Histon and Impington - Designation of Neighbourhood Area (July 2014)

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed neighbourhood area. I have only just seen this 6 week consultation following the Pre-Hearing Meeting on the Local Plan at the Guildhall yesterday and understand that the closing date is today. So we have not yet had chance to provide a fully considered response.

We support the development of a joint neighbourhood and community involvement as a contribution to planning policy. Our company is interested in providing and designing homes in the neighbourhood for the benefit of the area e.g. maximising the use of facilities such as the guided bus route. We are in discussions with a range of organisations from national builders and housing associations to private developers and self/custom build companies. We expect to make a presentation on self/custom build at the Local Plan Hearing.

We support the statement in the Neighbourhood Application that the vision should address the core objectives of Sustainability, "Digital Village", Diversity & Inclusivity and Heritage and be appropriate for all age groups.

We note that once agreed the Neighbourhood Plan will have the same legal status as the Local Plan. We expect that the Neighbourhood Plan will propose more development than the Local Plan and help to determine what type and design of development should take place.

We note that the CIL Regs were amended recently to include a mandatory exemption for self-build developments, in addition to the existing exemption for affordable housing.

We would like to ensure that the Neighbourhood Plan (and the Local Plan) takes full account of paras 50 and 159 of the NPPF which now requires all councils to measure the level of demand there is for custom/self build housing. We expect that this requirement will be extended in due course to require councils/neighbourhoods to find land to satisfy that need. This will help to meet the vision stated above.