Greater Cambridge Local Plan Issues & Options 2020

1. Introduction 1.1 Magdalene College was founded in 1428. The historic campus sits immediately to the NE of Magdalene Bridge. Additional student accommodation is also provided on the west side of Magdalene Street in converted historic buildings and purpose-built blocks constructed throughout the C20. Further accommodation is provided in converted and purpose-built accommodation off Chesterton Lane and in Thompson’s Lane. The College also are the free-holders of Quayside and some properties along Bridge Street. 1.2 The College has a resident community of almost 800 students, fellows and members of staff. The majority of undergraduate students are housed in College accommodation either side of Magdalene Street with post-graduates additionally housed off Chesterton Lane, Hertford Street and Northampton Street. The College also enjoys extensive gardens beside the river contributing to the ecological diversity of the River Cam. 1.3 Turley were asked to provide these representations to the Cambridge Local Plan Issues and Options Consultation on behalf of Magdalene College in early 2020.

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2.1 Magdalene College fully commits to reducing its impact on the climate and supports the aspirations of the Local Plan with regard to climate change. 2.2 However, it is important to recognise that the vast majority of the College’s building stock is historic – some dating back more than 600 years. Achieving energy efficiency whilst maintaining user comfort and not harming the heritage significance of the buildings is a difficult balancing act.

2.1 Magdalene College fully commits to reducing its impact on the climate and supports the aspirations of the Local Plan with regard to climate change. 2.2 However, it is important to recognise that the vast majority of the College’s building stock is historic – some dating back more than 600 years. Achieving energy efficiency whilst maintaining user comfort and not harming the heritage significance of the buildings is a difficult balancing act. Question 9 – Reducing our impact on the climate 2.3 In terms of missing key actions, the College recognises that the present local plan includes Policy 30 (energy efficiency improvements in existing buildings) and Policy 63 (works to a heritage asset to address climate change) and that the Council has produced the Sustainable Design and Construction SPD. However, with regard to historic buildings, the latter provides little additional information particularly in terms of advice on how heritage significance should be weighed against energy efficiency in practical ways. 2.4 The College is also aware that guidance has been produced by Historic England and other respected bodies. The former is often quite specific and relates to specific aspects of building fabric, such as insulation or windows, whilst the latter is often generic or looks at specific building types. Its use is therefore limited given that historic buildings are hugely varied and often have evolved over centuries and comprise a mixture of construction types and materials. 2.5 This dearth of practical information needs to be addressed in the new local plan (and possibly also in revised SPD). What is needed is an understandable methodology for assessing climate change benefits; clearly defining the heritage significance of buildings and their component parts; balancing different levels of harm to different features; how you measure the resultant heritage harm and then combine all this information together to decide which measures are acceptable. 2.6 The College feel that the Council needs to work proactively with others both in developing an evidence base to support any policy / guidance and consequently learning from best practice, both in Cambridge and elsewhere. A failure of the current local plan policy is that all the emphasis is placed on the applicant to provide information. At a time when the Council has declared a ‘climate emergency’ there needs to be a much more joined up and collaborative approach to this issue. 2.7 There is also a need for clear guidance for situations where carbon offsetting is justified to prevent unacceptable harm to heritage significance and for prescription as to the form this offsetting should take when it is justified. Similarly there needs to be guidance on what is expected to show it is proportionate to the scale of harm resulting. 2.8 Finally, in its present form, Policy 63 is imprecise with its requirements for monitoring and its triggering possible remediation works as this is unhelpful and unworkable. There must be a clear rationale for when monitoring is needed and what aspects of heritage significance this is aiming to safeguard.

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2.1 Magdalene College fully commits to reducing its impact on the climate and supports the aspirations of the Local Plan with regard to climate change. 2.2 However, it is important to recognise that the vast majority of the College’s building stock is historic – some dating back more than 600 years. Achieving energy efficiency whilst maintaining user comfort and not harming the heritage significance of the buildings is a difficult balancing act.

2.1 Magdalene College fully commits to reducing its impact on the climate and supports the aspirations of the Local Plan with regard to climate change. 2.2 However, it is important to recognise that the vast majority of the College’s building stock is historic – some dating back more than 600 years. Achieving energy efficiency whilst maintaining user comfort and not harming the heritage significance of the buildings is a difficult balancing act. Question 11 – Other things to adapt to climate change 2.9 The College considers that currently the practice amongst Council officers to resist even relatively minor changes to heritage assets even when the benefit in sustainability terms is quite great needs to fundamentally alter. This practice has very clear implications for institutions with a large portfolio of heritage assets and their ability to meet climate change targets. It is considered that a more balanced and pragmatic approach needs to be adopted by the Council if this issue is to be realistically addressed (see Question 9). Answer to Q9: Question 9 – Reducing our impact on the climate 2.3 In terms of missing key actions, the College recognises that the present local plan includes Policy 30 (energy efficiency improvements in existing buildings) and Policy 63 (works to a heritage asset to address climate change) and that the Council has produced the Sustainable Design and Construction SPD. However, with regard to historic buildings, the latter provides little additional information particularly in terms of advice on how heritage significance should be weighed against energy efficiency in practical ways. 2.4 The College is also aware that guidance has been produced by Historic England and other respected bodies. The former is often quite specific and relates to specific aspects of building fabric, such as insulation or windows, whilst the latter is often generic or looks at specific building types. Its use is therefore limited given that historic buildings are hugely varied and often have evolved over centuries and comprise a mixture of construction types and materials. 2.5 This dearth of practical information needs to be addressed in the new local plan (and possibly also in revised SPD). What is needed is an understandable methodology for assessing climate change benefits; clearly defining the heritage significance of buildings and their component parts; balancing different levels of harm to different features; how you measure the resultant heritage harm and then combine all this information together to decide which measures are acceptable. 2.6 The College feel that the Council needs to work proactively with others both in developing an evidence base to support any policy / guidance and consequently learning from best practice, both in Cambridge and elsewhere. A failure of the current local plan policy is that all the emphasis is placed on the applicant to provide information. At a time when the Council has declared a ‘climate emergency’ there needs to be a much more joined up and collaborative approach to this issue. 2.7 There is also a need for clear guidance for situations where carbon offsetting is justified to prevent unacceptable harm to heritage significance and for prescription as to the form this offsetting should take when it is justified. Similarly there needs to be guidance on what is expected to show it is proportionate to the scale of harm resulting. 2.8 Finally, in its present form, Policy 63 is imprecise with its requirements for monitoring and its triggering possible remediation works as this is unhelpful and unworkable. There must be a clear rationale for when monitoring is needed and what aspects of heritage significance this is aiming to safeguard. less

Question 20 – Improving Air Quality 2.10 As the College buildings straddle Magdalene Street, it suffers significantly from the high vehicle numbers which, despite the traffic calming works in the last decades, still results in high volumes of traffic causing air quality issues (due to the canyon effect of the buildings) and a physical danger to those crossing the road. The narrowness of the street exacerbates the air quality issue as often vehicles need to wait for opposing traffic and to queue at the traffic lights with Northampton Street. The gradient also means engines need to work harder, especially for large vehicles when moving off uphill. 2.11 The College would support any efforts to reduce vehicle numbers using Magdalene Street and to encourage the use of less-polluting vehicles where access is necessary

Question 22 – Historic Buildings 2.12 The comments with regard to Question 9 apply also to this question with regard to this question about adapting historic buildings.

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Question 29 – Uses in the City Centre 2.13 Magdalene College consider it vital that the new local plan recognises that during the plan period, the nature of the City Centre will evolve. There seems no question that retail uses in the centre will change / decline and therefore considerable flexibility will be needed to allow buildings to adapt to new uses and so to maintain the city centre as a thriving and popular destination. 2.14 The local plan therefore needs to allow scope for a range of new residential, business and leisure uses to develop to replace retail uses. Care will also be needed to ensure that suitable facilities can be provided to aid ‘last mile delivery’ of on-line purchases (which will increasingly replace traditional retail) and will be especially important if residential density in the centre increases. 2.15 A clear vision for the city centre is needed with flexible policies to maintain the vibrancy and prevent areas of disused and underused buildings which will harm the attractiveness of the city and provide insufficient revenue to maintain the wealth of historic buildings it contains.

Question 33 –Housing Provision 2.16 In 4.6.3, the consultation document asks whether more student housing is required. The College feel that this rather over-simplifies the issue and therefore make these observation in response to Q33 about what kind of housing is needed. This blanket definition is surprising, as the Council commissioned ‘An Assessment of Student Housing Demand and Supply…’ in 2017 which gave some clear guidance on the needs within the City. Clearly further analysis is needed to ensure that the full diversity of housing for the Colleges, the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University and the various language schools is properly understood. 2.17 Magdalene College currently has 380 undergraduate students – all of them housed by the College on its principal sites. There are also 152 postgraduates, of which 2/3 are housed by the College. The College’s aspiration is to house 85% of these. Whilst it recognises that some students want the independence of finding their own accommodation, the majority benefit from being closer to College life – the student’s benefit from interaction with their peers which in turn sustains the ‘beating heart’ of the College. 2.18 However, the student body also today includes graduates with families. Their housing needs are different from single under-and post-graduates and generally the minimum they require is a self-contained flat. Currently the College struggles to provide such accommodation. 2.19 The College also has 8 research fellows. These are early stage career academics who are generally housed within College rooms or flats in the houses which the College owns. The same would apply to visiting academics carrying out research for say a term. 2.20 Magdalene College has 8 houses and 10 self-contained flats on Northampton St, Chesterton Rd, Hertford St and Thompson’s Lane. This is used to house teaching fellows, some college officers and the chaplain. 2.21 This part of the Fellowship has a particular housing need. Often young teaching fellows may be new to Cambridge and the high house prices mean that the College needs to house them in the short to medium term. 2.22 ‘Student housing’ is therefore relatively diverse in terms of the needs and the resultant accommodation and this needs to be recognised within the local plan. This is very important if the University and its Colleges are to maintain their role on the world stage. It needs to be able to offer high quality accommodation to attract the best staff and students who add so much to the vitality of the City. The local plan needs to recognise this specific need and allow scope for new buildings or sensitive conversions to provide for this need – which is currently a considerable challenge due to the heritage sensitivities of the Colleges and the city centre as a whole. 2.23 Even when Colleges such as Magdalene are not planning for increased undergraduate or postgraduate numbers, it still has a need for new housing to meet specific needs (as set out above), as dated stock is modernised or to free up private housing by bringing more of the student body / fellowship into or closer to the College campus.