford: 5 homes
514: Land off Cabbage Moor, Great Shelford: 70 homes
subtotal: c. 500 homes
603: Addenbrookes Hospital Extension [part of Cambridge Biomedical Campus, phase 2]
127: Land at Granham's Road, Cambridge and Great Shelford: 990 houses (see Site 056)
129: Land south of Babraham Road, Shelford Bottom, Cambridge and Great Shelford: 880 homes (see Site 056)
128: Land south of Worts Causeway, Cambridge and Great Shelford: 490 homes (see Site 056)

If Trumpington had been identified as one of the 'edge of Cambridge' locations, this would have resulted in even more housing for this area. Another option of large scale building in villages south of Trumpington would have resulted in even worse traffic congestion in Trumpington, as people commuted into Cambridge or to the Park & Ride sites.

We have a strong concern that the policy includes support for the release of land for the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, including homes and employment. The sources of housing supply to meet the projected demand does not seem to include figures within the proposed Cambridge Biomedical Campus expansion (second table on page 32) (site 056). We challenge this omission.

We note that the number of additional homes includes a 10% buffer which accounts for 40% of the total number of additional homes (first table on page 32): we are very concerned by this approach.

We query the failure to provide clear information about where employment land is located and to categorise this land into different potential uses. There apparently is a considerable amount of employment land already identified (page 33).
[Appendix H of the Greater Cambridge Employment Land and Economic Needs Study meets this point in part. Policy S/CBC does not refer to this supply at all.] [see Jobs, Pages 228-232]

We reiterate the reference to housing needs alone not providing the 'exceptional circumstances' to justify removing land from the Green Belt and challenge the additional statement that 'limited release' might be justified for Cambridge Biomedical Campus (page 39). If it is proved to be justified, why is it on such a scale and so detrimental to the Green Belt and high-quality agricultural land. If there is a justification for the limited release of land from the Green Belt to enable life sciences businesses to expand and grow, including at Babraham and Cambridge Biomedical Campus (page 36), the land should be used for these purposes and not for additional homes.

We challenge the sustainability argument used to support continued development in/on the edge of Cambridge in the spatial strategy. Looking beyond the period of the current plan, there must be a limit to this type of growth if Cambridge is to survive as a liveable and compact city.