The First Proposals Consultation for the emerging Greater Cambridge Local Plan concluded on 13 December 2021 after a 6-week public engagement period. Thank you to all who took the time to read the consultation documents and send in their comments.
The proposals are carefully thought through, to reduce our carbon footprint by using large sites such as Northstowe, Waterbeach, Eddington, Cambourne West, Bourn Airfield – all already approved in the South Cambs and Cambridge City 2018 Local Plans. Some of these large sites like Northstowe, Cambourne West and Eddington are already building out.
The emerging plan for both Councils will be adding 11,640 on 19 new sites, including two large sites at Cambridge Airport and North East Cambridge. Some are proposed at or near Cambourne but no actual site has been selected as it depends on when East West Rail decide where their proposed station will go. So this is called a “broad allocation”, as it is envisaged for the period after 2031. The Government has earmarked Cambourne as a potential settlement to expand as part of the OxCam Arc project. In addition, infrastructure such as EWR is paid for through housebuilding especially around where stations are built. We want to make sure that we indicate to Planning Inspectors that will examine the Local Plan that we have taken the Government proposals into consideration.
Only 384 homes will be in 5 villages, most in the better served larger ones such as Great Shelford (100) as it is a short walk to the train station and Melbourn (140) as part of Business park extension. The others are in Caldecote (64) a site with expired planning permission, Duxford (60) and Oakington (20) near the guided busway bus stop.
There are many green elements to this plan, including higher building standards-net zero, efficient use of water at 80 litres per person per day, green and blue infrastructure to serve the district and much more. Read it in my article in todays Cambridge Independent. You can also read and download a copy of my article here.