VJF supports the principle of policy S/RRA in allocating sites for homes and employment in the
rural area. The Local Plan should seek to allocate a component of its housing needs towards
growth at existing villages. Sustainable development in rural areas makes an important
contribution to ensuring the vitality of villages and supporting existing rural services and facilities.
This approach is supported by the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which at
paragraph 79 states that to promote sustainable development in rural areas, housing should be
located where it will enhance or maintain the vitality of rural communities. Planning policies
should identify opportunities for villages to grow and thrive, especially where this will support local
services.

Notwithstanding this clear direction in national policy, the emerging Local Plan makes very few
additional allocations in the rural area and VJF objects to this approach. This approach threatens
the vitality of villages within the rural area and stifles opportunities for further growth and
supporting local services. The allocation of additional small to medium sized sites in the rural
area will also help to ensure that the housing supply for the Local Plan is balanced and robust,
reducing the reliance on strategic sites and the limited allocations in villages. As such, the
Development Strategy should include for further allocations in the rural area to ensure that a
sound spatial strategy is developed and delivered.

To fully support the rural area and develop a sound spatial strategy with a mixture of deliverable
and suitable rural allocations, Land at Papworth should be identified as an allocation for
residential development. The site represents a sustainable location for development which will
help to meet the housing needs of Greater Cambridge in the next Local Plan period. The land is
available, achievable and suitable and the development proposals will bring a number of tangible
social, economic and environmental benefits to support the delivery of a sound and sustainable
spatial strategy as part of the Local Plan, including:
● The opportunity to deliver a substantial amount of affordable housing to help meet the needs
of Papworth and the wider District, including the potential to possibly deliver an element of
custom and self-build;
● Locating residential development in a sustainable location, within close proximity to existing
and proposed services, facilities, infrastructure and employment opportunities.
● A landowner who wishes to work with the local community in order to shape a proposal which
meets the needs of and can provide wider benefits to the village;
● Delivery of a substantial amount of open space which would be accessible to new and
existing residents and would provide connectivity with the allocated recreation ground
extension;
● Supporting Papworth’s economy, including local shops and services;
● Enhancing biodiversity levels across the site. The site is predominantly agricultural land and
can currently be considered to be of low ecological value. The proposals present an
opportunity to deliver a biodiversity net gain of at least 20%; and
● An informed position through the submitted Village Assessment to help shape how best the
development can bring the widest and far reaching benefits to the village and local
community