Bourn Airfield has moved to the next stage of its controversial journey in becoming a new village in South Cambridgeshire when it gained outline planning permission at the Extraordinary Planning Committee meeting held on 19th February 2021.
The airfield is a designated development site in the current adopted Local Plan of 2018 for building no more than 3500 houses and associated infrastructure. It is an inherited policy from the Conservative administration of 2014. This outline planning application was the next logical step after the Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), to start to work out the details of how it will be built out.
Planning Application S/3440/18/OL
As the reference number shows, Countryside Properties the site promoters, submitted the outline application in 2018. They have since been working with the Greater Cambridge Planning Service to create plans that meet the more detailed guidelines in the Bourn Airfield SPD.
This outline application was approved by the South Cambridgeshire District Council planning committee on Friday 19th February 2021.
There will be further planning stages called “Reserved Matters applications” where the detailed planning phases will be submitted for approval. So residents will still have opportunities to comment as the site gets built out.
Bourn Parish Council and Caldecote Parish Council sent representatives to speak on their behalf. I also attended but on this occasion, I spoke only as the District Councillor. I had stepped down from the Planning Committee itself to avoid opening up the Council to legal challenge by the Developers or third parties. I had to do this because of the “conflict of interest” that Countryside Properties levelled at me and their complaint to the new Liberal Democrat administration when I became the Lead Cabinet Member for Planning in May 2018.
This situation arose because I was very vocal in opposing the inclusion of Bourn airfield in the Local Plan submitted in 2014. I did this in support of Caldecote Parish Council and residents, and StopBAD the campaign to stop the airfield development. I have written elsewhere in my blog about this complaint and the gagging attempt by Countryside.
My comments to Planning Committee
This is my address to the committee on the day. I had to fit my views expressed previously in writing, into 3 minutes of speaking time.
Good morning Members. Bourn Airfield has had a tumultuous journey to this point-because many previous promises made to the communities of Bourn and Caldecote have been broken time and again. When the planning inspectors found the Local Plan submitted in 2014 sound in their 2018 report, they noted the scepticism of local communities but stated that there is nothing to indicate that these concerns cannot be satisfactorily addressed through the development management process.
Your challenge today is to determine if those ongoing concerns have been addressed satisfactorily: For me these are:
- Coalescence
I acknowledge the efforts made by all parties to “reduce” the scope for this to happen, by including the filling in the gap in the tree belt on the eastern boundary, and removing the residential block on the north eastern area at the top of Highfields. But Condition 10.e needs to be strengthened so there is no risk of future development at north east and south east ends of the site to avoid harm to the character of Highfields.
2. Transport and Traffic
The inspectors in their final report stated that they consider there is reasonable prospect that the Cambourne to Cambridge busway will be completed during the plan period. I also refer you to the County Council Policy TSCSC 21, to be used to compare the provisions in Conditions 13 to 22. I draw your attention to Condition 13 in particular and was going to ask you to strike out 13.ii but that may not be necessary now that it has been amended such that it will come back to the Local Planning Authority and not rest with the County Council for a decision.
Allowing some development is a pragmatic approach, and even though my communities think the 500 is still too high especially when the Childerley roundabout is not planned to be reconfigured, the concern is that this is a loophole that the developer could drive a coach and horses through to get more than 500 dwellings built before the C2C is delivered. That must not be allowed to happen.
3. Sewerage/Surface Water
Bourn water recycling centre has no capacity for this development. It is currently being repaired for business as usual now resulting in Caldecote pumping station being pumped out by tankers since December 2020. Condition 43 is not strong enough to ensure the delivery of the capacity needed before occupation.
To conclude
The planning harm to Caldecote, Bourn, Hardwick and other nearby villages is significant and must be mitigated to a sufficient level. If you are not satisfied this proposal does that, amend the conditions where possible or refuse and send it back to the drawing board. This council has inherited a questionable lemon, but it does not mean you cannot make reasonable quality lemonade from it!!
Planning Committee Debate
The debate was exhaustive and the vote was close, 6 in favour and 5 against. The sticking point, as expected was the issue of the Cambourne to Cambridge (C2C) Busway, which underpins the delivery of the site and is the only transport solution that the Cambridgeshire County Council proposed for it back in 2013. You can read about that transport strategy in my blog article here.
In the end, Condition 13.(ii) was removed, which means no more than 500 houses will be built until there is visible progress on the delivery of the C2C busway. A number of other conditions were also strengthened.
This outcome is not ideal by any means. Could it have been better? I don’t think so. The mitigation package proposed for the transport challenge I think is the best option given the constraints that were baked into the policy in the first place. We can say and we do say that Bourn Airfield should not have been included in the Local Plan in the first place – that ship sailed in August 2018. We now have to make the best possible lemonade from this lemon.