Cambourne Town started life as three linked villages of Lower Cambourne, Cambourne and Upper Cambourne, with up to 4250 homes and a business park. The 2018 Local Plan contained a new allocation Policy SS/8 for a new mixed use development at Cambourne West.
Planning permission has subsequently been granted for 2350 homes on Cambourne West. So why do we need a further allocation in this new emerging Local Plan?
This is why. The Government’s OxCam arc plans to develop the Oxford-Milton Keynes – Cambridge arc as an engine of growth for the Country up to 2050. This plan includes building a new railway line – East West Rail, which includes having a station at or near Cambourne.
The EWR project recently finished a non-statutory consultation and now analysing the responses. It is unlikely that the decisions on alignment and station location will be available before this emerging plan is ready for inspection. Therefore, it is not possible yet to identify any specific site for development. National Planning policy gives guidance on identifying “broad locations” where the exact numbers and locations will be finalised during future plan reviews.
One of the eight spatial strategies that came up during the First Conversation was a “Western Cluster with focus on Transport Node” The Cambourne to Cambridge busway project by the Greater Cambridge Partnership and the proposed EWR route and station via Cambourne provide the transport based opportunity.
The First Proposal identifies potentially 1900 homes could be delivered during the plan period 2020 to 2041. However nothing is likely to happen until after 2030 and only after the EWR plans are known.