Greater Cambridge Local Plan Issues & Options 2020

43. At present, Cambourne is classified as a Rural Centre in the adopted South Cambridgeshire Local Plan. Rural Centres are the largest, most sustainable villages within the district. However, since the adoption of the Local Plan, Cambourne has been reclassified as a town. As such, the 6 settlement hierarchy within the emerging Greater Cambridge Local Plan must be updated to reflect this significant change. 44. Additionally, Cambourne is the largest and most sustainable settlement in South Cambridgeshire. The Cambourne West development is one of four linked villages alongside Great Cambourne, Lower Cambourne and Upper Cambourne which make up the new settlement. These villages provide Cambourne with an exemplar range of jobs and services including new schools, community and leisure facilities and employment opportunities, particularly at Cambourne Business Park. 45. These services, alongside the recent announcement of the preferred route of the East West Railway between Bedford and Cambridge with a new station at Cambourne as well as plans for the Cambridgeshire Autonomous Metro (CAM) to link Cambourne to Cambridge City Centre, make the settlement the optimum location for additional growth moving forward. 46. The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) have confirmed that the Cambourne to Cambridge Public Transport Route is a priority project and will form the first phase of the CAM. The project will deliver a reliable and sustainable public transport service between Cambourne and Cambridge, as well as new cycling and walking facilities into the city. The GCP have recognised that a new reliable, public transport route will create sustainable travel choices, connect communities and support growth. 47. Furthermore, the planned location for the new Cambourne Rail Station to serve the East West Rail service to the south of Cambourne, make this area an opportune location for considering future growth opportunities. There will inevitably be demand for infrastructure in the form of shops, business and homes around the new station and location for this growth should be considered as part of the Greater Cambridge Plan. 48. Given this, the settlement boundaries for Cambourne should be reconsidered and reassessed to allow for further sustainable development to come forward. Significant flexibility should be given towards the development of housing and jobs on the edges of Cambourne to provide a sustainable location growth.

57. South Cambridgeshire Local Plan Policy SS/8 must be updated to reflect the committed develop coming forward. Cambourne West is still in the process of being delivered and as such should be carried forwarded into the Greater Cambridgeshire Local Plan with relevant amendments to reflect what has been consented. 58. The consented development includes more homes and land than that which was previously allocated, and the Policies Map should be updated to reflect the full extent of the Cambourne West development area. 59. In addition, the extant permission excludes the parcel of land to the south of Cambourne Business Park access road (U&I Land). 60. At present, Policy SS/8 approach to the U&I land is set out within criteria 7. This states that this land will be developed primarily for residential uses and will only come forward once replacement employment land. This policy is now outdated and should be amended. 61. Replacement employment land has been secured as part of the Cambourne West outline planning permission and the residential dwellings numbers set out within Policy SS/8 have been exceeded. The consented scheme also includes the provision of the pedestrian and cycle path to the south of the U&I land. 62. This leaves the U&I parcel of land free of any outstanding obligations and requirements. Therefore, an entirely flexible approach can be taken to future development on this site and criterion 7 should be amended as follows: “Land south of the Business Park access road will be developed for more than 250 dwellings as well as offices and small-scale shops and other town centre uses to serve the needs of the residents and the adjoining Business Park”.

63. The next iteration of the Sustainability Appraisal (SA) for the Local Plan must ensure that it considers a wide range of development scenarios and that these are all taken through the subsequent stages of the Local Plan-making process. This will help ensure that the Local Plan process and its SA support the Submission Local Plan, which is highly likely to contain a hybrid of development scenarios. 64. Six different spatial growth options are considered within the SA and Issues and Option consultation but with only high-level options assessed at this stage, there is substantial uncertainty over the outcomes of these options. Additional assessment should take place at another local plan stage, with full assessments within the SA Framework, before any options are fully dismissed. Without a full consideration of all these options which considers substantive detail of deliverable sites as well as broader locations for growth, there is a risk of the plans’ selected approach not being properly justified, and the plan being found unsound at examination.

Response to Question 2 10. As outlined above, land south of Cambourne is being promoted as a location for a future linked village to serve Cambourne. 11. South of Cambourne is the preferred location for the new Cambourne Railway Station as part of the East West Rail development, and this location therefore constitutes a logical and sustainable next step for providing additional homes and growth for Cambourne. 12. Creating a new village, with a similar number of homes as is presently in each existing village will provide an opportunity to deliver further infrastructure and employment opportunities to the existing extensive provision across Cambourne. Links would be made to tie the new village into the other linked villages of Cambourne through extensions to existing green infrastructure spines into the town and by connecting to the existing pedestrian, cycle and vehicular routes. This will ensure connectivity of all of Cambourne is maximised and best use of shared services and infrastructure can be made. 13. The land around Cambourne is entirely outside of the Green Belt and almost entirely falls within Flood Zone 1. At present, land to south of Cambourne predominately encompasses agricultural farm land and as such is considered to be of limited ecological and landscape value. It would be possible to maintain separation from other villages surrounding Cambourne by creating green buffers with open space and green infrastructure provision which would also create more defined boundaries with these adjoining settlements. 14. This new East West Rail station would provide significant enhancement to the connectivity of Cambourne with rail links to Cambridge and Bedford which provide connections to London and beyond. 15. This major new transport infrastructure will change the physical and visual context of the land to the south of Cambourne and will create a new southern boundary for the town. This new boundary will create a logical point to extend the settlement boundary to. Within this new boundary, extensive development should be planned and encouraged to make best use of the connectivity of the locale. 16. Cambourne is also set to benefit from the first phase of the Cambridgeshire Autonomous Metro (CAM) which will link Cambourne to Cambridge City Centre and create new cycle and walking routes along the route. 17. Overall, creating an additional village for Cambourne would deliver significant social, economic and environmental benefits with opportunities to link into and add to the existing community facilities, shops, road and pedestrian/cycling links, schools and emerging public transport links within the immediate vicinity. 18. This level of growth is appropriate and proportionate to Cambourne’s recently acquired town status and would continue its development as the largest settlement within South Cambridgeshire.

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Agree

19. We agree that planning for the period up to 2040 is appropriate. As part of this plan period, a range of Sites need to be allocated starting with those immediately available in years one to five of the plan period, followed by developable sites and broad locations for growth for years 6-10, 11-15 and, where possible, beyond. 20. Land to the south of Cambourne provides an opportunity for allocating a broad location for growth within the new plan period.

Nothing chosen

21. Any strategy which progresses must adequately respond to the needs of both Cambridge City Council (CCC) and South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) and provide a sufficient supply and mix of sites to deliver growth needs across both areas. 22. Therefore, reliance on a single growth strategy such as Edge of Cambridge must be avoided, and a mixed and flexible approach should be adopted to ensure housing need is delivered not only for Cambridge but also to serve South Cambridgeshire. This means there needs to be a step away from the existing preference for locating development, as set out in adopted Plans, for SCC and CCC. At present, the priority is to deliver new housing on the edge of Cambridge, followed by within new settlements and lastly in the rural area at Rural Centres. Therefore, consideration of extensions to established settlements such as Cambourne which benefit from sustainable accessibility to existing services, jobs and infrastructure, should be given the same level of consideration as edge of Cambridge sites as a growth solution. 23. Furthermore, Cambourne itself developed as a new settlement and has since gained town status. Further expansion of this sustainable settlement should be considered as an additional or alternative option to delivering entire new settlements. This is particularly the case for Cambourne which is in the pipeline to benefit from significant new transport infrastructure in the form of a new rail station for the East West Rail and the Cambridgeshire Autonomous Metro into Cambridge City Centre.

24. Progressing a spatial strategy which links new homes with jobs, facilities/services, high-quality open spaces and public transport helps to achieve good growth. Allocating new development on the edge of established settlements fulfils these criteria by being accessible to an existing provision of facilities which can encourage walking and cycle and provide access to established jobs and social activities. 25. A further extension to Cambourne provides a perfect opportunity to deliver sustainable growth. By locating new development within access of established communities, best use can be made of existing resources with better opportunities for good levels of social inclusion and wellbeing. Cambourne is also set to be served by a new railway station and a metro link to Cambridge. This will provide public transport accessibility to Bedford, Cambridge, London and beyond. This level of connectivity and accessibility will promote unlimited opportunities for social inclusion.

26. Healthy lifestyles can be supported by allocating new development in locations where daily activities such as travelling to school, shopping and work can be undertaken actively by foot or bicycle. Sites within or on the edge of established settlements, such as Cambourne, provide ideal locations for new development which can deliver such active lifestyles because services and facilities are already contained within a short distance. New development in these locations can, where appropriate, enhance or increase existing provisions / opportunities which provide benefits for existing residents as well. 27. With the planned public transport improvements to Cambourne which will be supported by new cycling and walking facilitates, namely along with CAM route into Cambridge, the town will soon have unparalleled opportunities for healthy living and active lifestyles. New settlements such as Cambourne are also supported by higher levels of green infrastructure and outdoor recreation opportunities than infill developments within Cambridge or other established settlements.

28. Cambridgeshire has a significant housing affordability issue which will only increase as job growth continues, and the Greater Cambridge Plan must seek to significantly exceed minimum housing requirements in order to rebalance this issue. 29. Therefore, maximising the levels of growth and new housing in sustainable locations such as Cambourne must be supported and encouraged by the Greater Cambridge Plan.

Nothing chosen

30. Housing requirements are minima and the intention should be to exceed the number of homes required by the Government. In order to be robust and sound, the number of sites and dwellings to be allocated by the Plan should exceed the objectively assessed need to reflect the reality that some allocated sites will not come forward in the plan period or deliver the number of homes they are allocated for. 31. Additionally, this is particularly the case when considering the aspirations for growth in jobs and economies across the district. Greater Cambridge’s current and future housing need is largely driven by the employment growth targeted as part of doubling the regional GVA by 2041. Research by Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Independent Economic Commission (CPIEC) clearly shows that the quantity of land/sites allocated for housing will need to be significantly more than that currently planned for in the Local Plans. 32. Evidence on job density and economic activity shows there is little capacity among existing Greater Cambridge residents to expand the workforce and economic growth will need to rely on workers migrating or commuting into the area to avoid to not be limited. This places continuing pressure and demand on the housing market and to date, demand has vastly surpassed supply, creating a severe affordability issue. Therefore, the volume of house building needs to significantly increase across the district and exceed minimum requirements in order to prevent economic growth in Greater Cambridge stalling and housing unaffordability increasing. 33. Allocating land for additional housing, above minimum targets, would also ensure there is sufficient flexibility within the Local Plan to respond to changing housing needs/trends over the Local Plan period.