Greater Cambridge Local Plan Preferred Options

Marshall is supportive of ambitious targets for green infrastructure provision within developments. As detailed in the response above related to biodiversity, Marshall is developing ambitious plans to accommodate green infrastructure that provides a high value biodiversity resource.

However, Marshall also recognises that biodiversity enhancement is only one part of the green infrastructure solution and therefore proposes to make green infrastructure multi-functional. The evolving proposals for Cambridge East support the inclusion of other ecosystem services including in particular: natural water management including sustainable drainage and natural filtration beds; carbon sequestration through new tree planting and other habitat and soil enhancement on-site and off-site; urban cooling; food growing; air quality amelioration; soundscaping; improving landscape character; urban greening; provision of formal and informal recreational space; and others. These meet well the themes of the GCSP as set out in the Green Infrastructure Recommendations Report.

In addition, Marshall is keen that Cambridge East helps support a further spatial theme: enhancement of the eastern fens, which is identified in the same GI Recommendations Report. Marshall is keen to discuss with the GCSP whether, for Cambridge East, any off-site (or on-site, if development was to occur east of Airport Way) BNG that may be sought, or carbon sequestration initiative, could also lead to helping support meeting of the key objectives, which include creating wildlife corridors and helping reduce negative impact from access, that relate to this spatial theme. Given the achievement of these objectives would require works being undertaken on land owned by others we would be keen to understand, and support the development if necessary, of a process that allows this to occur through development contributions.

Finally Marshall would welcome the Local Plan requiring all, or at least developments of a significant scale, to be required to seek green infrastructure accreditation, for example through the Building with Nature scheme.

Marshall appreciates the strategic ambitions to increase tree cover within Cambridge and wider Cambridgeshire more generally. Tree and hedgerow planting are therefore a fundamental part of the Cambridge East proposals including within the green corridor, the developed areas themselves (including through the provision of street trees), and possibly from carbon sequestration elsewhere in Cambridgeshire. Given also that trees within the airfield occur rarely, there is significant potential for major gain.

Marshall supports the proposed policies within the Local Plan evidence although the direct benefits that Cambridge East can have to support them are limited given that no river corridor will be affected.

Proposals at Cambridge East which may have indirect benefit include the opportunity to recharge the groundwater aquifer, which may have wider water catchment benefits, including for chalk streams. Furthermore, runoff will be dealt with through sustainable drainage with this likely including the use of channels as conveyance, and with the ambition to design these to be as natural as possible. Emphasis will also be placed on ensuring that surface water runoff is treated where it is necessary, and by natural means where possible.

As a result of development at Cambridge East, Marshall predicts there will be no impact on existing accessible open spaces but plenty of opportunity to create new spaces – see next section on Providing and Enhancing Open Spaces.

The Cambridge East proposals align with the 2018 Local Plan requirements, with significant formal, such as sports pitches and urban squares, and informal, such as new accessible ‘countryside’ in the green corridor, proposed. In addition, the greenspace is to be dispersed, occurring throughout the development and within the developed areas themselves. The ambition is to ensure that where appropriate green spaces are multi-functional, but that they also have one key ambition that should not be compromised.

Marshall is placing a significant emphasis on the creation of active travel only streets and want to create a development that is less reliant on the car and that encourages people to travel by active means. The active streets will also become green spaces in their own right, providing opportunities for new playspace and areas to socialise within.

Marshall is aligned with the GCSP’s aim to help people in Greater Cambridge to lead healthier and happier lives and ensuring that everyone benefits from the development of new homes and jobs. Marshall strongly supports the Councils’ aim to ensure growth benefits local residents and recognises that the development of Cambridge East has an important part to play. Cambridge is one of the most unequal cities in the UK and has some of the least affordable housing. It also has pockets of deprivation, especially in the east of the city.

Pages 188 and 189 of the ‘First Proposals’ document recognises that the wellbeing and social inclusion themes can be best achieved by: “providing good quality, affordable housing in accessible locations; providing good access to services and facilities; creating places that enable healthy and active lifestyles and social interaction; supporting access to education, employment and training opportunities; promoting sustainable and active travel; providing community and shared spaces; and protecting and providing public access to open spaces and the natural environment.”

Cambridge East has the scale to achieve transformational change in the east of the City that will significantly improve the lives of local residents through the provision of a range of job opportunities, affordable homes and a range of cultural, leisure and retail options. Marshall takes its role as a key Cambridge stakeholder very seriously and is committed to the long-term, patient development of a high-quality new quarter. The mix of uses – commercial, residential, retail, educational, cultural and leisure will ensure a high quality of life for residents, workers and visitors.

The wellbeing and inclusion objectives can only be truly achieved by embracing and harnessing inclusive growth. Cambridge East provides an opportunity to address a number of the inequality issues in the eastern part of the City through the generation of benefits and opportunities for those who live in more deprived areas, whilst enabling access to affordable homes, employment and education opportunities, a comprehensive green infrastructure network and a range of community services / facilities.

Marshall is also committed to working with the NHS stakeholders in the area, including the CCG and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to understand how the health needs of future residents can best be met, when planning a development at scale.

Please refer to the general comments on wellbeing and inclusion as creating healthy new developments is at the heart of the approach for Cambridge East.

Marshall recognises the role that community, cultural, education, sports and leisure services and facilities play in creating vibrant, healthy and sustainable places. On that basis, Marshall supports the principle and role of Policy WS/CF in establishing the need and appropriate locations for new or replacement services / facilities. The scale of development at Cambridge East provides a significant opportunity to meet, not only the needs of the future Cambridge East residents, but also a wider demand for community, sports and leisure facilities. Cambridge East is intended to be truly mixed use and will provide an opportunity to deliver enhanced community, sports and leisure facilities, close to the city centre that might not be capable of being accommodated on other more constrained sites. Marshall will work with the community and key stakeholders to understand what type of facilities are currently missing in Cambridge and what the local community needs.

Marshall has been a key employer in Cambridge over the last 110 years and it is proud of its history and role within Cambridge. It intends that Cambridge East will be the next stage of its contribution to the city’s social and economic life and therefore, Marshall has a strong interest in creating inclusive employment and business opportunities, in accordance with the policy objectives of Policy WS/IO. It is proposed that development at Cambridge East would accommodate businesses of all types. Although the scale and location of the site would naturally draw nationally and internationally significant businesses of a larger-scale, small and medium enterprises, incubation space for start-ups and other flexible spaces would form part of the overall employment offering at Cambridge East, making it an inclusive place for all. The development of Cambridge East presents an opportunity to create inclusive employment and business opportunities that do not compete, but are complementary to, the surrounding existing employment clusters and the city centre. From a skills perspective, Cambridge East will build on the established and respected Marshall Apprenticeships by providing a wealth of skills, education and life-long learning
opportunities for people of all socio-economic backgrounds and academic abilities, equipping them for a life of self-sufficiency and ensuring that everyone is able to fulfil their true potential.

Cambridge East provides an opportunity to provide employment space and unlock transport infrastructure to catalyse growth in the area. This will be matched by the significant quantum and range of homes – providing affordable and high-quality options that mean Cambridge can maintain its status as an attractive place to live and work. Cambridge East has the potential to include significant educational and sports opportunities, alongside a range of other leisure uses which local people can utilise but also that encourage people to visit the area, spending money and facilitating further economic activity. Cambridge East can be an economically and environmentally sustainable place in its own right and contribute to the sustainable growth of Cambridge and the Greater Cambridge Area.

Marshall supports the principle of this policy to create great places where people want to live, work and play whilst sustaining the unique characters of Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire. Cambridge East has a significant role to play in the creation of an extraordinary new place that complements and adds to the existing surrounding built development and communities. The creation of great places is embedded at the heart of the vision for Cambridge East and the scale and the significance of the site provides an opportunity to implement place-making. Cambridge East will be a place in itself, complementing the role and services offered by other city quarters – but also a place integrated with and completing the city. Further detail will be developed through the masterplan in collaboration with the GCSP.