Greater Cambridge Local Plan Issues & Options 2020
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New search34. Paragraphs 133 and 136 of the NPPF are clear that great importance is attached to Green Belt and boundaries should only be altered where exceptional circumstances are fully evidenced and justified, through the preparation or updating of plans. 35. Paragraph 137 explicitly requires the strategic policy-making authority to demonstrate that it has examined fully all other reasonable options for meeting its identified need for development before concluding that exceptional circumstances exist to justify changes to Green Belt boundaries. Compliance with this process will be assessed through the examination of its strategic policies. 36. Therefore, the onus is on the Greater Cambridge Authority to demonstrate that all other reasonable options for growth have been exhausted before releasing Green Belt regardless of the potential sustainability benefits of Green Belt locations. 37. Cambourne in general presents a suitable and sustainable location for development and therefore must be given significant weight and consideration for allocation of additional development sites before any land can be released from Green Belt. 38. If further sites are required to meet growth needs once all land outside the Green Belt has been assessed and, where appropriate, allocated, then the Green Belt boundaries can then be changed and justified as necessary. 39. Additionally, the previous Sustainability Appraisal for the SCLP assessed the approach to new settlements/Green Belt. This concluded that the removal of additional large scale sites from the Cambridge Green Belt could result in irreversible adverse impacts on the special character of Cambridge as a compact historic city and risk the economic success of the Cambridge area. This further highlights the importance of considering sustainable locations outside the Green Belt as a priority for future growth.
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40. 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 settlement hierarchy within the emerging Greater Cambridge Local Plan must be updated to reflect this significant change. 41. Additionally, Cambourne is the largest and most sustainable settlement in the South Cambridgeshire. The town comprises four linked villages of Great Cambourne, Lower Cambourne, Upper Cambourne and Cambourne West (emerging) 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. 42. 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. 6 43. 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. 44. 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 allocating land south of Cambourne as a location for this growth should be considered as part of the Greater Cambridge Plan. 45. 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 at south Cambourne to provide a sustainable location growth.
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48. Please see response to Question 39.
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49. New settlements can contribute significantly to meeting housing need but should not be relied upon as the sole solution. In recent years, a number of Local Authorities have been criticised, and Local Plan Examinations have failed, due to relying on a small number of large allocations. The most recent being the St Albans Local Plan Examination in January 2020 where the Planning Inspector cancelled the remaining hearings after the first week due to concerns about delivering a new garden village. 50. The above demonstrates that a range of sites and growth options should be progressed to deliver housing need. This should include allocating small, medium and large scales site in various locations to provide a robust supply of housing. This also reiterates the need to exceed minimum housing targets. 51. An alternative solution to planning for further new settlements is to expand existing new settlements. Extension of existing new settlements, such as Cambourne, can provide a level of certainty as the required infrastructure and investment has already been put in place which removes a significant barrier for future delivery. This is particularly the case for Cambourne which is due to benefit from significant road, rail and metro investments and infrastructure over the plan period. Expanding the provision of housing, jobs and other growth in this location would make more efficient use of this investment and prevent the Authority starting from scratch in generating this level of investment and infrastructure.
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52. Please refer to response to Question 40.
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53. 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. 54. 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.
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Agricultural
Not Developed
N/A
Greenfield
Residential development
Market and affordable housing and associated Public Open Space.
TBC - Site subject to a current technical appraisal
Not Specified
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Multiple access arrangements available. Technical appraisal ongoing to establish suitability.
Further investigation required to confirm absence of these constraints.
Further investigations required.
Further investigations required.
Further investigations required.
No answer given
Cambourne as a location is an area of significant interest to Taylor Wimpey.
TBC - Further investigation required
No
TBC
TBC
TBC
No answer given
Agriculture
Not Developed
N/A
Greenfield
Residential development
Market and affordable housing and associated Public Open Space.
TBC - Site subject to a current technical appraisal
No answer given
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Multiple access arrangements available. Technical appraisal ongoing to establish suitability.
Further investigation required to confirm absence of these constraints.
Further investigation required.
No answer given
Further investigation required.
Also listed Next 5 years and Next 6-10 years. Taylor Wimpey are in contact with the landowners in order to bring the site forward as soon as possible.
Cambourne as a location is an area of significant interest to Taylor Wimpey.
TBC - Further investigation required
No
TBC
TBC
TBC
No answer given
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No choices made
Response to Question 42 46. No single solution will deliver a sound Local Plan or spatial strategy. A flexible and mixed approach is required to provide a robust supply of housing and to deliver new housing and employment development in the appropriate locations across the district. 47. However, as directed by the NPPF, the first approach should be to consider sites outside of the Green Belt. Therefore, sites within or well related to existing sustainable settlements outside the Green Belt provide the most logical place to consider for new development and to provide a varied spatial delivery of growth. The response to Question 40 sets out why Cambourne is considered to be the most appropriate location for future large-scale growth.
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No choices made
Response to Question 42 76. No single solution will deliver a sound Local Plan or spatial strategy. A flexible and mixed approach is required to provide a robust supply of housing and to deliver new housing and employment development in the appropriate locations across the district. 77. However, as directed by the NPPF, the first approach should be to consider sites outside of the Green Belt. Therefore, sites within or well related to existing sustainable settlements outside the Green Belt provide the most logical place to consider for new development and to provide a varied spatial delivery of growth.
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