The Local Plan will facilitate development to meet the objectively assessed needs (“OAN”) for 58,500 jobs and 44,400 homes, reflecting an annual OAN of 2,111 homes per year. TMLC supports the position that Cambridge have sought to plan for growth that extends beyond the figure calculated using the standard method in national planning guidance. As identified within the Government’s ‘Indicative Local Housing Needs (December 2020 Revised Methodology)’ table, using the standard method would result in 1,085 homes per year for South Cambridge and 685 homes for Cambridge City, equating to 1,743 homes per year across both authorities.

Paragraph 61 of the NPPF identifies that “exceptional circumstances” should justify an alternative approach to using the standard method. The evidence for the use of the alternative approach is included at page 22 of the Councils’ ‘Development Strategy Topic Paper’ which states that the ‘Employment Land and Economic Development Evidence Study’ and ‘Greater Cambridge Housing and Employment Relationships Report’, found that the standard method housing figure set by Government “would not support the number of jobs expected to arise between 2020 and 2041” and “it would also be a substantially lower annual levels of jobs provision that has been created over recent years”. Planning for this figure would “risk increasing the amount of longer distance commuting into Greater Cambridge, with the resulting impacts on climate change and congestion” and as such, as is also concluded at page 23 of the Development Strategy Topic Paper, it cannot be considered that the standard method housing represents the OAN for homes and jobs within Greater Cambridge.