The consultation document proposes that Policy GP/GB will reiterate the importance that the NPPF places on Green Belt. It states that:
“The Greater Cambridge Local Plan will include the established local purposes of the
Cambridge Green Belt, which are to:
• preserve the unique character of Cambridge as a compact, dynamic city with a thriving historic centre;
• maintain and enhance the quality of its setting;
• prevent communities in the environs of Cambridge from merging into one another and with the city.
Enhancement of the Green Belt, such as for recreation and biodiversity, will also be supported.”

This section of the consultation document and the associated Great Places Topic Paper refers to the previous ‘First Conversation’ discussions regarding whether or not land should be released from the Green Belt to allow for development in sustainable locations. We note that the ‘First Proposals’ consultation is proposing land for release from the Green Belt through the local plan review. This includes Green Belt land in villages such as Gt Shelford, Sawston and Oakington. It should also include the release of land at our proposed development site at ‘Land east of Cambridge Road, Hardwick’ (Site No. 40414).

Terence O’Rourke has undertaken a Green Belt Review (December 2021) which is submitted in support of the above proposed site allocation and the land’s release from the outer edge of the Cambridge Green Belt. The Terence O’Rourke report sets out the following important evidence:

• Stage 1 - a general commentary on the LUC Green Belt Assessment that has been undertaken on behalf of the Councils. It identifies where there are weaknesses, oversights and omissions.
• Stage 2 – a critique of the LUC Assessment in relation to the parcels in which the proposed development Site (No. 40414) is located.
• Stage 3 – re-visiting the Terence O’Rourke Green Belt Assessment (2019), and how the proposed concept masterplan for the Site (including mitigation strategies) respond to the Green Belt.

The reassessment includes looking carefully at the NPPF and Cambridge Green Belt purposes in the context of the Site area – rather than Parcel HA4 as a whole (as defined by LUC). The reassessment work confirms that, unlike other areas of the Green Belt, the Site does not contribute to Cambridge Green Belt purpose 1 and provides only a relatively limited contribution for Cambridge Green Belt purposes 2 and 3. It will have only a minor-moderate impact on adjacent Green Belt if released and would create only moderate overall harm if released. However, this moderate harm would be further reduced by the considerable mitigation measures being proposed within the concept masterplan for the Site, as set out in the Development Framework (Vision) Document (December 2021).

LUC assessed the overall harm of releasing parcel HA4 from Green Belt as creating ‘high harm’. However, in using the LUC criteria to reassess the harm that Site No. 40414 would create if released from Green Belt, Terence O’Rourke’s Review considers that this falls within the ‘moderate harm’ category, two levels of harm lower than LUC’s assessment for the whole of parcel HA4. The Review also concludes that creating a new woodland edge to the development could become a new strong defensible Green Belt boundary, and that this mitigation would assist in reducing the harm further, should the Site be released from Green Belt.