Greater Cambridge Local Plan Issues & Options 2020

Make it a key part of every new development. Provide more knowledge, in libraries on your website about what homeowners can do. E.g. if you need a car parking space on your garden is there a more green way of doing that? How do you rewild effectively? What plants are good pollinators or good for native species? Why are green corridors important? What green corridors have we already got and could we develop more?

Increasing knowledge so that communities can make intelligent decisions, allowing creativity, letting communities take ownership and supporting them. Organising experts to talk in communities mean engaged people can be more proactive. Community gardens on verges is an interesting idea as a way of getting people to engage and connect to how the food they eat is grown.

14. How do we achieve biodiversity net gain through new developments? In the sixties many developments surrounded small green spaces that was a really nice way of living. See Woodland Road area Sawston and the Greenleas Estate Histon. Making those combined biodiversity and play areas creates a nice place to live. These greens are overlooked by dozens of houses and your children can access them without crossing more than one small road all of which is a nice way to grow up. If you are building on green belt make sure what you build is green and provides a connection to the natural environment. With reserved green spaces.

Yes, strongly agree

Yes wholeheartedly, vitally important. Also use trees intelligently, trees instead of air conditioning is possible.

Design to promote intergenerational and mixed living. Mix things up massive housing estates with identical housing lead to the same types of people living there, mix small and large, self build with developers, co-housing, social housing etc etc. Big ghettos of one type of person are not a good approach. They foster difference, don’t encourage across community cooperation. Marmalade Lane in Orchard Park is great if it could be more affordable that would be brilliant.

Help communities develop community building projects. Provide the expertise communities need which big developers already have for example how do you create a zero carbon development? Share knowledge and provide more leadership and knowledge through building control. Could you potentially in a big new build space like Northstowe make it a requirement that a certain percentage of the development is built by community building projects and make it a condition for the big developers to get their planning through that they support the community building projects thereby creating diversity and sharing knowledge. The big developers would be incentivised to help the community projects as it would speed the whole project through. You’d have to make sure community schemes weren’t manipulated by big developers.

Diversity of everything, diversity of people planning, diversity of use.. Community spirit fosters safe communities so build with that in mind. What areas are you creating where people from across the community will mix? Is there a pub? Community building projects, even as basic as building a mens shed bring people together with a shared sense of achievement, not everything has to be ready made, or built by a contractor. Ensure that there is sufficient infrastructure in place before allowing development. Think carefully about things like school catchment areas. Histon and Impington have a new school and the catchment area criteria basically mean that those children who live furthest away from the new school which is over a mile from a lot of people will be forced to go to the furthest school from them and those children who live closest to both schools will get free choice over which school they want to go to. It is obvious in the catchment area criteria that this issue exists, it is not fair and could easily be remedied with a simple clause like ‘children closest to the school within the catchment area will take priority over those further away but we would ensure that no child has to travel more than 1 mile to a school’ etc. All these things that impact negatively on people’s lives piss people off about ‘the system’ and development.

19. How do you think new developments should support healthy lifestyles? Walking, cycling, not car focussed design. Including fitness centres in new communities and swimming pools. If you can’t afford swimming pools set the land aside from the start, support community schemes to fund raise for swimming pools etc etc Put a covenant on the land so it can’t be turned into anything else.

Changing to a ‘not car focussed’ way of living. Make cycling and walking easier and demand excellence from bus companies. Transport must go across the communities as well as along spokes into Cambridge. I would be happy if the park and rides were transport hubs as there is one relatively close to most people. Look at new ways to move across communities.

Self build should be part of the picture, there is always a lot of talk of character but I don’t see the new developments having a great deal of character or interest. The houses often look OK but there is no space for different styles to be slotted in in the way an older community has a mix of styles and periods. Self builders are often looking to do something interesting and different, give them a bit of flexibility in planning and integrate the self build plots the councils are legally required to find into some of the development. Older developments have a massive mix of housing styles and that’s what gives them character. You should be looking to find creative ways to achieve that in new projects. I would like to see a greater emphasis on incorporating greenery with the built environment. All new developments seem to have big brick houses, monoculture lawns and a few trees. Can’t we diversify what housing looks like here, lets include plants in the actual buildings, more green roofs, blocks of flats with integrated planting like you see on the continent, much more creativity. Half an hour on pinterest shows you lots of amazing creative things.