Change suggested by respondent:
The evidence gap. The Slate Hall Farm policy expressly requires "a cumulative assessment of other planned employment, housing and highway schemes in the A14/A428/M11 corridor" (Policy S/RRA/SHF). No such assessment has been published. Yet the planning authority is simultaneously:
• determining an outline application for up to 230,000 sqm at Slate Hall Farm (ref. 26/02534/OUT) (Swavesey Parish Council);
• scoping a detailed application for an adjacent logistics park at Tritax Park Queens' Cambridge under a Planning Performance Agreement (Tritax Big Box); and
• consulting on the draft Local Plan allocation for Jaynic (Policy S/RRA-2).
This is a fundamental evidence gap. The Council cannot demonstrate that the cumulative transport, environmental, landscape, flood-risk and infrastructure impacts of approximately 543,000 sqm of logistics floorspace across four sites within six miles of each other — including two immediately adjacent schemes at Junction 25 — plus the housing growth at Cambourne North and Bourn Airfield, have been assessed, let alone that they are capable of being mitigated. The requirement for cumulative assessment is a policy condition of the Slate Hall Farm allocation itself; it should be satisfied before the outline application is determined, not after.
The NPPF requires that plans are justified — based on proportionate, up-to-date evidence — and effective, meaning deliverable over the plan period, and that plan-making addresses the cumulative impacts of development (NPPF). An allocation that defers all transport assessment to the planning application stage, does not secure a direct strategic road connection, and has not assessed the cumulative impact of an adjacent scheme of comparable scale is premature: the plan has not been shown to be effective, and the residual risk falls on villages whose ability to accommodate that impact has never been tested. Development should only proceed where its impacts would not be unacceptable (NPPF); on the present evidence base, the acceptability of these impacts is simply unknown.
The Council should require a full, independently reviewed Transport Assessment before confirming the allocation. It should include:
1. A detailed origin-and-destination assessment for all HGVs, vans and cars associated with the maximum proposed floorspace.
2. Junction and link modelling for the A14, M11, A428, A1303, Madingley, Dry Drayton and all connecting local roads.
3. Route-choice modelling using realistic travel times, congestion, junction delays and satellite-navigation behaviour.
4. Separate reporting of HGV movements, rather than combining HGVs with general traffic.
5. Peak-hour and overnight assessments, not only daily averages.
6. Cumulative assessment of the Slate Hall Farm outline application (26/02534/OUT), the Tritax Park Queens' Cambridge proposals, the proposed Newlands Park Cambridge scheme, and all other planned employment, housing and highway schemes in the A14/A428/M11 corridor.
7. Automatic traffic counts and classified vehicle surveys in Madingley and Dry Drayton before development is approved.
8. A comparison of alternative access options, including a direct connection to the strategic road network.
9. A safety assessment covering village centres, narrow road, bends, junctions, footways, cycle routes, schools, bus stops and vulnerable road users.
10. An independently audited HGV assignment model, with the underlying assumptions and matrices made publicly available.
