SmithsonHill recognises the benefit of a proposed development strategy for Greater Cambridge which seeks to direct development to where it has the least climate impact, where active and public transport is the natural choice, where green infrastructure can be delivered alongside new development, and where jobs, services and facilities can be located near to where people live.

Furthermore, it is right for the strategy to be realistic around the locational limits of some new jobs floorspace which is centred upon national and global economic clusters.

Knowledge-intensive firms and technology clusters compete on the world stage. It is the correct approach to deliver an objective to support economic growth and maintain Greater Cambridgeshire’s position as world leader in research and technology based industries by continuing to support proposals that build on the successful employment clusters.

Clusters typically refer to a collection of parks or small developments in close proximity that contain multiple occupiers carrying out similar functions.

It is worth noting that, whilst the ‘Cambridge cluster’ may be taken very broadly to include an area of about 20 miles around the city, in terms of the reality on the ground, and the commercial market, there are distinct clusters with perhaps the most notable being the concentration of life sciences sector activity to the south of the city (as acknowledged by the plan’s employment evidence) with major facilities in south Cambridgeshire including Babraham Research Campus, the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus and Granta Park.

A key aspect of clustering is the way in which co-location allows businesses and other institutions that operate in the same sector to collaborate and draw on each other’s knowledge and expertise. Access to the best scientific talents as well as to complementary skills offered by workers in allied fields is also critical.

Whilst the current development strategy proposes “some” development in the rural area south of Cambridge, the rural southern cluster, “where homes and jobs can be located close to each other and served by good quality public transport, cycling and walking links”, it is considered that the scale of the proposals and ambition is inadequate – both in terms of employment and housing sites.

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

It is noted that the November 2020 sustainability appraisal identifies the option for 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 development form(s) that may have the scale and potential to achieve similar sustainability benefits.

On page 39 of the first proposals consultation document is it 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 plan should also consider the additional employment potential of SmithsonHill’s Hinxton site to support the continuing growth of the economic cluster in life sciences and technology related activities, together with a scale of new homes in the wider area that is commensurate to the existing and future economic growth potential of the rural southern cluster.