Draft Greater Cambridge Local Plan for consultation

Point 1: Inclusion of "undesignated areas" - strongly support.

Point 1 (Add): Any 'Open Space' with a new development must be automatically "protected" from the start.

Point 1 (Add): Add every opportunity must be taken to restore lost historic protected open space.

Point 2a: "suitable distance" - strongly support.

Point 2b: "before" - strongly support.

Point 3 needs strengthening; development should not be permitted if it impairs community access to and use of protected open space.

Points 4 & 5: - strongly support

To support the aims of Policy H/AH, where non-residential development is proposed, the Council should require the provision of homes (excluding student housing) to enable a mix of uses. Development providing additional floorspace of <200sqm or new floorspace of <1000sqm should require 50% of additional floorspace to be housing, subject to appropriate criteria. Housing should be required on site. Where not practical, or more appropriately off-site, provision of housing on an alternative nearby site, or (exceptionally) a payment-in-lieu could be considered, based on further appropriate criteria. Where financial viability is raised, the Council should seek the standard deferred-contingent contribution.

115524 would be a disaster for this community. This Site was given an Overall Score of 'Red'. The exclusion of this Site must be permanently enforced. This will protect our vital, extremely limited and increasingly pressurised local amenity space. St Matthew's Piece is the only public park in North Petersfield. Unambiguous evidence of this is the sequence of five Planning Refusals since 2021 (none appealed) all pertaining to this area: 25/0432/TTPO, 24/0413/TTPO, 23/0119/TTPO, 22/0271/TTPO, and (most significantly) 20/04514/FUL

✅Point 1a & e - support
✅Points 1b, c & d & Point 3- strongly support.

✅Point 1: + 30% minimum is supported, with adequate monitoring and enforcement.
❌Point 2: If less than 30% is agreed on site, then compensatory canopy increase must be agreed offsite (the farther, the greater the compensatory provision)
❌Point 3a: hedgerows should meet Wildlife Trust size standards
✅Point 3b support protecting "space below ground"
❌Point 4a change text to "climate crisis" THROUGHOUT
✅Point 4b support "long lived trees"
✅Point 6 strongly support
❌Point 7: define ancient and woodland trees explicitly as by the Woodland Trust

❌Throughout this Policy AND the whole Local Plan: replace “changing climate” with “climate crisis”.
❌Point 1: Design solutions must "respond proportionately and actively to the emerging climate crisis" (not "positively respond to our changing climate").
❌Point 2: must explicitly address the impact of any development not only on future edifices but (more importantly) on surrounding townscape and biosphere.
❌Point 2: all applications must include credible design solutions that first formally evaluate, second actively and effectively reduce existing and/or any future Urban Heat Island Effect.
❌Point 3: delete the words "where possible

❌Point a (Add): Mandatory protection for domestic-scale building heights, particularly in Conservation Areas.
✅Point b "For Cambridge.... relevant viewpoints" - support.
✅Point d - strongly support.
❌Point e: the use of of "adequate" is too weak and undefined, particularly for surrounding properties or spaces. Must be clarified, strengthened and improved.
❌On "microclimate", Point e is far too weak. It must also require that the effect of any development should prove that, at minimum, it will not increase (and, ideally, decrease) the Urban Heat Island Effect

I would like to start the process of getting Duxford's Brewery Field designated as a Local Green Space in the local plan.

The land is owned by Duxford Parish Council, who fund a maintenance contract for grass cutting and general maintenance. Ad hoc expenses, e.g. for site improvements, are funded by grants or by Friends of Duxford Green Spaces.

I believe we meet all the criteria as follows:
1. Brewery Field is in a key location in the village, a short walk from the Recreation Ground and the Duxford Community Centre, and directly opposite the primary school, allowing the children easy access. Its position at the edge of the village envelope, adjacent to fields, ensures that all creatures have easy access to wildlife corridors and it is a crucial link within the Duxford Nature Network.
2. A huge number of people use the site daily, for exercise, pleasure, relaxation, picnics and dog walking. The local community hold it in extremely high regard, particularly on event days (we have had 2 very successful Festivals of Nature in 2023 and 2024) and families love to get together on air display days, using the school facilities. There is a small but active volunteer group who undertake ad hoc tasks and these are often supplemented by SMT, a local Duxford business, who generously offer us 10-15 staff days per year.
3. Although Brewery Field is a fairly small area (1.67 hectares), the variety of habitat on site ensures that there is something for everyone, whether it be for exercise, coming together as a community, or watching wildlife.
4. We have planted over 200 trees and shrubs, there is a large pond, a secure area for toddlers, a chalk mound, a shelter for teenagers and exercise equipment for younger children and we have a wonderful art installation, created by a local artist, which was funded by the Duxford Parish Council art fund.
5. Biodiversity on site continues to increase, in line with the Duxford Parish Council Biodiversity Strategy, which is a major contributor to Cambridgeshire County Council's "Nature Recovery from the Ground Up" initiative.
6. We undertake regular Biodiversity Assessments, of both the site and the pond, and have done these more or less annually, from when the site was a farmer's field in 2017.
7. We will further improve biodiversity on site this year, through the creation of another wildlife pond and reshaping of the chalk mound to encourage more pollinators.

I would like to start the process of getting Duxford's Brewery Field designated as a Local Green Space in the local plan.

The land is owned by Duxford Parish Council, who fund a maintenance contract for grass cutting and general maintenance. Ad hoc expenses, e.g. for site improvements, are funded by grants or by Friends of Duxford Green Spaces.

I believe we meet all the criteria as follows:
1. Brewery Field is in a key location in the village, a short walk from the Recreation Ground and the Duxford Community Centre, and directly opposite the primary school, allowing the children easy access. Its position at the edge of the village envelope, adjacent to fields, ensures that all creatures have easy access to wildlife corridors and it is a crucial link within the Duxford Nature Network.
2. A huge number of people use the site daily, for exercise, pleasure, relaxation, picnics and dog walking. The local community hold it in extremely high regard, particularly on event days (we have had 2 very successful Festivals of Nature in 2023 and 2024) and families love to get together on air display days, using the school facilities. There is a small but active volunteer group who undertake ad hoc tasks and these are often supplemented by SMT, a local Duxford business, who generously offer us 10-15 staff days per year.
3. Although Brewery Field is a fairly small area (1.67 hectares), the variety of habitat on site ensures that there is something for everyone, whether it be for exercise, coming together as a community, or watching wildlife.
4. We have planted over 200 trees and shrubs, there is a large pond, a secure area for toddlers, a chalk mound, a shelter for teenagers and exercise equipment for younger children and we have a wonderful art installation, created by a local artist, which was funded by the Duxford Parish Council art fund.
5. Biodiversity on site continues to increase, in line with the Duxford Parish Council Biodiversity Strategy, which is a major contributor to Cambridgeshire County Council's "Nature Recovery from the Ground Up" initiative.
6. We undertake regular Biodiversity Assessments, of both the site and the pond, and have done these more or less annually, from when the site was a farmer's field in 2017.
7. We will further improve biodiversity on site this year, through the creation of another wildlife pond and reshaping of the chalk mound to encourage more pollinators.