Comment
Greater Cambridge Local Plan Preferred Options
Representation ID: 57554
Received: 10/12/2021
Respondent: Stapleford Parish Council
Truly affordable homes are needed. However, developers have mechanisms which allow them to negotiate down the affordable element of a development, and they can negotiate for designated affordable homes to be market price. This must be prevented. Affordable dwellings need to go to people with a local connection, and should be protected as affordable for future generations which builds community. Affordability cannot be allowed to overturn Green Belt legislation, or landscape impact policies, or build on high quality agricultural land. Planning is required, not development management.
We have a genuine need for more affordable housing, but as we are one of the most expensive parts of South Cambs, we recognise that the 80% price cap does not make new houses affordable! 100 houses built on a 10 hectare site will not produce the truly affordable houses we need and no developer will find it financially acceptable to build them. We are a very green open village and the proposal to cluster 100 houses on one side of the site changes the design and feel of the village completely. It is also proposed to make the rest of the site open space, but this is not a use for the Green Belt! We don’t want ‘cluster building’. We want the village community we all desire to be enhanced by expansion and future needs. As regards the final 7 statements in this section, we would ask that the Plan considers these important areas but they are not applicable to our Parish.