OBJECT

Bloor Home Eastern is promoting land east of Ridgeway and Old Pinewood Way, Papworth Everard for residential development, and in representations has requested that the site is allocated in emerging GCLP.

Papworth Everard is defined as a Minor Rural Centre in South Cambridgeshire District Council's current settlement hierarchy, and no amendment is proposed to this by the current consultation document. The settlement therefore sits towards the top of the Council’s settlement hierarchy and Bloor Homes Eastern agree with the status of the village. Papworth Everard contains an extensive range of services and facilities including a convenience store, hairdressers, fish and chip shop, coffee shop and a restaurant, a primary school, children’s nurseries, post office, library, doctor’s surgery/health centre, veterinary surgery, churches and village hall. Development has also commenced to deliver a bakery, microbrewery and Public House on the former print works site, south of Church Lane. This demonstrates the site is very well connected to existing services and facilities within the village.

There is access to an established bus service which provides connections from the village to Cambourne, St Neots, Cambridge, Huntingdon and St Ives. The main bus route is provided by the X3 bus. Improvements to Papworth Everard’s connectivity and sustainability are also currently being delivered or a proposed. Improvements to bus services are proposed by the Greater Cambridge Partnership. A new cycle and pedestrian link from Papworth to Cambourne is currently being delivered by Cambridgeshire County Council. Improvements are also proposed to the A428, and East West Rail would result in the creation of a new station at Cambourne which would significantly improve Papworth Everard’s rail connectivity.

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 30 dwellings within existing settlement boundaries in Minor Rural Centres, and Papworth Everard is an example of this. 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. Additionally, small sites such as this are unlikely to deliver infrastructure and community facilities to support the continued vitality of villages such a Papworth Everard.

The proposed development of land east of Ridgeway and Old Pinewood Way, Papworth Everard would delivery significant infrastructure and community benefits. This would include the benefits that were associated with the previous proposal for the site including: reserve land for a pre-school facility; contributions towards primary and secondary school provision; library contribution; contribution for improvements to Papworth Surgery; enhancements to off-site public footpaths; enhancements to bus services to deliver an additional service in the peak hour.

The Masterplan submitted with these representations also demonstrates how additional benefits could be delivered including a scout hut/community facility. The proposed development is landscape led, with significant areas of open space and planting. Bloor Homes Eastern are also committed to ensuring the suitability of the proposed development, not just in terms of its location, but also through the inclusion of EV charging points, air source heat pumps, PV panels and a car club with associated car club spaces throughout the proposed development.

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 Papworth Everard.