Greater Cambridge Local Plan Issues & Options 2020

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3.35 Yes, it is important that planning applications and proposals are considered in accordance with the presumption in favour of sustainable development, as set out in paragraphs 10 & 11 of the NPPF. Linton is a sustainable location. It is considered that villages, such as Linton that are located outside of the Green Belt, should have a role to play in providing development and allowing people greater choice on where they want to live. In locations adjacent to village envelopes, where locations are deemed sustainable the restrictions on scale of development should be lifted and be seen on a case by case basis.

3.36 As set out above, sustainable growth within the villages is considered essential in order to meet the four big themes of the Local Plan and reduce pressure on already constrained infrastructure in and around Cambridge City. 3.37 It is considered that the level of growth in settlements should be relative to the size of the settlement, along with its sustainability credentials. As recognised within the existing Local Plan, Minor Rural Centres are currently the second highest tier settlements within the settlement hierarchy. 3.38 The table below contains an overview of the 13 settlements and their population. Policy S/9: Minor Rural Centres Location Population 1 Bar Hill 4,000 2 Bassingbourn 3,583 3 Comberton 2,400 4 Fulbourn 5,000 5 Gamlingay 3,247 6 Girton 4,599 7 Linton 4,525 8 Melbourn 4,400 9 Milton 4,679 10 Papworth Everard 2,880 3.39 Linton is fifth largest Minor Rural Centre in population terms, behind Waterbeach, Fulbourn, Milton and Girton. Waterbeach is already subject to substantial growth as part, with the Waterbeach North Garden Settlement providing some 6,500 dwellings. Fulbourn, Milton and Girton are all located within the Green Belt. 3.40 Therefore, Linton is the largest Minor Rural Centre that is not located within the Green Belt. It is also worth noting that of the 13 Minor Rural Centres, only Waterbeach has a train station (which for reasons explained above should not take any further growth). Linton is best placed of all the Rural Service Centres, to provide housing for employees at the major employment sites to the east of Cambridge. 3.41 In addition, Linton benefits from a vast range of services, with Linton Village College also providing excellent sport and community facilities. A full list of the facilities within Linton are set out below: Service / facility Closest service / facility Distance from the site Cycling Time Walking Time Primary School Linton Heights Junior School 270 metres 1 min 4 mins Linton C of E Infant School 1 kilometre 3 mins 12 mins Secondary School Linton Village College 2.3 kilometres 8 mins 27 mins Local Services The Dog & Duck 1.4 kilometres 5 mins 17 mins BP Garage 1.7 kilometres 8 mins 10 mins Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin 1.4 kilometres 6 mins 16 mins Linton Zoo 1.25 Kilometres 3 mins 14 mins Boswell’s Bakery, Linton 1.4 kilometres 6 mins 18 mins Linton Free Church URC Church 1.4 kilometres 4 mins 17 mins Co-op Food, Linton 850 metres 2 mins 10 mins Jigsaw Bakery 800 metres 2 mins 9 mins Linton Post Office 1.2 kilometres 3 mins 14 mins Linton Pharmacy 1.2 kilometres 3 mins 15 mins 11 Swavesey 2,463 12 Waterbeach 5,166 13 Willingham 4,015 Service / facility Closest service / facility Distance from the site Cycling Time Walking Time Community facilities Linton Community Sports Centre 1.9 kilometres 6 mins 23 mins Linton Library 1 kilometre 3 mins 12 mins Linton Village Hall 1.3 kilometres 4 mins 14 mins Public Transport Bus Stop, Parsonage Way 800m 2 mins 9 mins Bus Stop, Hill Way 1 kilometre 3 mins 3 mins Bus Stop, High Street 1.5 kilometres 5 mins 18 mins Healthcare School Street Surgery, Great Chesterford 15.1 kilometres 31 mins N/A 3.42 Accounting for the current number of services in Linton, that it is the largest Rural Service Centre outside of the Green Belt, along with its very good transport connections, it is considered to be settlement that should take substantial housing growth as part of the new Local Plan. 3.43 A development of 300 dwellings, with a 1 hectare rural service centre for small to medium sized start-up businesses, would be a scale of development that is fully compatible with the size of the existing village. It is considered that the allocation of land adjacent to Balsham Road, would be a sound allocation and accord with national policy.

3.44 Locating development along transport corridors is central to the way in which planning and development appears to be moving towards: sustainable and accessible. The importance of this is reflected in the NPPF, paragraph 103; “Significant development should be focused on locations which are or can be made sustainable, through limiting the need to travel and offering a genuine choice of transport modes. This can help to reduce congestion and emissions, and improve air quality and public health”. 3.45 The necessity of locating development along transport corridors is reinforced in ‘big themes’ of the Greater Cambridge Local Plan: “Committed infrastructure proposals being progressed by Greater Cambridge Partnership will provide significant transport capacity to support the delivery of committed development.” 3.46 As set out above, Linton is located along the route of the new Addenbrookes to Haverhill rapid transit bus route and we are supportive of growth along key transport corridors.

3.47 The next Local Plan should be a well-informed plan, both from national policy and address the comments from the Planning Inspector on the 2018 Local Plan to allocate more small to medium sized sites. The next Local Plan will be active for many years in a period of uncertainty, and undoubtedly considerable change. Therefore, the plan must have a varied approach to development; with a more holistic approach, ensuring a mixed approach to development, drawing on large, medium and small scale sites, in sustainable location that create a sense of place and community. 3.48 The GCP is in the process of preparing significant infrastructure projects, in order to improve connectivity and regenerate the way people perceive transport, resulting in public transport being the easiest and most logical way to travel. Development should take advantage of this much needed update of public transport and located development in these sustainable locations.

I write in relation to my client, Countryside Properties (UK) Ltd’s site at land west of Station Road, Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire. This submission follows a previous submission made in March 2019 as part of the Greater Cambridge Local Plan ‘Call for Sites and Broad Locations’ exercise. My client welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Greater Cambridge Local Plan: The First Conversation, which explores a series of big themes that will underpin the decisions about where homes, jobs, and infrastructure should be located, and consequently what spatial development strategy the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service should adopt. Countryside strongly welcomes the inclusion of these ‘big themes’ that will influence how jobs, homes, and infrastructure are delivered. The draft Local Plan’s strong focus on climate change, biodiversity & green space, wellbeing & social inclusion, and making great places provides an excellent framework and starting point within which consideration should be given to prospective sites. Of particular significance is the level of housing required, which should be set at a level that seeks to meet the demand created by the concentration of jobs in the Greater Cambridge area, and the spatial strategy. A key consideration will be how to accommodate sustained high growth, while keeping Greater Cambridge special. Countryside supports a blended strategy (as advocated in the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Independent Economic Review (CPIER)) and one that focuses on sustainable locations that are well-connected or have the potential to be connected to high quality public transport, while recognizing that a range of sites is required to aid deliverability and to ensure that all villages can grow in a sustainable manner appropriate to their size and scale. My client’s site at land west of Station Road, Fulbourn proposes the erection of up to 200 dwellings with a care/community/retirement facility and associated public open space and would represent an appropriately sized extension to the large, sustainable village of Fulbourn. In recognizing the importance of linking communities with high quality public transport, my client recognizes the villages’ excellent and regular bus services between Fulbourn and many of the other major employment locations in the Greater Cambridge area, and also proposes to safeguard land for the provision of a new railway station at Fulbourn should it be required in the future. This submission comprises completed forms, which respond to the following questions: Q32: Do you think we should plan for a higher number of homes that the minimum required by government, to provide flexibility to support the growing economy?  Q37: How should we encourage a shift away from car use and towards more sustainable modes of transport such as public transport, cycling and walking?  Q39: Should we look to remove land from the Green Belt if evidence shows it provides a more sustainable development options by reducing travel distances, helping us to reduce our climate impacts?  Q40: how flexible should the Local Plan be towards development of both jobs and homes on the edge of villages?  Q42: Where should we site new development?  Q47: What do you think about growing our villages?  Q48: What do you think about siting development along transport corridors?  Q49: Do you have any views on any specific policies in the two adopted 2018 Local Plans? If so what are they? Site Description The site is located on the northern edge of the large village of Fulbourn, surrounded on its southern, western, and eastern sides by residential development and on its northern edge by the Cambridge to Newmarket railway line. Fulbourn is identified in the current South Cambridgeshire Local Plan as a Minor Rural Centre (Policy S/9). These are described as ‘having a lower level of services, facilities, and employment than Rural Centres, but a greater level than most other villages in South Cambridgeshire, and often perform a role in terms of providing services and facilities for a small rural hinterland’. The current policy permits ‘Residential development and redevelopment up to an indicative maximum scheme size of 30 dwellings…within the development frameworks of Minor Rural Centres’. This policy is considered to be unduly restrictive and the new Local Plan should allow for a greater level of development in sustainable villages such as Fulbourn. Fulbourn has an excellent range of shops, services, and facilities, including regular bus services to nearby employment sites such as Capital Park, the Peterhouse Research Park, and the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, and given its close proximity to Cambridge and sustainability credentials should be placed higher in any future settlement hierarchy when the new Local Plan is prepared. The National Planning Policy Framework sets out the five purposes of Green Belts (para. 135), which seek to a) check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas; b) to prevent neighbouring towns merging into one another; c) to assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment; d) to preserve the setting and special character of historic towns; and e) to assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land’. The National Planning Policy Framework states that Green Belt boundaries can be altered in exceptional circumstances where they are fully justified through the preparation or updating of a Local Plan. The site is located within the Cambridge Green Belt but plays a very limited contribution to the five purposes of Green Belts set out above. It is surrounded by residential development on its southern, eastern, and western sides, and by the Cambridge to Newmarket railway line to the north. Furthermore, there is increasing evidence (such as that set out in the Cambridge & Peterborough Independent Economic Review) that these exceptional circumstances exist – namely that the recent ‘Growth is employment has not been matched by corresponding house-building, or developments infrastructure’, and that ‘We are rapidly approaching the point where even high-value businesses may decide that being based in Cambridge is no longer attractive. If nothing is done, the damage to society from the continuing drift away of less well-paid workers may become irreparable’. This letter should be read in conjunction with the completed forms, and site location plan, and vision document that accompany this submission. I trust that the information submitted is sufficient for your purposes but should you require any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

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Summary: The Local Plan should be highly flexible towards development of jobs/homes on the edge of villages and be able to respond to changing circumstances. Full: The acknowledgment of the important role that villages play is strongly welcomed and it is critical that villages are provided with opportunities to grow in a sustainable way. The Greater Cambridge Shared Partnership states that 'the adopted 2018 South Cambridgeshire Local Plan sets a development framework (boundary) for each village, outside which development is heavily restrictive and the lack of new homes in villages has, at least in part, contributed to the decline in some of their services in recent years'. Additionally, it has led to a shortage of supply, where local people have often been unable to live near to their families and support network due to a lack of housing availability, as well as limiting opportunities for people to downsize. It is important that a blended approach to a new spatial strategy is taken that provides a wide range of housing types and tenures, particularly given the higher housing numbers that are likely to be required across the Greater Cambridge area. The Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Independent Economic Review (CPIER) 'Futures Work' looked at the interaction between land use and transportation and explored four potential spatial development options: a) densification b) dispersal c) fringe growth d) transport corridors Given the high level of housing required, and the need to build in flexibility, it is recommended that a single spatial option alone will not deliver for the specific needs of the whole area. There should be a flexible approach to development in villages, that recognizes communities' aspirations, as well as recognizing the needs of those seeking housing. Some viillages like Fulbourn are surrounded by the Cambridge Green Belt and it is recommended that a suffcient number of sites are removed from the Green Belt to provide flexibility.

Q42 Summary: A blended spatial strategy is supported but specifically including development in villages and along public transport corridors. Full comment: Within this question the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service invites consultees to rank a series of options about where new development should be located within the spatial planning area of Greater Cambridge. It explores six choices: - densification of existing urban areas - edge of Cambridge: outside Green Belt - edge of Cambridge: Green Belt - dispersal - new settlements - dispersal: villages - public transport corridors This is a rather blunt tool in which to assess the spatial approach and a flexible approach is likely to be more appropriate. Within the Cambridge & Peterborough Independent Economic Review (CPIER), which was published in September 2018, it concludes that 'Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is an area which already makes a huge contribution to the UK, and which holds great promise for the future. It also faces risks, which could bring the success to an end, and challenges relating to creating an inclusive society where economic growth works for everyone'. The CPIER, which admittedly covers a wider geography than Greater Cambridge, advocated a 'blended spatial strategy' of four possible scenarios. The scenarios considered included: - densification - dispersal - fringe growth - transport corridors It concluded that 'some densification, particularly in Cambridge, is needed, though this should happen away from the historic centre, and more on the edges, as and where new development sites come forward. There should be some scope for expanding development around the city boundary, but intelligently planned transport links will be needed to avoid worsening of congestion. In Cambridge specifically though there are limits to the growth of the city in other directions, the east side of the city [of which Fulbourn is on] offers significant scope for housing and commercial development. Such development would have the advantage of being close to the principal centres of employment and the existing rail infrastructure whilst also opening up opportunities for new transport links to connect the main centres of employment more effectively'. My client's site at land west of Station Road, Fulbourn is a very sustainable location, which is consistent with the conclusion of the CPIER. The site is well-related to the centre of Fulbourn, which benefits from a high quality bus service and the site is also adjacent to the Cambridge to Newmarket railway line, where land has been safeguarded to provide for a new railway station should it be required in the future.

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Summary: Support for a strategy that includes growth in villages, particularly in locations with good existing or proposed public transport/cycling Full comment: While villages may not be the entire focus for all growth, it is critical that they play a significant contribution to the overall mix of development. Moreover, it is important to understand that there are several different types of villages within the Greater Cambridge area ranging from large villages with a large range of shops, and services to smaller villages with fewer facilities. The level of growth being attributed to each settlement should take into account a wide range of factors and it is important that the role of new development, which is rightly identified in the Greater Cambridge Local Plan as an advantage, should not be underplayed or underestimated. Growth in villages is essential to enable them to grow, to support existing services and infrastructure such as existing public transport, schools, and shops. It should also be noted that some of the challenges identified within the Greater Cambridge Local Plan may not necessarily be applicable to all villages. For example, under section 5.3.3 of the Plan, it identifies that spreading homes to villages 'Can result in increased commuting by car, and travel to access…services and facilities, particularly if the village is away from main transport corridors'. In this instance, my client's site at land west of Station Road, is located within close proiximity to shops, services, and facilities including a primary school, together with regular bus services to major employment locations such as Capital Park, Tesco, Biomedical Campus/Addenbrookes Hospital, the railway station area, and the historic city centre

Summary: Support for a blended spatial strategy that includes growth along existing transport corridors, and/or where transport improvements are proposed. Full comment: Focusing development along transport corridors is an appropraite part of any blended spatial strategy. My client acknowledges and supports the new Local Plan's emphasis on climate change, which is of critical importance. My client's site at land west of Station Road, Fulbourn benefits from its proximity to a good range of shops, services, and facilities with the village centre being located just 200 metres south-west of the site. Fulbourn already benefits from excellent existing bus services to employment locations such as the Cambridge Biomedical Campus/Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge railway station area, and the historic city centre. The Citi 1 and Citi 3 bus services provide a high frequency service to other parts of the City and there is an existing bus stop just 100 metres south of the site, which is very well placed to attract additional trip generation from the proposed new development. The site also benefits from its location adjacent to the Cambridge to Newmarket railway line, which will become a key part of the Eastern Section of East West Rail. Figure 22 within the Greater Cambridge Local Plan shows the planned major transport projects in Greater Cambridge in the Draft Local Transport Plan 2019. It specifically makes reference to double tracking of the Cambridge to Newmarket railway line, which at present is single tracked from Coldham's Lane Junction to Chippenham Junction, with the exception of a 1.5 kilometre long passing loop at Dullingham. The current single tracked section limits the provision of additional services and new railway stations along the route but double tracking would enable a much greater number of services to operate, as well as the opening of new railway stations along the line, which is a long-term aspiration for the route and could link the site to Cambridge's central railway station in 7-8 minutes. My client's land proposes safeguarding land adjacent to the Cambridge to Newmarket railway line to include provision for a new railway station at Fulbourn should it be required, and the provision of a high quality pedestrian link from the potential railway station site and the village centre could be provided. The Local Plan also advocates 'designing new development so that active ways of getting around like walking and cycling are supported, and there are real public transport alternatives to using the car'. In addition to its public transport credentials, land west of Station Road, Fulbourn also benefits from its proximity to a good range of shops, services, and facilities with the village centre being located just 200 metres south-west of the site. In addition, the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) is seeking to deliver a new 'Greenway' through Fulbourn which consists of a cycleway linking the village with the City. Indeed the GCP states that 'Fulbourn is approximately 7km from Central Cambridge and with good provision is within relatively easy cycling distance of most major employment sites in Cambridge. Fulbourn itself is an important employment area. The case for high quality cycle routes is strong, Fulbourn being so close to the City'. My client strongly supports the Greenway proposals, which provide a further opportunity to help deliver modeal shift away from the private congestion, reduce pollution, and increase the health and well-being of residents and workers. In addition, the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) is seeking to deliver a new 'Greenway' through Fulbourn which consists of a cycleway linking the village with the City. Indeed the GCP states that 'Fulbourn is approximately 7km from Central Cambridge and with good provision is within relatively easy cycling distance of most major employment sites in Cambridge. Fulbourn itself is an important employment area. The case for high quality cycle routes is strong, Fulbourn being so close to the City'. My client strongly supports the Greenway proposals, which provide a further opportunity to help deliver modal shift away from the private congestion, reduce pollution, and increase the health and well-being of residents and workers. By ensuring that new growth is well connected to existing alternatives to the private car, and along existing or proposed transport corrdiors, the new Local Plan can help to reduce congestion levels, and reduce carbon emission that contribute to climate change.