Greater Cambridge Local Plan Issues & Options 2020

This form stands as a representation to the Issues and Options Consultation of the Greater Cambridge Local Plan, submitted on behalf of The Caravan and Motorhome Club (The Club). The Club has one site located in Greater Cambridge, that being the Cambridge Cherry Hinton Caravan Club Site. The site is currently well performing and open to visitors all year round. A brief description of the site is presented below. In respect of their site, The Club would like to diversify their offer to provide pods and lodges. The Cambridge Cherry Hinton site is set in an ancient quarry and a SSSI. The site is strategically located to provide access to local colleges, the River Cam as well as nearby shops and services. The site benefits from strong access links to Cambridge City Centre. The site comprises 67 total pitches, 48 on hardstanding, for both touring caravans and tents. The site includes internal roads, a reception block, a warden block, a toilet block and numerous service points. The site benefits from substantial planting around its perimeter and is well screened from the surrounding area. The site is located in Flood Zone 1, the Green Belt and Protected Open Space. The site is well screened and therefore, static pods and lodges will have a limited impact on the surrounding landscape and ecology. There are existing touring pitches and therefore, the diversification to lodges will not impact on the surrounding landscape. By being able to offer a variety of accommodation on their sites, the Club are best placed to ensure the long term viability of the sites. For the purposes of clarity, The Club may wish, in the future, to diversify the accommodation provided at their sites in your authority area by adding Lodges or Camping Pods. These are generally small scale, permanent or semi-permanent structures of varying sizes, typically of timber construction and containing a bedroom as well as cooking facilities and/or bathroom facilities depending on their size. The provision of this type of accommodation ensures that The Caravan Club can continue to meet the changing needs of their members and the visitor economy as a whole. Paragraph 145 of the NPPF (2019) sets out that an exception to inappropriate development in the Green Belt is the provision of appropriate facilities for outdoor recreation; as long as the facilities preserve the openness of the Green Belt and do not conflict with the purposes of including land within it. At the above site it is believed that the development of pods and lodges would not conflict with the five purposes of including land within the Green Belt, as set out within national policy. The site benefits from substantial screening meaning that the impact on the surrounding landscape of developing pods and lodges on part of the site would not be significant. Appropriately designed pods or lodges would be more sympathetic to the Green Belt than touring caravans that currently use the site. Given the Club’s ambition to ensure that they are able to operate in Greater Cambridge, by guaranteeing the economic viability of their sites, we wish to see the Council develop a policy to support the expansions and diversifications of holiday and caravan sites. Overall, and considering the above, polices must be sufficiently flexible to allow businesses to adapt to changing economic trends and changes in the demands of tourists. As such, policy must enable the Caravan and Motorhome Club to support the growth of the local economy by ensuring the ability of its existing sites to be developed and enhanced. Overall, this ensures the future viability of the business, and supports the tourist industry within Greater Cambridge.

SUMMARY OF COMMENTS Emerging policies must be supportive of the diversification, and upgrading, of existing caravan and camp sites to ensure economic viability of sites.

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