Greater Cambridge Local Plan: Proposed Submission

The effect of this development on the road network - particularly the A505 - and Whittlesford Parkway railway station must be assessed TOGETHER with all the major development plans in the local area, and there are many of them, including Av-Tech, Wellcome Trust, Granta Park and Grange Farm, each of which - alone - will individually stress a road network that is already over capacity.

The effect of this development on the road network - particularly the A505 - and Whittlesford Parkway railway station must be assessed TOGETHER with all the major development plans in the local area, and there are many of them, including Av-Tech, Wellcome Trust, Granta Park and Grange Farm, each of which - alone - will individually stress a road network that is already over capacity.

The effect of this development on the road network - particularly the A505 - and Whittlesford Parkway railway station must be assessed TOGETHER with all the major development plans in the local area, and there are many of them, including Av-Tech, Wellcome Trust, Granta Park and Grange Farm, each of which - alone - will individually stress a road network that is already over capacity.

We fully support this development, but would like to see a proposal to widen Hunts Road/footway. The road is currently used by a large number of HGVs going to/from the factory area to the south of the village. It is also a cut-through for traffic avoiding congestion on the A1301 between the BP/Mcdonalds roundabout on the A505 and Great Chesterford/Saffron Walden. This traffic rarely respects the 20mph limit and makes walking along the very narrow footway uncomfortable, and occasionally hazardous, for pedestrians. During events on the Recreation Ground, parked cars may slow the traffic, but can also cause severe congestion.

Below is a list of what should be done in regard to each of the above topics before any allocation

WATER
Independent hydrological modelling
A site-specific assessment of how water extraction and deep foundations would affect the chalk aquifer and the flow of the River Granta — before any allocation.
12 months of groundwater monitoring
Continuous level and quality monitoring across the site and neighbouring watercourses, to create a legal baseline that can't later be blamed on "dry weather."
A treatment plan for road runoff
How oil, tyre rubber and brake dust from the new town will be treated before reaching the ground or river — the Granta already holds only 'Moderate' ecological status.
A guaranteed water supply first
No allocation before the strategic infrastructure (e.g. the Fens Reservoir) is secured — current NPPF rules require sites to be genuinely deliverable.
Enforceable protections, not aspirations
Policy S/GF must contain comprehensive, enforceable safeguards for the chalk aquifer — not the single aspirational line it currently includes.

TRANSPORT
A full, independent Transport Assessment
Modelled on real post-pandemic traffic — not suppressed 2019–2022 lockdown data — before any allocation is confirmed.
A credible, costed access strategy
Clear answers on construction and occupation routes, and how the A11 slips and Fourwentways junction would cope without gridlock.
Guaranteed public transport first - including Whittlesford Parkway station improvements to fit the vastly increased number of commuters. The station is not currently fit for purpose - it has no toilets, is not accessible and only a part-time ticket office
Secured funding and enforceable phasing so buses and CSET are operational before homes are occupied — not years later.
Realistic modal-shift evidence
Proof that walking, cycling and bus use can realistically replace car journeys in a rural location, with expanded #13 capacity and routes.
Corridor-wide cumulative assessment
Traffic from Grange Farm assessed together with Haverhill, Linton and other growth that loads the same junction - including AV-Tech, Sawston and the Wellcome Trust development.

HERITAGE
Binding limits on height and massing
Enforceable controls in policy — not aspirational wording — so the scale and form of any development is fixed before it is approved.
A proper assessment of setting
Independent analysis of the impact on the conservation areas, listed buildings and long views, using the Council's own viewshed evidence.
A buffer that actually screens
Evidence that any landscape buffer can realistically screen an elevated settlement of this scale — or recognition that it cannot.
Controls on light pollution
A demonstrated plan to prevent night-time glow and lighting spill across the dark chalk landscape.
Set development away from the villages
Consider locations further north or east where topography and distance would reduce harm to heritage settings.

COMMUNITY
Recognise social infrastructure as evidence
Give the impact on community life genuine weight in the assessment — not dismissal because it is "less tangible."
Protect the village hub
Demonstrate how the local services would be sustained — not overwhelmed — by development of this scale.
A genuinely separate settlement, or none
Any development must be self-contained, not an extension that subsumes adjacent villages into a commuter estate.
Assess cumulative pressure on services
Model the real pressure on all services (schools, medical, commercial) across all the local villages together.

ENVIRONMENT
A single, honest figure for scale of development
Resolve the 4,750 / 6,000 / 8,000 contradiction so environmental impacts can actually be assessed against a fixed number.
Respect the HELAA capacity
Explain how any figure above the Council's own 2,883–5,262 estimate can be reconciled with rural density and landscape capacity.
Protect the green buffer and greenbelt
Demonstrate how the buffer function between the villages and the A11/A1307 would be maintained — not erased.
Assess cumulative development
Model Grange Farm alongside Kingsway Solar Farm and other local projects (e.g. Sawston, Wellcome Trust and AV-Tech development) to test the risk of continuous urban sprawl.

LANDSCAPE

The Council's assessments acknowledge the development would "alter the existing landscape character irreversibly" and may cause "irreversible harm to the setting of Little Abington." Yet Policy S/GF provides no credible explanation of how this harm could be avoided.
Take the 'Red' rating seriously
Explain how allocation can be justified against the Council's own evidence of significant, unmitigable landscape harm.
Binding height, massing and density limits
Fixed controls in policy, set before approval — not mitigation promised after the town is built.
Honest viewshed evidence
Independent visual assessment from the Roman Road, Babraham, the Gog Magogs and the wider chalk hills.
Protect dark skies
A demonstrated plan to prevent night-time lighting spreading across the rural landscape.
Assess the corridor as a whole
Test Grange Farm together with Kingsway Solar Farm, CSET, the Wellcome Trust and the AV-Tech development, for the risk of continuous urbanisation.

SUSTAINABILITY
Follow sustainable building practices from design through construction to future operation and maintenance, to reduce environmental impact and conserve natural resources throughout the development's lifecycle.
Implement all key sustainable building practices:
• Passive Design and Orientation
• Low-Carbon and Sustainable Materials
• High-Performance Building Envelope
• Renewable Energy Integration
• Water Conservation
• Waste Reduction and Circularity
• Green Roofs and Living Walls
• Sustainable Standards and Certifications

Duxford Parish Council (and I, Cllr. Gillian Heath), object to the plan on the grounds that it is aspirational and does not ensure:
• a guaranteed water supply for the new development, that does not harm our chalk stream or deplete the aquifer
• an efficient and functioning road and public transport network, that has capacity for the vastly increased A505 traffic
• that character of local villages is not affected by light pollution, altered landscape and pressure on local services
• that there is no erosion of the green buffers between villages which would adversely affect biodiversity and the chalk landscape character
• sustainable building practices