The rejection of planning sites put forward for development in Histon & Impington, in the first phase of a new Local Plan should be mitigated by the need for some affordable housing units to sustain the villages in the future as a viable community. The current Villages’ Neighbourhood Plan emphasises this need, which can be met by the provision of smaller Rural Exception Sites, delivered by the local Community Land Trust.
HICLT understands the rejection of large-scale sites in and around Histon and Impington, following the recent call for sites. The fact that our community is surrounded by either the green belt or the City boundary means that large scale development will always conflict with existing well-established policies to prevent urban sprawl. We have no desire to see these protections removed or weakened. Bringing large sites within our settlements’ development envelope will only exacerbate the problems of unaffordability and capital extraction from the community. All it will mean is that high priced housing for sale will be developed making little or no contribution to meeting local housing need for genuinely affordable options. In these circumstances large developers will build out most of the site minimising their affordable contribution through viability assessments and deliver whatever they choose to provide by partnering with large registered social housing providers, with no community specific connection or commitment.