OBJECT

RO Group is promoting land south of Hall Lane in Great Chishill for residential development, and in representations has requested that the site is allocated in emerging GCLP. Great Chishill is defined as an Infill Village in the settlement hierarchy for South Cambridgeshire which is appropriate based on the services and facilities available in the village.

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 2 dwellings within existing settlement boundaries in Infill Villages, and sites of this size are not required to provide affordable housing. 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. The site promoted by RO Group at land south of Hall Lane in Great Chishill represents an infill site located outside the settlement boundary that could accommodate approximately 21 dwellings including policy compliant levels of affordable housing.

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 villages to ensure affordable housing needs are met including at Great Chishill.