The long awaited public examination of the South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) Policy SS/6, New Village at Bourn Airfield, finally got scheduled for 4th – 6th April 2017. This is the SCDC plan to build 3,500 homes on the airfield, together with schools, shops, etc. The hearing on 4th April was to continue the examination of the soundness of the Local Development Plan (LDP) that SCDC had submitted in 2014.
I wish to thank everyone who turned up on the morning of the hearing and took part in the photo shoot. And also those who stayed to listen to the proceedings – I hope it was eye opening to see just how these things work out and just how clearly (not) the Council answers questions!
On the objectors table were me, Steve Jones-Bourn PC Chair representing Coalition of Parish Councils, Des O’Brien Chairman of StopBAD, and Mal Schofield, a Newnham resident.
There was also a table for the Developers (3 objecting and Countryside/Taylor family). The 3 objecting developer teams have their own proposals to promote, so were arguing against BAD.
As it turned out, the hearing required just one out of the three days that had been allocated, as the Inspector had drawn up an agenda which she went through and kept to quite strictly. She had also insisted she did not want repetitions of points already made, so we had to make our points as concisely as possible, taking care not to overlap.
She however chose not to discuss the changes that South Cambs made to the plans last November 2016, insisting the Council could not just do so without formal consultation. This is the section where the council agreed to allocate four out of the five parcels of additional land on the airfield that Countryside had requested. There were two parcels of land that brought the boundary closer to Highfields and the top of the village. Whilst that early decision stole the thunder from us objectors, it was also welcome because it showed that the Inspector was sticking to the rules and not allowing the Council to bend them as they saw fit.
So, those additional parcels of land may go back out to consultation at some point, and then be examined -we shall have to wait and see. In the picture below, we ended up discussing the area outlined in purple only.
And what came out of that is that the Developers clearly cannot build 3500 on that area of land. We knew that all along. 3100 was the max they admitted they could achieve.
Those who live on West Drive and have gardens right up to the Boundary with Bourn Airfield, note that when the council papers state there will be countryside separation between the airfield and Highfields, the “countryside” section are your gardens down to the local development framework (LDF) boundary. Reason – because those gardens are beyond the LDF and so in the countryside which the Council claims it can control and not allow development on. More smokes and mirrors from SCDC!!
When it came to the topic of the high quality bus transport (HQPT) scheme, it was a shambles. The HQPT is the (in)famous Cambourne to Cambridge Busway that the Greater Cambridge City Deal (GCCD) wishes to foist on us as the solution to the getting people from the new developments into Cambridge. The Inspector wanted to ascertain the progress of the scheme and whether it could be delivered in time for the development. The GCCD officer admitted that a “catchment route” had been identified, but not the specific route. This is the Option 3/3a previously identified.
Officers also confirmed that £59million (of the required £140 million plus) has been set aside for Phase 1 of the project, which is the Madingley Mulch to Cambridge section. Funds for the Cambourne to Madingley Mulch section is expected to be available in Tranche 2 of the deal (post 2020).
So much effort spent on the bus route, leaving the 70-75% who would still travel by car to battle the road without additional road infrastructure, all in this hope of a “modal shift”. There’s a transport examination further down the line where the details will be thrashed out. Watch this space.
The public examinations will continue until at least July 2017 as the Inspector considers further aspects of the plan.