Greater Cambridge Local Plan Issues & Options 2020

I had wanted to respond to the Local Plan consultation, but just couldn't find the time (or, to be honest, the will). I attended the exhibition at Parkside and, as you know, the PechaKucha presentations. There are an overwhelming number of consultations going on, each of which requires a considerable amount of time to engage with and respond to intelligently. It is not at all clear to me that public involvement is shaping local government policies in a truly meaningful way. There are two challenges with consultation: 1) All important choices involve trade-offs. We can all more or less agree to positive outcomes proposed in the draft Local Plan, but it's what we lose (e.g. specific areas of green/rural land) or displace (e.g. road traffic) or require in addition (e.g. water reservoirs) that require honest and thoughtful debate. 2) For a member of the public (just as for a councillor) to make a reasoned choice, s/he requires information and, crucially, understanding of the problem and the options. I appreciate that your team has endeavoured to present the evidence for (2) to enable people to engage in (1), but in reality the volume, density and technicality of the information is way beyond nearly everyone but professional planners. The interactions between factors is mind-blowingly complex, and oversimplification is dangerous (as recent history amply demonstrates). Very few people are trained in systems thinking in general, yet alone in the context of spatial, economic and transport planning. Then there is the issue of distribution of powers. For instance, we should start by planning a sustainable transport system, then design a spatial plan around that. But we can't, because transport planning and delivery is in the hands of the Combined Authority, Cambridgeshire County Council, the Greater Cambridge Partnership, Transport for the South East, Highways England, Network Rail, East West Rail and DfT. We should be requiring all development to be net zero carbon, but we can't because central government, lobbied by the construction industry, provides no powers or resources to do so. Only the private sector has the resources to navigate this complex landscape and lobby the local authorities and government agencies to incorporate their plans and interests. Land agents, often trained in the public sector, and local lobby groups, such as CFCI and Cambridge Ahead, effectively set the local agenda. This is not news to you of course. But it has to be addressed somehow if we are to develop a new local plan quickly – as we must in the face of the climate and public health emergencies. I believe there is no shortcut to having detailed conversations with a much larger number and wider range of people than local authorities are currently reaching – people who are not responding, or only superficially, to consultations like this. It is for that reason I'm planning a project of deep and broad public engagement around developing a vision and action plan for "restorative living": de-carbonising, restoring balance with nature, improving public health and promoting social justice. This will provide the framework for discussions around spatial, economic and transport planning, unconstrained by local authority boundaries and powers. I've attached the latest draft of the project plan. I believe this will be an important and useful opportunity to gauge attitudes and test ideas on a much more representative audience than the local authorities are able to reach currently. I would welcome an opportunity to discuss this further with officers and councillors working on the new local plan.

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