Object – whilst we have no objection to the principle of the proposals, the delivery of 44,000 new homes and 19 new sites should be increased to cover the number of houses developable under site JDI number 40509; Land to the south of Babraham Road and east of site H1c, Sawston which has been incorrectly omitted from the assessment. Site 40509 performs equitably with some of the current sites included for allocation and exceeds them in terms of access to amenities and sustainability. If the assessment is to be equitable, then site 40509 must be included going forward or the existing allocations within the rural Southern Cluster and Rest of the rural area should be omitted. The reason the claim that site 40509 has been incorrectly omitted is being made is set out below:

We submitted a site under the original call for sites JDI number 40509; Land to the south of Babraham Road and east of site H1c, Sawston. It appears on the First Conversation Site Submission Map.

On review of the Greater Cambridge Local Plan – First Proposals documentation we have concerns that there has been an error in the assessment of this site.

On review of the HEELA in the First Proposals Document Library,:
• Site 40509 is Listed in Appendix 1 – Full List of Sites.
• It is not included in Appendix 2 which is the Not Deliverable/Developable lists. One therefore assumes it is considered to be a deliverable/developable site.
• A version of the site reference (40509a) appears in Appendix 3 which are the discounted sites, with the justification of it being a ‘duplicated site’.
• It appears in Appendix 4 with a detailed proforma showing it as having one Amber and two Green assessments – see attached extract.

In accordance with the information in the HEELA, we have then reviewed the Strategy Topic Paper. The Strategy Topic Paper confirms that all sites which met the Key Criteria for assessment should be:

‘• Locations with sustainable access: Rural Centres and Minor Rural Centres, but also Group villages with very good Public Transport Access.
• Sites with a green or amber rating in the Housing and Employment Land Availability Assessment’

both of which site 40509 complies with, being on the edge of Sawston which is a Rural Centre with good access to amenities and having met the Amber/Green HEELA threshold.

However, the Strategic Topic Paper makes no reference to site 40509. The site location falls under the ‘Other Site Allocations in the Southern Rural Cluster’ section but does not appear in either the ‘New Allocations’, ‘Continuing Allocations’ or ‘Allocations Not Proposed to be Taken Forward’ subsections. As a new site which met the threshold for assessment within the Strategic Topic Paper, presumably it should be referenced somewhere as either included or not included?

The Strategic Topic Paper assessment refers to the need to continue with the allocation of site H/1:c. Site 40509 abuts Site H/1:C and could therefore reasonably be confused with being part of it. We had assumed the reference within the Appendix 3 of the HEELA to site 40509a being a duplicate was an administration error and that the site was inputted twice, however, with it not appearing within the Strategic Topic Paper, it appears that it has been confused as being part of Site H/1:C and therefore incorrectly removed from assessment going forward.

To address this issue and remove our objection:
• the site should be removed from the HEELA Appendix 3 as a duplicate.
• It should then appear within the Strategic Topic Paper as a site which meets the Key Criteria.
• It should appear in the assessment of ‘Other Site Allocations in the Southern Rural Cluster’
• Based on the fact that it performs equally in terms of Amber and Red and is in a more sustainable location than some of the currently allocated sites within the Southern Rural Cluster, on the basis of the best performing sites being taken forward, it should be included as an allocated site.