OBJECT

Enterprise Residential Development Ltd and the Davison Group is promoting land at Meadow Drift, Elsworth for residential development, and in representations has requested that the site is allocated in emerging GCLP. Elsworth is defined as a Group Village in the settlement hierarchy for South Cambridgeshire, and Enterprise Residential Development Ltd and the Davison Group agree with the status of the village. The village contains a good range of services and facilities, including a primary school, public houses, church and sport and social club. There is also a successful commercial area to the south of the village which provides employment opportunities. Cambourne and Papworth Everard provide additional services and facilities not provided within Elsworth. The site is within the heart of the village and is accessible to all of the services and facilities by walking and cycling. The local transport services available are such that future residents would have a realistic choice of travel modes. It is therefore considered that Elsworth is a suitable and sustainable location for additional residential development, with sustainable modes of transport available, providing an alternative to the car for some journeys.

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 8 dwellings (or 15 dwellings on previously developed sites) within existing settlement boundaries in Group Villages. 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.

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 Elsworth.