Countryside support the inclusion of a Build to Rent (BTR) policy within the emerging Local Plan and consider that is has an important role to play in meeting the housing needs of Greater Cambridge. Land to the west of Cambridge Road, Melbourn presents an opportunity to deliver BTR homes as part of the overall market and affordable housing provision.

Proposals should seek to avoid large clusters of BTR homes, however the policy should acknowledge and make an allowance for appropriately sized clusters, as these assist with the viability, delivery and on-going management of a high quality BTR proposal.

The policy could seek to set an upper limit for the proportion of BTR homes that can be delivered as part of a development proposal, and if so this level should reflect a proportion that allows for high-quality BTR homes to be delivered and managed. Any proposed upper limit should be properly evidenced and justified. The proposed upper limit of 10%, is unlikely to support the delivery of BTR homes on individual sites across the Greater Cambridge area which are seeking to deliver an element of BTR as part of the overall housing offer. A higher upper limit should be explored to understand what proportion would best support delivery on individual sites. Alternatively, the proportion of BTR homes could be determined on a site-by-site basis to ensure that a proposal would respond to its context appropriately and enable a deliverable proportion of BTR homes.

With regards to affordable housing, Countryside support that BTR homes which are provided at discounted market rent can contribute to the overall affordable housing requirement of 40%. The policy should also include for the flexibility that if the 40% affordable housing requirement of a development is being met through different tenure types that any BTR element would not be expected to provide affordable housing above the 40% requirement. The supportive text for the policy should acknowledge the following statement made at Annex 9 of the evidence base for the emerging Local Plan that Build to Rent:

“…does not cover stock built for sale where a developer/investor or registered provider decides to retain a number of the homes for use as private rented stock. It also does not cover for-sale homes that are purchased on completion of a private for sale scheme.”