This section sets out that:

“We want our rural villages to continue to thrive and sustain their local services, but we don’t want to encourage lots of new homes in places where car travel is the easiest or only way to get around. We therefore propose some development in and around larger villages that have good transport links and services, and to support important employment clusters. In smaller villages, we’ll continue to support infill development and affordable housing on suitable sites, but we do not propose lots of village growth.

As set out in more detail under Policies S/DS, S/SH, S/SB and the ‘Rest of the Rural Area’ section, this strategy will fail to deliver any meaningful growth to rural villages and therefore fail to sustain their local facilities and services which are key to maintaining the sustainability of these areas. The strategy sets out that the Councils do not want to encourage lots of new homes in places where car travel is the easiest and only way to get around and yet villages with stations (e.g. Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton) are not allocated any growth. This is perverse given that the very prospect of a station being provided in Cambourne at some point during the plan period is considered sufficient for a c.2,000 home allocation.

The rural area of South Cambridgeshire needs appropriate levels of growth to sustain the vitality of rural communities and any strategy that prevents this from happening is contrary to national policy at NPPF paragraph 79.