Greater Cambridge Local Plan: Proposed Submission

Modification sought: A Modification should introduce a more integrated approach recognising soils as a strategic and multifunctional natural resource and capital asset, supported by appropriate soil management, monitoring, and skills and competency mechanisms.

This could most conveniently be achieved by the inclusion of a dedicated Soil Management Policy in the Infrastructure section of the proposed Local Plan, a draft of which is proposed below, to which other Policies could refer. Assistance can be provided to add cross-references to such a policy on request (in particular in appropriate places such as in the climate, biodiversity, health and well-being, great places, jobs and infrastructure policies.

Draft proposed
I/SO Soil Management Policy

Soils are a valuable natural resource providing a diverse range of environmental and social benefits. They are a multifunctional and strategic natural capital asset. Soils are potential carbon sinks and play a vital role in carbon sequestration. They provide a home to much of nature for at least one stage of their life-cycle, and are important reservoirs of biodiversity. Society depends on healthy living soils and for a wide range of ecosystem services. With improper handling and storage and disposal, they can easily be irreparably damaged and lost during the construction phases of development, and through poor subsequent management.

All developments are required to minimise any adverse impacts on soils. It is expected that new development facilitates the positive role that good soil management can play in building thriving communities, delivering sustainable urban drainage and avoiding flooding, supporting biodiversity, ensuring food security, and delivering outcomes for carbon sequestration and climate resilience.

Soils are living networks. In all cases, there should be a presumption against the import to or export of soils off the development site. Where this is demonstrated to be unavoidable then imported soils are expected to be responsibly sourced.

All major development proposals shall demonstrate careful consideration of sustainable soil management from the outset of the development process, including through the identification of on-site soil resources, including peat soils, though a Soil Resources Survey.

As described elsewhere in this Local Plan, developers are expected to follow the DEFRA Code of Practice for the Sustainable Use of Soils on Construction Sites (2009) as a minimum, and they are encouraged to incorporate a soil quality baseline report, a construction phase soil management plan, and a post-construction soil management and monitoring strategy as described in the Local Soils Model Policy and Guide (2025).

Developers are expected to value healthy soils as a strategic multifunctional asset contributing to public health, climate, biodiversity, green infrastructure, urban greening, great places and circular economy policies, as highlighted in the Climate and Nature – Living Soils Deliver for Both, UK Parliamentary Roundtable Report (2026). In line with the findings in that Report, and the heterogeneous nature of soils and the biodiversity they support, including in Important Invertebrate Areas, developers and other stakeholders are also encouraged to support high quality soils-focused education, training and CPD, and related job opportunities, including in the design, construction, ecology and landscaping sectors operating in the region, to secure sustainable soil management outcomes.

References
FAO and ITPS. 2026. Status of the world's soil resources 2026. Rome, FAO.
Available online at https://doi.org/10.4060/ce0792en

Local Soils Model Policy and Guide Davies, J., Calvo, M., Quinton, J.N., Dart, S., Hatch, P., Höntzsch, B., Changede, S., Feng, S. & Gill, E Soils in Planning & Construction Task Force, Lancaster University, UK. May 2025.
Available online at
https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/centre-for-sustainable-soils/news-and-events/protecting-soils-in-construction-new-blueprint-for-local-authorities-launched

C. Robb, E. Fay, T. Lyle, M. Sheldrake, & K. Johnson (eds) 2026 Climate and Nature -
Living Soils Deliver for Both. Report of the UK Parliamentary Roundtable held 8 September 2025.
Available online at https://doi.org/10.62512/pubs.eng.0001

The Collaboration for Interdisciplinary Sustainable Soils Project (CISS Project) CIC provides this Section 19 Representation to object to the Proposed Submission Local Plan (proposed Local Plan) on the grounds of lack of soundness due to being ineffective in failing to comprehensively address the fundamental role of sustainable soil management to achieving the policy outcomes of the proposed Local Plan.

While there are many laudable aspects in the proposed Local Plan, it retains a fundamental effectiveness gap. The Status of the World’s Soil Resources 2026 Report recently identified the lack of express and dedicated soil governance, and the absence of enabling conditions for sustainable soil management, as key contributors to soil degradation.

While the proposed Local Plan recognises soils through a number of separate mechanisms, such as in Policies CC/CS, J/AL and I/CM, these provisions remain fragmented and do not amount to a coherent and effective effort to secure the delivery of the outcomes indicated in proposed Local Plan.
The Council's own Sustainability Appraisal identifies both conservation of soils (SA Objective 8) and improvement of public health and wellbeing (SA Objective 4) as strategic sustainability objectives. The proposed Local Plan also promotes nature-based solutions, biodiversity recovery, integrated water management, climate adaptation, healthy communities and great places. Yet it does not articulate the fundamental role of soil and sustainable soil management to delivery of these objectives, or how soil-related requirements and outcomes will be monitored and secured across the development strategy. There is little consideration of soil literacy, professional competency, specialist soil expertise or soil monitoring frameworks outside limited peat-related circumstances. Recent evidence highlights gaps in soil skills and professional capacity, raising legitimate questions about deliverability.
Without more comprehensive and explicit policy support for the importance and achievement of sustainable soil management, the green infrastructure and urban greening required by the proposed Local Plan could be prone to structural failure, and the wider social, economic and environmental targets of the Plan - such as improving human health and well-being, enhancing biodiversity, flood mitigation, mitigating the heat island effect, carbon storage, and overall creating great places to live and work - could be severely compromised. National policy promotes an integrated approach to natural capital, ecosystem services, environmental enhancement, sustainable resource use, climate resilience, healthy places and sustainable economic growth. Healthy soils underpin all of these objectives yet are not effectively treated as a vital strategic resource within the overall proposed Local Plan framework. . Nor are the soil-relevant skills gaps in the workforce adequately addressed.