Greater Cambridge Local Plan: Proposed Submission

Cambridgeshire ACRE recommends that Policy S/SH, or its supporting text, is amended to make clear that the sustainability of rural settlements should be considered dynamically and in its local context.

In applying the settlement hierarchy, consideration should be given to:

* evidenced local housing need
* the role of development in sustaining local services, facilities and community infrastructure
* demographic sustainability and the long term resilience of the community
* relationships between neighbouring settlements and the sharing of services and facilities
* community led development and locally identified priorities
* changes in public and community transport, including demand responsive provision
* digital connectivity and changing patterns of home working
* infrastructure and services that could reasonably be provided or improved as a result of proportionate development.

This would retain the overall settlement hierarchy and its indicative development limits while providing sufficient flexibility to ensure that existing rural disadvantage is not inadvertently reinforced throughout the Plan period.

Cambridgeshire ACRE considers Policy S/SH to be insufficiently justified and effective in its treatment of rural settlements.

We support the principle of a settlement hierarchy and recognise the need to direct development towards sustainable locations. However, the evidence underpinning the hierarchy does not fully reflect the way rural communities function or how their sustainability may change over the Plan period.

The Settlement Hierarchy Study assesses settlements using public transport, education, facilities and local employment. While it acknowledges that rural settlements interact with and support one another, these relationships are not systematically incorporated into the assessment. This is significant in rural areas where residents frequently access services across a network of neighbouring villages rather than within a single settlement.

There is also a risk that existing rural disadvantage becomes embedded within the hierarchy. Public transport provision can materially influence a settlement's classification, despite bus frequency being subject to commercial and funding decisions outside a community's control. Conversely, the evidence on shops and services has not been updated since 2021.

The approach also appears to treat sustainability differently for established rural communities and major new settlements. Future infrastructure and service provision are taken into account when determining the anticipated status of new settlements, while established villages are assessed predominantly on existing provision.

This risks creating a self reinforcing cycle in which communities with fewer services and weaker transport connections have less opportunity for proportionate growth, despite such growth potentially helping to meet local housing need, sustain community facilities and services and support the long term resilience of the settlement.

Cambridgeshire ACRE considers that a more dynamic and place based assessment of rural sustainability is required for Policy S/SH to be fully justified and effective.

Cambridgeshire ACRE supports Policy I/DT and particularly the requirement for new public and commercial premises to have gigabit capable connections.

Digital connectivity is especially important in rural communities, where residents and businesses may have fewer opportunities to access employment, services and facilities in person. We therefore welcome the requirement that reasonable efforts must be made to secure gigabit capable connectivity before the exception for remote sites can be used.

We recommend strengthening the supporting text to make clear that remoteness should not result in permanently lower standards of digital connectivity. Where Superfast Broadband is accepted as an interim solution, the development should provide the best available connection and infrastructure necessary to enable straightforward upgrading to gigabit capable connectivity when this becomes available.

We also encourage the Councils to monitor digital connectivity outcomes in rural areas throughout the Plan period to ensure that the policy does not inadvertently widen the digital divide between urban and rural communities.

Cambridgeshire ACRE strongly supports Policy H/ES. Rural Exception Sites are an important mechanism for meeting affordable housing need in rural communities where opportunities for affordable housing through conventional development may be limited.

We particularly welcome the requirement for an independent local housing needs assessment and for the number, size, mix and tenure of homes to reflect evidenced local need. We also support the requirement for homes to remain affordable in perpetuity and the use of parish or village level local connection criteria.

We welcome the explicit recognition that groups of smaller settlements can function together, with development in one village potentially supporting services and meeting housing need across a wider agreed catchment. This is a particularly important principle in rural areas and reflects how rural communities and services operate in practice.

We also welcome the explicit provision for Rural Exception Sites to be delivered by Registered Providers or community led housing groups and the flexibility to enable a limited amount of market housing or additional affordable housing where this is necessary to make an otherwise suitable scheme deliverable.

Overall, we consider Policy H/ES to provide a strong, locally evidenced and place based framework for delivering affordable rural housing.

Cambridgeshire ACRE supports Policy WS/CF and particularly its emphasis on local need, accessibility, community use and the protection of existing community facilities.

Community facilities can have particular importance in rural areas, where a village hall, community building, sports facility or other local service may be the only accessible facility of its kind. Their value extends beyond the services they provide and can include reducing isolation, supporting volunteering, enabling preventative services and providing space for community activity.

We therefore welcome the requirement to consider the range, quality and accessibility of facilities before permitting their loss and the requirement for consultation with local people and users.

We recommend that implementation of the policy explicitly involves relevant parish councils and established community organisations when assessing local need, future demand and the potential impact of losing or changing a facility in a rural settlement. Local organisations can provide important evidence about patterns of use, unmet need, accessibility and the wider social value of facilities which may not be apparent from quantitative measures alone.

We also support the encouragement of co-location and multi-functional community spaces, which can be particularly effective in rural communities where individual services may not be viable as standalone provision.

Cambridgeshire ACRE supports Policy I/ST and particularly welcomes its recognition that sustainable transport provision should be appropriate to the location and context of development.

We strongly support the explicit inclusion of community transport and demand responsive transport, alongside conventional public transport. These can be particularly important in rural communities where population density and travel patterns may make frequent fixed route services difficult to sustain.

We also welcome the emphasis on connections between villages, mobility hubs and the wider countryside and the requirement for development to accommodate future forms of mobility.

In implementing the policy, we encourage the Councils to recognise that genuine transport choice will look different in rural and urban locations. Assessment of rural development should consider the realistic combination of transport options available or capable of being developed, including community transport, demand responsive services, rural mobility hubs and active travel connections.

This flexibility will be important in ensuring that sustainable transport requirements support better rural connectivity without inadvertently disadvantaging communities because conventional high frequency public transport is not currently available.