There is a need to allocate additional employment land to sustain the continuing growth of the rural southern cluster. SmithsonHill draws attention to the merits of its Hinxton site in this respect.

There is a mismatch between the economic potential of the innovative and fast growing agglomeration of major science and technology based employment sites in the rural southern cluster and the scale of employment land and new homes currently being planned for in the local area to support it.

SmithsonHill is beginning to explore the option to adapt and amend its AgriTech park proposal at Hinxton (site previously subject to planning inquiry and put forward to the local plan call for sites process as an employment-led site) to support a wider mix of employment uses.

The Wellcome Trust is also innovating in the form of employment and housing investment it is making at the Genome Campus at Hinxton to provide more of a homes and jobs balance; an approach could be extended further across the rural southern cluster to support the important economic role of the area whilst helping to manage the length of travel to work journeys and related carbon emissions.

It is noted that the November 2020 sustainability appraisal identifies an assessment option involving supporting a high-tech corridor by integrating homes and jobs (southern cluster). At paragraph 4.11 of the appraisal it is concluded that this option “performs very well”, however the option doesn’t appear to have been developed further for the purposes of the current consultation – either in terms of a search for a new settlement or through the investigation of other spatial development forms that may have the scale and potential to achieve similar sustainability benefits.

On page 39 of the first proposals consultation document it is stated that:

“We also have evidence that locating homes close to existing and proposed jobs at the cluster of research parks to the south of Cambridge would help reduce commuting and associated carbon emissions and congestion. We are supporting both jobs and homes growth in this area, through rolling forward a number of existing housing allocations, and by identifying new allocations, including for jobs at Babraham Research Campus, jobs and tied homes confirming the existing planning permission at Wellcome Genome Campus, and a number of housing sites at well-connected villages in the area.”

It is considered that the scale of new homes and employment land proposed for the rural southern cluster is not commensurate with the economic growth potential of this area, including SmithsonHill’s proposed employment site.

The status of the SmithsonHill site is that it remains available, deliverable and viable. The site would be an opportunity to bring nationally significant benefits to the economy and create a significant amount of jobs in the Greater Cambridge area.