Pampisford Neighbourhood Plan Submission version

The draft Pampisford Neighbourhood Plan (PNP) identifies a clear need for additional housing in Pampisford, including a need for market housing. It advises at Paragraph 6.1.10 that open market properties do not become available frequently and there is evidence that, when they do become available, they are not suitable to meet the needs of residents looking to move whilst staying in the parish, via the open market. It states that:

“The 2020 HNS identified six households seeking to address their housing issues through the open market. All bar one were looking to downsize. Two were interested in self-build and four (including self-builders) were seeking bungalows. The majority of people concerned were aged 60+”.

Therefore, there is a clear need for smaller single storey market dwellings to allow older residents to downsize.

However, despite this identified need, the decision has been taken not to allocate any sites for housing development within the draft PNP. It is understood this decision has been taken due to the additional work involved (i.e. the preparation of a Strategic Environmental Assessment and a Habitat Regulation Assessment). However, it is questioned whether the draft PNP will be found sound when a clear need for market housing has been identified without any provisions for how that need will be met.

Without development allocations the only way for new housing to come forward is through windfall development on sites within the development framework. However, due to the tightly drawn development framework boundary, there is limited opportunity for housing development within the development framework for Pampisford, thus little opportunity for new market housing to come forward in the settlement under the current plan. This is evident by the limited number of applications approved for housing development in recent years. A search of applications approved over the past five years identified only one application approved for residential development within the PNP area during this period (Application Ref. 20/01181/FUL for 4no. dwellings on London Road, on the edge of the Neighbourhood Plan Area adjacent to Sawston). No housing applications have been approved within the central area of Pampisford during this time.

Therefore, the draft PNP identifies a clear need for smaller single storey market dwellings to allow older residents to downsize, however, under the current plan, it is unlikely this need will be met. It is questioned whether the plan will be found sound on this basis. It is therefore requested that: the allocation of sites for housing development be reconsidered; and/or the development framework boundary be extended to include Site 4 and other such suitable sites; and/or Policy PAM1 be reworded to allow infill development outside of, but adjacent to, the settlement boundary for Pampisford on sites which fall outside of the Green Belt. These amendment would allow additional market housing to come forward to meet the identified need.