We strongly support the statement in the Development Strategy Topic paper that “Our (the Councils’) evidence suggests that housing in the rest of the rural area outside the southern cluster can help support delivery of a range of smaller sites within the area, and support the vitality of our villages”. Having reached this conclusion, to provide opportunities for villages to grow and thrive as required by the NPPF (Paragraph 79) and as stated in representations on the Vision and development, additional sites in sustainable village locations need to be included as part of a rounded strategy. The approach to identifying new rural allocations (Key criteria and Relative factors) is supported. This does make it critical that the ratings in the Housing and Employment Land Availability Assessment (HELAA) are robust. The recognition that some villages in the Green Belt have the best access, which may constitute exceptional circumstances to release sites from the Green Belt reflects the policy in the NPPF (paragraph 142) that when “..reviewing Green Belt boundaries, the need to promote sustainable patterns of development should be taken into account”, and is also welcomed. This does then need to be translated into the allocation of additional sites at villages.

St John’s College has put forward a number of sites which we continue to contend would deliver on these opportunities, but one site in particular sits squarely within the stated policy direction. Cockerton Road, Girton (40555) has an amber assessment and importantly is well located in terms of the opportunities to cycle and use the bus to work and to services, as well as being less than 1 hectare in size and thereby contributing towards the national planning policy requirement for at least 10% of the housing requirement to be accommodated on sites no larger than 1 hectare. The Citi 6 bus service links Girton to Cambridge with the nearest stop being on High Street at the end of Cockerton Road – a 2 minute walk from the site. The Citi 6 provides twice hourly buses taking 20 minutes to the centre of Cambridge (Emmanuel Street) and thereby linking on to other services. The Citi 5 bus service links Girton Corner to Cambridge and also provides twice hourly buses to the centre of Cambridge (Emmanuel Street). The site/Girton also provides safe, convenient cycle links into Cambridge for work, leisure and services, with the city centre (Bridge Street) being a 17 minute cycle journey from the site. The “negligible impacts to the settlement character” of development as categorised in the SHLAA, the contribution it would make towards the national planning policy requirement for at least 10% of the housing requirement to be accommodated on sites no larger than 1 hectare, the contribution it would make to supporting the vitality of the village and the accessibility credentials of the site constitute the exceptional circumstances required to release the site from the Green Belt and allocate it for residential development.