Greater Cambridge Local Plan Issues & Options 2020

Consideration should be given to existing and proposed developments in adjoining areas where substantial numbers of people may be traveling into Greater Cambridge to minimise the impacts on additional car congestion and promote coordinated public transport infrastructure.

Attention should be paid to protecting and enhancing heritage assets across Greater Cambridge and ensuring that development proposals do not detrimentally impact on heritage assets in adjoining areas.

Development proposals should consider their landscape and townscape impact on views across to and from the boundary of Greater Cambridge. Clear guidance on the value of setting and attention to views to and from designated and undesignated heritage assets should be included.

Cambridgeshire Quality Charter for Growth is from 2010 and may benefit from collaborative work to update it and reflect the enhanced role of climate change mitigation within successful design.

Very important

The amount and distribution of employment growth proposed through the Local Plan should recognise the need to strike a balance between economic growth within Greater Cambridge and the aspirations for boosting growth within surrounding market towns through the Combined Authority’s Prospectuses for Growth programme. The commitment to doubling economic growth has clear implications for the level of housing requirement within Greater Cambridge. Consideration should be given to the implications of this for the wider Cambridgeshire housing market.

Yes, this is essential for sustainable development and avoidance of jobs being forced out of the existing urban areas to locations with fewer sustainable travel options for people accessing those jobs from outside Greater Cambridge.

Huntingdonshire District Council will be pleased to work collaboratively with Greater Cambridge to encourage linkages to Huntingdonshire and in particular Alconbury Enterprise Zone and supply chains in terms of Huntingdonshire’s advanced manufacturing industry to help deliver the Combined Authority’s Local Industrial Strategy.

Huntingdonshire District Council would like to be consulted on allocations that are near to Huntingdonshire and those that may impact upon current commuting patterns and transport infrastructure. We would encourage provision of locations on current and proposed public transport corridors. The Local Plan should also support the rural economy and provide opportunities for expansion and diversification where necessary.

Somewhat flexible

Flexibility of uses in villages where services may be relied on by residents in Huntingdonshire should also take their needs into account when determining whether uses should be protected and retained.

Proposals which seek to extend tourism beyond Cambridge should be supported where they can provide economic and social benefits for other communities within and beyond Greater Cambridge. For instance, proposals for expansion of visitor numbers and facilities at Fen Drayton lakes should seek to consider the impact on Fenstanton. The interaction between the negative impacts of increased traffic and the potential to improve the local economy through business growth and holiday accommodation should be balanced with emphasis given to supporting tourism attractions and accommodation in locations accessible by sustainable modes of travel.