Draft Greater Cambridge Local Plan for consultation

We recognise the significant work that has gone into the draft Local Plan and the deep stakeholder engagement that has gone into its development. We welcome the opportunity to comment and the ambition of the plan.

Our primary concern for the draft Local Plan is to ensure that the international importance of Cambridge as a globally significant innovation hub is enhanced – supporting creation of new companies, enabling company retention and scale-ups and attracting global corporates and foreign direct investment, while ensuring the local community benefit. The enablers of sustainable growth, including sustainable transport systems, affordable housing, lab and office space, health care facilities, culture and diversity, green and open spaces and good quality of life, are critical for this.

Overall, we welcome the underlying vision for Greater Cambridge ‘to be a place where impacts on our climate and environment are significantly reduced, balanced with the continued flourishing of our internationally significant innovation economy, and an increase in the quality of everyday life for all our communities.’ and the recognition of the importance of the innovation infrastructure that underpins growth. The Local Plan is a key lever for Cambridge’s future growth and ambition.

We are pleased to see recognition of the importance of building on the foundations of existing clusters and campuses as a key part of the strategy for growth and particularly the careful consideration of key research centres of excellence (public and private) for Cambridge, including the Southern Cluster; Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Babraham Research Campus and Granta Park (life science innovation from bench to bedside); Eddington and West Cambridge (an innovation hub for deep tech, computer and materials science); Cambridge Science Park and Cambridge Science Park North (mid-tech and advanced manufacturing); and Wellcome Genome Campus (genomics).

It is important that this strategic, system-wide approach continues to be embedded so that start-up companies are next to each other, relevant research capabilities and companies at different stages of growth creating critical mass and maximum chance of success to scale. We welcome the Plan’s support for developments that strengthen clusters, including its recognition that the Cambridge ecosystem requires a diverse range of commercial space to accommodate different stages of business growth.

As Cambridge Ahead have commented, we would like to see the Plan more explicitly recognise the value of existing innovation infrastructure and the benefits of intensifying and expanding the parks and clusters to fully realise agglomeration benefits. The Plan acknowledges the increasing overlap between disciplines and the important role that major campuses and business parks play in supporting discovery, translation and innovation within an increasingly connected ecosystem.

We welcome the commitment to delivering an appropriate mix of housing types and tenures to support diverse and inclusive communities and the acknowledgement of the important role of employer-led housing. This has been impactful in delivering specialist housing at pace, supporting Cambridge’s growth. The spatial planning for significant numbers of new homes and a new settlement adjacent to key strategic sites where high-growth companies are located is well-received, supporting company growth and retention in the region. Given the Ox-Cam corridor's strategic importance in delivering UK growth, it is encouraging to see the vision and ambition to optimise East-West rail.

We welcome the commitment to a vision-led approach to transport planning for new developments. Congestion is one of the major constraints on the Cambridge economy. System-wide alignment, given the dependence on infrastructure delivered by other bodies, will be key to unlocking growth potential and joining up across current and evolving land-use, transport and growth planning strategies.