The Preferred Options consultation document rightly recognises the importance of Cambridge East to the growth strategy of Greater Cambridge through the allocation of the site for a significant mixed-use development. Marshall strongly supports the principle that the Local Plan should allocate Cambridge East and optimise the potential of the land to meet housing, employment and cultural needs in the City. Cambridge East is a development opportunity of national potential and importance and its scale and location make it a unique opportunity to establish the next chapter in the remarkable story of the City of Cambridge and Greater Cambridge area. It is the largest brownfield site and is the most sustainable opportunity to deliver significant growth embedded within the Greater Cambridge area. Cambridge East represents one of the key sites in the development of the Local Plan strategy based on its scale and its inherent potential to add to and diversify the City. It presents the opportunity to plan for forms of development that cannot be accommodated within the historic core and it is capable of providing the key missing links in a comprehensive sustainable transport network for the City.

Marshall is committed to delivering a scheme that is truly sustainable and of exceptional design quality. Through the work that has been undertaken and shared with GCSP so far, it is clear that a development of the scale of Cambridge East can have significant sustainability benefits in comparison to locating development over a series of smaller sites. The benefit of scale at Cambridge East can provide:
- A single integrated public transport and active travel solution to reduce carbon emissions and ensure local air quality improves;
- A single strategy to meet both biodiversity net gain and carbon sequestration, providing significant large-scale opportunities for major local environmental gains; and
- An opportunity to invest in sustainable approaches to water management, energy and biodiversity.

Marshall will continue to work collaboratively with the GCSP to undertake further capacity testing and prepare evidence base documents that demonstrate that the site is capable of developing into a high quality urban quarter, which can enhance the social and economic objectives of the Local Plan.

Marshall would like to take forward close joint working with the councils by entering into a PPA with the GCSP, which will facilitate further discussions around scheme design, mix of uses, the supporting transport strategy and other technical evidence, ahead of the preparation of a draft policy in Autumn 2022.

In advance of the next version of the Local Plan being published, Marshall is committed to:
- Engaging and working with the local community to understand their views and how those views should influence the content and development of Cambridge East. As part of this, Marshall is currently developing a plan to launch public consultation during the second quarter of 2022 to understand the issues of importance to the adjoining communities and other key stakeholders;
- Developing a clear, shared vision for the development of the land;
- Identifying ways in which the development of Cambridge East can help deliver wider objectives for the City of Cambridge and Greater Cambridge area;
- Undertaking further capacity testing which maps out the scale of development that can be accommodated consistent with enhancing access to the countryside and green infrastructure, whilst protecting important views and environmental assets;
- Developing the technical evidence base to support the delivery of the development;
- Planning the phased delivery of infrastructure, including green infrastructure and social infrastructure;
- Optimising sustainable transport measures and planning for a net zero development;
- Developing a detailed draft policy for Cambridge East that can be embedded in the local plan; and
- Creating the confidence which allows the GCSP to rely on the high quality and delivery of Cambridge East in favour of development proposed in less sustainable locations.