The review of the Green Belt is welcomed as there is a compelling need for Greater Cambridge to release some land from the Green Belt to provide the opportunity for sustainable development. However, the results from the ‘Greater Cambridge Green Belt Assessment 2021’ provide a significantly different assessment of a number of parcels of land compared to that of the Council’s previous evidence (2012 Inner Green Belt Boundary Study).

The parcels of land labelled within the assessment as CHI1, CHI2, CHI3, CHI4, FU1, FU19, TE6, TE7, TE8 TE9 have been assessed as either ‘Very High, High and Moderate High’ in terms of the level of impact that the release of these parcels for development would have.

This assessment conflicts with the Councils’ previous evidence (2012 Inner Green Belt Boundary Study) whereby ‘Plan 4 – Areas of Significance of Development on Green Belt’, assesses the same parcels of land as either ‘medium’ or ‘low significance’. This resulted in part of the site being the lowest significance of all the Green Belt around Cambridge. The five principles of the Green Belt as defined within the NPPF remain unchanged in the past 10 years therefore in the context of this site, it is unclear why the classification has changed, and with a much clearer and more robust justification for the change in classification needing to be provided. It is also noted that the vast majority of Green Belt parcels within the ‘inner green belt area’ around Cambridge have been identified as resulting in ‘High-Harm’. Such a blanket conclusion does not appear to reflect the differences in context around the city. Further clarification is needed.