Cambridge Northern Fringe East AAP - Issues and Options

The vision needs strengthening substantially. This is one of the last major remaining brown field sites in Cambridge and the City and South Cambs need to maximise the use of their land resources to meet the development challenges which flow from recent, sustained success. Positioned close to the Science parks and opening on to Fenlands of South and East Cambridgeshire districts, the area provides opportunity to develop on a larger and denser scale than outlined and in a manner which provides a modern, substantial and dynamic new quarter of the city. The current vision runs a substantial risk of providing a piecemeal strategy which will develop only local opportunity based schemes. Recent developments and current plans include significant and imaginative developments for the west and south of the City, a wider vision for CNFE would help in rebalancing towards the north east. As well as contributing more substantially to the longer term requirements of the city and providing a revitalised gateway, the area should be regarded as an important opening to the Fenlands of South and East Cambridgeshire districts.
Whilst the need for an employment led, mixed use community is accepted, the goal of providing a substantial, vibrant new quarter, as well as the need to deliver the City's future housing requirements, means that a substantial residential element should be included in the vision. A significantly denser development will help fund the relocation or reconfiguration of the water treatment plant which is essential to the strategy for the site. It will also allow for the creation of a distinctive and sustainable urban community, with a strong sense of place, thus creating a much more distinctive and impressive new quarter for Cambridge which will greatly enhance the northern part of the city.

Successful development of this important area will require a project big enough to provide the critical mass necessary to drive a complex scheme forward in an ambitious and coherent manner. Anything less will, in the long-term, provide only a hotch potch of commercial uses with a scattering of residential units insufficient to provide a successful community. Whilst the objectives listed are all worthy in themselves, they need strengthening to reflect the scale and density of development necessary to attract momentum behind the project. In particular, they should include specific goals about key issues such as:
* To achieve the relocation of the water treatment plant, or to redevelop onsite within a smaller footprint.
* To provide substantial new employment opportunities, as well as the relocation of existing ones where appropriate.
* To provide residential development on a sufficient scale - and of a suitable type - to create a vibrant and highly sustainable modern urban community.
* To open up additional areas for development (eg east of the railway line) and to provide opportunities for denser utilisation and regeneration (eg the Science Park).
* To create connectivity between the area and the Science Park, the city centre, the north-east and east of Cambridge, as well as villages such as Milton, Histon/Impington and beyond.
* To enable the preparation of a detailed master plan, appropriately phased and continuously updated, which retains a clear vision and underpins the redevelopment of the overall area. This includes the integration of denser developments, thereby improving prospects for viability and associated quality

The eastern boundary of the AAP is hard up against the railway line. This limitation constrains opportunities for the provision of residential development, as well as accessible and high quality open space and transport links that increase the permeability of the site, particularly to the north and east. The eastern boundary should be re-drawn to include land either side of Fen Road and up to the River Cam, with the proviso that development in that area should not compromise Green Belt principles

The inclusion of the Cambridge Science Park enables the formulation of guiding principles and development management policies to help shape the intensification of development within the business park including the consideration of its connectivity to the east of Milton Road.

The triangular area to the south of the sidings should unquestionably be included within the boundary of the AAP. Doing so will underpin improvements in the CNFE's connectivity through the provision of a pedestrian/cycle access as part of the Chisholm Trail.

Objective 1a, which argues for adaption over time, is a recipe for a piecemeal approach which lacks the coherence and critical mass needed to maximise the potential the area has to contribute to the future of the City and South Cambs.

CambridgePPF strongly objects to Option 1 (see response to Options 3 & 4) as it does not offer a sufficiently ambitious vision for this vitally important site

CambridgePPF strongly objects to Option 2 (see response to Options 3 & 4) as it does not offer a sufficiently ambitious vision for this vitally important site.

Option 3 response: This is our second preference option. We support it as a reserve option in the event that Option 4 is not deliverable. Reconfiguring the water treatment plant as proposed will greatly improve the development potential of the overall site, but not as optimally as Option 4.

Option 4 response: This is our first preference Option. Removal of the water treatment plant from the site would maximise development potential and improve air quality conditions both on the site and elsewhere in the vicinity. We recognise that much work will be needed to make this option deliverable and urge the local authorities and Anglian Water to work together to find solutions that would allow it to be achieved.

This is our second preference option. We support it as a reserve option in the event that Option 4 is not deliverable. Reconfiguring the water treatment plant as proposed will greatly improve the development potential of the overall site, but not as optimally as Option 4.

This is our first preference Option. Removal of the water treatment plant from the site would maximise development potential and improve air quality conditions both on the site and elsewhere in the vicinity. We recognise that much work will be needed to make this option deliverable and urge the local authorities and Anglian Water to work together to find solutions that would allow it to be achieved.