Greater Cambridge Local Plan Issues & Options 2020

Savills (UK) Limited act on behalf of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust in respect of their landholdings at Fulbourn including those on the Fulbourn hospital site and on the Ida Darwin site to the east, both of which lie within inside South Cambridgeshire District Council’s administrative area.. The Trust are supportive of the need for a new Greater Cambridge Local Plan covering both the administrative areas of South Cambridgeshire and Cambridge City. A new Local Plan will necessarily have to set aside the administrative boundary between the two Council areas and produce a plan in the period up to 2040 which sets out the strategic plans and policies for the whole of the area in a much more comprehensive and considered approach than perhaps previously with two local plans which were adopted in 2018. Both of those 2018 adopted plans are the subject of review and it is entirely appropriate that any new Local Plan covering the period to 2040 should reassess the policies within those documents to assess whether changes are needed to be made. Our client is obviously concerned to ensure that any policy framework within any new Local Plan is sufficiently flexible to address healthcare issues which remain as a key part of any new Local Plan. In the context of the Fulbourn and Ida Darwin Hospital sites, the Council will be aware that outline planning permission was granted for residential development on the Ida Darwin site in 2019 and the removal of many of the unsightly single storey healthcare buildings will be followed by detailed applications for the new residential development including community provision. A Development Brief that was produced by the Council back in 2013 remains as an approved Brief by South Cambridgeshire District Council but it remains the case that its contents are out of date having regard to the consent that was granted and any link that the Council sought to establish between the redevelopment of the Ida Darwin site and any new development on the Fulbourn Hospital site. Policy H/3 “Fulbourn and Ida Darwin Hospitals” is contained within the adopted September 2018 Local Plan for South Cambridgeshire and confirms the principle of development of new mental health facilities on the Fulbourn Hospital site. The policy as written suggests the “transfer” of part of the building footprint of the Ida Darwin site to Fulbourn Hospital and thus in our view confirms the acceptability of development for such mental health facilities in that location and within the Cambridge Green Belt. It is the case that the evolving strategies for the Trust change and adapt over time and this has been the case more recently with the Trust’s aspirations for the future of the Fulbourn Hospital site where new mental health facilities are a priority and need to replace out-moded facilities that exist on the site. The experience of exploring the provision of new mental health facilities on the Fulbourn Hospital site have faced considerable scrutiny and questioning at a time when mental health remains high on society’s agenda and the well-being of the population should be a key priority from both a mental health prospective as well as the Council’s overall agenda within any new Local Plan. It is the case that if the development at Fulbourn Hospital remains within the Green Belt then on every occasion that a planning application is required then it has to demonstrate the case for Very Special Circumstances. Whilst the Trust appreciates that national planning policy guidance determines what is and what is not acceptable within the Green Belt, we would hope that the local planning authorities reflect upon the Trust’s strongly held view that mental health facilities and its association with Fulbourn Hospital are sufficient in themselves to demonstrate Very Special Circumstances and thus the issue is rather one of design and layout rather than the principle of development in this location. It is also worth reminding the Council that Kent House which was demolished in 2008 was a major feature within the Fulbourn Hospital site at a time when the Green Belt designation was in place as was the designation of the Conservation Area We would certainly wish to suggest wording at the appropriate time to be supportive of the principle of development in the Green Belt at the Fulbourn Hospital site and that mental health facilities constitute Very Special Circumstances in the assessment of development proposals. We look forward to being kept informed of planned progress.