Greater Cambridge Local Plan Issues & Options 2020

Response to Question 2 Land at the Six Mile Bottom Estate was identified as available for the creation of a new community in a submission to the Greater Cambridge Call for Sites consultation in 2019. As the Site straddles the districts of East Cambridgeshire and South Cambridgeshire, the 2019 Call for Sites submission was shared with East Cambridgeshire. L&Q Estates Ltd and Hill Residential Ltd continue to promote the Site as it represents a unique long-term strategic opportunity to facilitate growth in a highly sustainable location. It would provide a central role in meeting the employment and housing growth needs of East Cambridgeshire and the combined Greater Cambridge Authorities. It provides the opportunity for a strategic new community, delivering on national and regional priorities and objectives. The Opportunity The Vision for Six Mile Bottom is articulated through the accompanying Concept Vision document. The concept framework shows how growth can be accommodated, providing an integrated new community around the existing village of Six Mile Bottom and within distinct character areas that are defined by the prevailing landscape. The scheme can deliver circa 8,500 new homes, jobs, essential central services such as secondary and primary schools, community hubs and medical facilities as well as local retail space and will provide the important elements to allow a new community to thrive. The Vision for the Site is for the creation of: ● Main settlement centre with principal community facilities (secondary school, medical facilities, communal work-hub, parcel drop, local produce retail); ● Potential new stop on east-west rail line; ● New multifunctional 3km long linear park running through the settlement with play parks, sports pitches, picnic areas, allotments, running and cycle routes; ● Retained woodland areas and hedgerows throughout to allow wildlife to continue to thrive; ● Extended energy hub providing clean energy to the whole Site and wider area; ● Employment areas providing a well-connected opportunity area within the Site for new business; ● Retained high-quality farmland areas to continue to make the best use of fertile land and potentially grow food for new residents; ● Expansive semi-natural area reserved for wildlife with managed access so that ecology can thrive; ● Junction improvements to connect the A11 and A14 routes more effectively to the Site; ● Potential extension of the CAM Metro connection of the Site to Cambridge and Newmarket. Greater Cambridge Consultation Document - Six Mile Bottom Page 7 The Concept Framework (see Concept Vision) has taken into account the context of the Site in order to suggest a high-level layout that would sensitively respond to its context. Due to the scale of the Site, a strategy of providing a main centre, positioned centrally within the Site and three satellite local centres is proposed. The main centre would include a secondary school as well as larger scale commercial uses and community activities with the local centres each providing a primary school and smaller-scale community facilities. The main centre has been positioned deliberately to be co-located with a new station facility on the existing railway line at the heart of the development. The proposal is for a transitional reduction in reliance on the private car and so, whilst a road network is shown to satisfy current mobility trends, the layering of a grid for active travel and public transport movement is crucial as our mobility needs change. The new community would be set within and amongst an expansive network of multi-functional and characterful green infrastructure which goes far beyond fulfilling formal public open space requirements to essentially being a necessity for future generations’ well-being and lifestyle requirements. The proposals will encourage active and healthy lives and an inclusive sense of community. Notwithstanding the connectivity of the proposed location, the Site provides an excellent opportunity for a series of connected communities providing essential local facilities set within a rich and biodiverse green environment. The Site benefits from its highly connected location on the A14 and A11 corridors as well as being positioned on the east-west rail line with the potential to be served by rail services. The Site also has the opportunity to facilitate the alignment of a CAM-Metro extension between Cambridge and Mildenhall. A plan-led new community at Six Mile Bottom will allow East Cambridgeshire and the combined Greater Cambridge Authorities to achieve a sustainable form of development by planning for jobs, homes and supporting infrastructure (transport, utilities, services and facilities) in the right places, alongside protecting and enhancing the environment. Indicatively the proposal would provide for: New Employment Land: ● 11.93Ha of new employment land in East Cambridgeshire. ● 13.54Ha of new employment land in South Cambridgeshire. New homes (at 40dph): ● 5,858 new homes in East Cambridgeshire. ● 1,738 new homes in South Cambridgeshire. Approach to Development L&Q Estates Ltd and Hill Residential Ltd are seeking a new approach to growth at Six Mile Bottom that will centre around community empowerment to guide future development and to allow a new population to make the best decisions for new development to ensure an enduring legacy is created for the Site. A community stewardship model can be applied to the future growth of the Site to allow information to be collected on all aspects of life including transport and traffic, mobility, energy and power, environmental management, leisure, well-being, healthcare, education, and public safety, to understand how a new community is being used and how emerging trends can be met by development. Through effective stewardship, community facilities, homes, employment and movement systems will be provided in a form and pattern that allows for design cohesion, well-being, and connectedness to infuse and influence future development decisions. Responding to the Four Big Themes The narrative for new growth in Greater Cambridge is set by four key themes that reflect international and national objectives: Climate Change The two Councils and the County Council have committed to achieve net zero carbon by 2050. In order to meet this challenge, the Local Plan will need to plan for low-carbon lifestyles and encourage low carbon activities and alternatives to private car use. The Local Plan will also need to promote highly sustainable patterns for growth, such as locating residential and employment development in sustainable locations such as Six Mile Bottom with access to a number of transport connections. This would enable travel by low-carbon modes thus reducing car use to ease congestion and reduce airborne pollutants. The same measure offers opportunities to promote active travel choices (walking, cycling) to enhance health and wellbeing. The proposal for the Site would see the creation of new jobs and homes, together with essential central services such as secondary and primary schools, community hubs and medical facilities as well as local retail space. This internalisation of jobs, homes and key facilities will reduce the need for motorised travel, which will have significant environmental as well as health and wellbeing benefits. Biodiversity and Green Spaces Both Councils have declared biodiversity emergencies and, as members of the Natural Cambridgeshire Local Nature Partnership, the Councils support the Partnership’s vision to double the area of rich wildlife habitats and natural greenspaces within Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. L&Q Estates Ltd and Hill Residential Ltd recognise the importance of improving the natural environment and are committed to achieving net biodiversity gain in respect to potential redevelopment proposals at the Site. The Site presents opportunities to create wellbeing through enhanced green spaces to relax and socialise. As referred to above, new areas of green infrastructure also provide opportunities to mitigate against climate change, through creating resilient new habitats. Wellbeing and Social Inclusion Cambridge City Council has an Anti-Poverty Strategy which includes an action plan. This identified that while the Cambridge economy continues to thrive, there are high levels of income inequality in the city. Cambridge City Council also has an Air Quality Action Plan 2018-2023 and sets out Cambridge City Council’s priority actions for improving areas of poor air quality in the city and maintaining a good level of air quality in a growing city. The proposed new community at Six Mile Bottom will integrate jobs, homes and community facilities and will help achieve ‘good growth’ that promotes wellbeing and social inclusion, as outlined below: ● Securing improvements in air quality through promotion of development that is not overly reliant on car use by locating jobs, homes and community facilities close to one another, utilising existing and creating new transport connections; ● Encouraging healthy lifestyles through provision of employment opportunities in an accessible location by low-carbon modes to encourage active travel; ● Proximity to local services and amenities bringing opportunities for social interaction and community development; ● Opportunities for new build design to provide all-electric heating and hot water systems to avoid the on-site combustion of fossil fuels; ● Creation of a safe and inclusive community through provision of a wide range of jobs; and ● Creation of high-quality buildings and public realm which offers natural sociability, interaction and access to nature. Great Places Greater Cambridge has a track record as a place where contemporary design and the historic environment co-exist in harmony. The vision for the Site is held to be consistent with the vision and objectives for new settlements as set out in the NPPF and the leading fields of best practice. The Concept Framework (see Concept Vision) has taken into account the context of the Site in order to suggest a high level layout that would sensitively respond to the context of the Site. Due to the scale of the Site, a strategy of providing a main centre, positioned centrally within the Site and three satellite local centres is proposed. The proposal is for a transitional reduction in reliance on the private car. The new community would be set within and amongst an expansive network of multi-functional and characterful green infrastructure. This goes beyond fulfilling formal public open space requirements and will provide for future generations well-being and lifestyle requirements. The proposals will encourage active and healthy lives and an inclusive sense of community. Benefits to be delivered by the proposals Our proposal is for a holistically planned new community, which enhances the natural environment, supports economic growth, offers high-quality market and affordable housing set in beautiful, healthy and sociable neighbourhoods. The Site has the potential to deliver sustainable development in accordance with the three dimensions of sustainable development identified at paragraph 8 of the NPPF, whilst also securing a number of benefits to the wider area, including the following: Economic Benefits ● New employment opportunities for East Cambridgeshire and the Greater Cambridge Authorities; ● New jobs will be created through the construction phase of the development, both directly and through supply chains; ● Unlike a series of smaller scale developments, a proposal of this size will support strategic infrastructure improvements. Social Benefits ● The potential to deliver a significant amount of market and affordable new homes to assist in meeting objectively assessed housing needs of both East Cambridge and the Greater Cambridge Authorities; ● The potential to deliver a range of dwelling size, type and tenure to meet locally identified housing need and creating a mixed and sustainable community; ● The ability to provide integrated public transport, with direct access to a range of locations and their associated services and facilities; ● There is potential to create high quality accessible, multifunctional green infrastructure. The provision of such a large area of green infrastructure is unlikely to be feasible on smaller scale or constrained brownfield sites; ● A plan-led new community integrated health, wellbeing and social inclusion. Environmental Benefits ● The integration of homes, jobs and community facilities will promote pedestrian, cycle and public transport trips, thus reducing carbon emissions; ● Zero carbon on-site energy generation; ● Significant additional tree planting can be incorporated throughout the Site. This will also contribute towards biodiversity enhancements; ● A sensitive design approach can be achieved which ensures that development will not encroach into areas at risk from flooding; ● The majority of the existing tree and hedgerow planting around the periphery of the Site and along the internal field boundary can be retained; ● Retained high quality farmland areas to continue to make best use of fertile land and potentially grow food for new residents; ● Expansive semi-natural areas reserved for wildlife with managed access so that ecology can thrive. Deliverability This Site is considered “deliverable” as defined by the NPPF (Glossary). Specifically, the Site is available in one single land ownership, offers a suitable location for development, and is achievable with a realistic prospect that housing will be delivered on-site within five years of adoption of the plan. The proposal is such that jobs, homes, education and other community facilities are provided to ensure a holistic, integrated community. This together with improvements to rail infrastructure, only possible with this scale of development, will ensure residents would not be reliant on the private car for their daily needs. The proposal at Six Mile Bottom is a unique opportunity to bring forward development in the form of a new highly sustainable settlement. Bringing together a range of services and facilities which are within walking and cycling distance of one another.

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Disagree

Disagree – whilst the NPPF requires that strategic policies should have a minimum 15 year time horizon on adoption, there would be considerable merit in strategic policies looking beyond this time period to 2050. The development plan system provides for policies to be reviewed every 5 years and hence if there are significant changes in circumstances that would be picked up during a review of strategic policies and trigger an updating of the plan. Planning to 2050 would provide a clear direction and base and would simply mean that in future the plan making process can focus on allocating land to meet agreed development needs, rather than revising and debating growth levels. That would greatly speed up plan making Given the issues at stake and the length of time it has taken for local plans in the area to be adopted, there is a risk that the plan may not be adopted by April 2025. In order to minimise risk of delays, it would be appropriate to look further ahead. A plan period to 2045 would also provide a clearer strategy for investment decisions of both the public and private sector and enable the longer-term planning of infrastructure.

Agree

Agree - The four big themes for the Local Plan are considered suitable and all are important in the consideration of the spatial distribution of growth in the district, and for the determination of planning applications. The four big themes will generate a new way of planning, this may require a different way to make decisions; to allow other impacts to happen to achieve these four priorities. The Local Plan policy framework will need to allow for a clear planning balance to take place to assess and prioritise impacts. The need for homes and jobs remains as does the need to ensure development is viable and can come forward. As outlined in Question 2, the proposal for a new Community at Six Mile Bottom is of a scale that will allow the councils to achieve the four themes and contribute to the creation of new homes and jobs in a highly sustainable location. Our proposal would contribute to the four big themes as follows: ● Climate Change – internalisation of jobs, homes and key facilities reducing the need for motorised travel, rail improvements including a potential new stop on east-west rail line, potential extension of the CAM Metro connection, energy hub providing clean energy, new dwellings, employment buildings and community facilities will be designed and constructed in a manner to be energy efficient and incorporate renewable technologies. ● Biodiversity and Green Space – significant new provision of on-site green infrastructure and retaining including new multifunctional 3km long linear park with play parks, sports pitches, picnic areas, allotments, running and cycle routes. Expansive semi-natural area reserved for wildlife with managed access so that ecology can thrive. ● Wellbeing and Social Inclusion – the proposals would incorporate a mix of housing sizes, types and tenures, to help meet the needs of the District and local community. The proposals would also promote healthy lifestyles and wellbeing through the provision of on-site recreation and the Site’s accessibility to education, shops and public transport by active modes of travel, community stewardship model creating community empowerment; and, ● Great Places – a landscape-led approach that sensitively respond to the context of the Site, the new community would be set within and amongst an expansive network of multifunctional and characterful green infrastructure proposals will encourage active and healthy lives and an inclusive sense of community.

The increased focus on climate change is welcomed. Reducing the Greater Cambridge area’s contribution to climate change, through mitigating impacts on climate change, will require promoting energy efficiency, renewable and low carbon energy generation and encouraging use of sustainable transport. Only development at scale will support the creation of new on-site infrastructure, such as schools and local centres, which could reduce the need for people to travel elsewhere to find these amenities. The proposal for a new community at Six Mile Bottom would be able to incorporate low-carbon and energy efficient design, such as district heating networks. Importantly, the proposal at Six Mile Bottom would provide an integrated and holistic new community, reducing the need to travel for work and for services. Location along a public transport corridor will facilitate the use of public transport for longer distance travel. The potential to provide a new station differentiates Six Mile Bottom from other options in the sub-region The Government has published a challenging timetable for dealing with energy emissions for buildings through the Building Regulations. That includes proposals that local plans should not set energy standards ahead of the Building Regulations. We agree with the government’s proposed approach on this matter. The local plan should focus on locating development in sustainable locations, the layout of development and ensuring that allocations are made where they can deliver low/zero carbon developments. If the Plan is to achieve its ambitious targets on climate change, the most appropriate way to do this is through development of a scale to support the necessary infrastructure to achieve this. The local plan Sustainability Appraisal (SA) should address variable climate change scenarios, as we would expect that different climate change scenarios will be of interest at examination. Lack of rigorous assessment of these scenarios in the SA could lead to the plan being found unsound.

Legislation will require mandatory biodiversity net gain. Paragraph 20 and 20d of the revised NPPF sets out a new requirement for local authorities to develop strategic policies which set out an overall strategy for the pattern, scale and quality of development, and the conservation and enhancement of the natural environment, including landscape and green infrastructure and climate change mitigation/adaptation. The proposal for a new community at the Six Mile Bottom Estate will provide a significant net gain. The proposal will retain woodland areas and hedgerows throughout to allow wildlife to continue to thrive. Will establish expansive semi-natural area reserved for wildlife with managed access so that ecology can thrive. The proposal also includes a new multifunctional 3km long linear park running through the settlement with play parks, sports pitches, picnic areas, allotments, running and cycle routes.

The new Local Plan should recognise that the most effective and efficient way to achieve biodiversity net gain through new developments is for its integration into new communities from the outset. Development should be of a sufficient scale so new green infrastructure and biodiversity habitats can be strategically planned, this will provide greater benefit than the provision of small, uncoordinated and connected new habitats across a range of new small developments. The proposal for a new community at the Six Mile Bottom Estate allows for new green infrastructure and biodiversity habitats to be strategically planned. The proposal will retain woodland areas and hedgerows and establish expansive semi-natural area reserved for wildlife with managed access so that ecology can thrive.

Access to employment and housing are prime drivers of people’s health and wellbeing . Planning for a growing economy and sufficient new homes are critical for health and social inclusion. The Local Plan should deliver a spatial strategy that connects homes with accessibility to good quality public transport, jobs, facilities and services and high-quality green spaces. Development at the scale of the new community proposed at the Six Mile Bottom Estate would see the creation of new on-site infrastructure, including open space and a GP surgery, with positive effects on public health. The new community will allow for a range of services and facilities to be designed in a way that encourages walking and cycling. Through co-operation with key stakeholders’, facilities can be provided as the new population grows. The proposal for a new community at the Six Mile Bottom Estate can be delivered in line with the NHS Healthy New Town Initiative which is underpinned by the principles of creating healthier and connected communities with integrated and high-quality services. As the master developer on Northstowe Phase 1, L&Q Estates are experienced in the delivery of healthy communities and promoting inclusive communities The Local Plan should also establish a policy framework that allows for innovative ways to deliver ‘affordable housing’ across tenure types. The plan should facilitate home ownership, by supporting initiatives such as Discounted Market for Sale, shared ownership and first buy as part of the affordable mix. Housing mix policies should also be flexible to allow for the right homes to come forward in the right location. Again, development of the scale proposed at Six Mile Bottom will allow the councils to facilitate a significant number of affordable homes to address affordability across the area. A proposal of the scale of that at Six Mille Bottom would allow for a mix of affordable housing types, as recognised in the Sustainability Appraisal, an alternative special approach based on densification would result in a high proportion of flats and therefore may not provide as large a range of housing types.

Community engagement should be sought during the design process, during construction and through opportunities to influence the scheme and /or be engaged in its management and maintenance after completion (where relevant), particularly in circumstances where unforeseen consequences emerge. L&Q Estates Ltd and Hill Residential Ltd are committed to working with stakeholders to deliver a proposal that meets the needs of both East Cambridgeshire and Greater Cambridge Authorities and to fully address the four ‘big themes’ of Climate Change; Biodiversity and green spaces; Wellbeing and social inclusion; and Great Places. The Town & Country Planning Association outline in their guidance on new settlements that land value capture is for the benefit of the community. A strong vision, community engagement, the community ownership of land and long-term stewardship are components of successful new settlements. The proposal for a new community at the Six Mile Bottom Estate has the potential to include the community ownership of assets, through a Trust structure. Through this model all residents will be members of the Trust which will be funded through an annual charge applied to all dwellings. This is becoming a common model in the long-term stewardship of successful communities.

A prime driver of people’s health is access to employment and good quality housing. Providing for employment and housing needs is therefore critical. A spatial strategy that can support connected spaces where people do not have to rely on the private car for their daily routine of school, work, shopping and leisure. Enabling active lifestyles and opportunities for social interaction is a priority. The proposed new community at the Six Mile Bottom Estate can provide homes, jobs, together with essential central services such as secondary and primary schools, community hubs and medical facilities as well as local retail space will provide the important elements to allow a new community to thrive. The internalisation of these elements will reduce the need for car travel and promote sustainable travel options with significant health and wellbeing benefits. The proposal for a new community at the Six Mile Bottom Estate can be delivered in line with the NHS Health Town Programme underpinned by the principles of creating healthier and connected communities with integrated and high-quality services.

This can principally be achieved through the reduced use of polluting vehicles by: ● Locating development where there is good access to active travel, coupled with access to affordable, frequent, reliable and high-quality public transport options; ● Better cycle and pedestrian connectivity – achieved by developments directly and through a coordinated s106 infrastructure programme.