OBJECT
CEMEX is promoting land west of Malton Road in Orwell for residential development, and in representations has requested that the site is allocated in emerging GCLP. Orwell is defined as a Group Village in the settlement hierarchy for South Cambridgeshire, and CEMEX agree with the status of the village. Orwell contains a primary school, village store including a post office, a public house, a hairdresser, a village hall, church hall, recreation facilities and a mobile library service. There is a currently a limited bus service to Cambridge, but it noted that the Greater Cambridge Partnership’s Making Connections project proposes a more frequent rural bus service including for Orwell. There is a train station at Shepreth. It is considered that Orwell is a suitable and sustainable location for additional residential development, with sustainable modes of transport available within the village providing an alternative to the car for some journeys including for employment.

As set out in the representations to Policy S/SB: Settlement Boundaries, it is considered that there is limited capacity within the settlement boundaries of most villages. There are few outstanding development opportunities for up to 8 dwellings (or 15 dwellings on previously developed sites) within existing settlement boundaries in Group Villages, and Orwell is an example where there are no opportunities within the boundary for sites of 8 dwellings or more. It is likely that in most cases only small sites for one or two dwellings would be available. It is considered that the site size thresholds for each category of village are largely irrelevant and ineffective because very few sites are actually available, and those that are available would fall below the threshold where affordable housing is required e.g. less than 10 dwellings.

Requested Change

It is requested that a capacity assessment is undertaken of all villages in South Cambridgeshire to determine which potential housing sites might be deliverable or developable during the plan period to 2041, and the number of dwellings that might be delivered from each of those sites.

It is requested that the site size limits for each category of village are deleted and replaced with a general policy that supports development within existing settlement boundaries, in conjunction with a revised development strategy that allocates suitable sites on the edge of existing sustainable villages including at Orwell.