Greater Cambridge Local Plan Issues & Options 2020

Agree

29. 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. 30. The U&I site is available now to provide in excess of 250 additional homes for Cambourne West as well as employment and retail uses to support the new homes and the Cambourne Business Park. The further land to the west of A1198 and south of Cambridge Road (A428) provides an opportune Site for allocating a broad location for growth within the new plan period.

31. Cambridgeshire has 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. 32. Therefore, maximising the levels of growth and new housing in sustainable locations such as Cambourne must be support and encouraged by the Greater Cambridge Plan.

Nothing chosen

33. Housing requirements are minimal 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. 34. 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. 35. 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 limiting growth. 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. 36. 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.

Nothing chosen

37. 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. 38. 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. 39. 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. 40. Cambourne in general present a suitable and sustainable location for development and therefore must be given significant weight and consideration for allocation of additional development before any land can be released from Green Belt. 41. 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. 42. 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.

Nothing chosen

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 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.

No choices made

49. 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. 50. 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.

52. New settlements can contribute significantly to meeting housing need but should not be relied upon as the sole solution. In recent years, several 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. 53. 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. 54. 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.

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.