GENERAL – SUMMARY
The objections to the currently proposed Local Plan (the Plan) for Greater Cambridge (GC) are in summary:
No recognition of the existing importance of inward commuting under existing conditions, the likelihood this will increase in future and the opportunity this presents for levelling up by sharing housing growth with nearby areas.
Overestimation of the likely jobs growth given the changes in employment, the likely loss of growth and changes in the economy that have occurred in the first 10% of the plan period.
Overestimation of the housing growth needed in the GC area due to the in-combination effect of the above factors
The adverse consequences of the avoidable, extra planned housing growth in GC namely:
a) Requiring an unsustainable inward migration to the area.
b) Further negating the desirable objectives of preserving the unique character of Cambridge as a compact, dynamic city with a thriving historic centre and maintaining and enhancing the quality of its setting
c) Concluding that NE Cambridge is required to include some redevelopment of the existing sewage works area for high density housing within the Plan period which now translates to proposals to destroy part of the Green Belt
d) Excessive strain on the transport systems in Cambridge
e) Excessive concentration of load on the infrastructure, particularly water supply where the Plan states an exceptional intervention would be needed to maintain supplies at the planned rate and concentration of growth in addition to an assumed reduction in household demand. There is an unaddressed threat that supply failures will be overcome by either excessive pumping of Chalk aquifers or supply restrictions, ie drought orders, to prohibit nonessential uses. Sewage treatment is also a major issue with many minor work in GC s causing intermittent pollution as a result of recent increases in population.