The Plan recognises that due to Greater Cambridge’s strong economy, over recent years, new jobs have been created faster than new homes have been built. This has led to higher house prices and increased commuting into the area.
We therefore consider that the Plan should be aiming to deliver enough homes to meet and boost the area’s housing delivery in order to help reduce these trends of high house prices and high levels of commuting as soon as possible.
In particular, we note that the Development Strategy Topic Paper outlines that both the Employment Land and Economic Development Evidence Study and the Greater Cambridge Housing and Employment Relationships Report show that should the Authority plan for the minimum housing figure set by the government’s standard method alone, this would not support the levels of employment provision expected to arise within Greater Cambridge between 2020 and 2041.
The Plan therefore proposes to deliver what is referred to as the “medium level of homes” which have been calculated in response to the “central employment scenario” or “medium level of jobs” as defined within the Council’s Employment Land Review. The medium level of jobs is considered to be the most likely outcome as it takes into account long term historic patters of employment including the fast growth of key sectors in the Greater Cambridge economy. It is therefore considered to be a broadly logical basis for setting a housing figure for Greater Cambridge. It is noted that this results in a need for 44,400 homes overall (an annual need of 2,111 dwellings), which is taken forward in Policy S/JH: New jobs and homes.
We do welcome the approach of setting a higher housing figure based on the area’s strong economic growth. However, we also believe the Plan should seek to accommodate further housing growth, should either the planned supply not come forward as anticipated or if other economic drivers (which are not currently known), such as growth of existing industries within the area occurring faster than currently anticipated during the plan period. This will ensure the Plan is responsive to changing circumstances during the Plan period.