Local Plan Adopted by South Cambridgeshire Councillors

The much awaited South Cambridgeshire Local Plan finally got to be presented to Full Council at its meeting on Thursday 27th September 2018.  This was a date that for me came with very mixed emotions, given the events that led up to that point in time.

I had spent considerable time thinking about what I was going to say and how I was going to say it, and it would not come as a surprise to those who have been reading my blog, that it was a challenging day.

As I wrote previously, the Planning Inspector had declared that the Local Plan submitted in 2014 was sound subject to the modifications made by the Council later in 2017 and 2018. This meant that the fight against the proposed Bourn Airfield new village was coming to an end one way or another.

I prepared my speech well in advance as I knew I wanted to get some points across and clear the air, as up until then, I had kept my peace and refused to rise to the taunts from certain quarters.

Still, it was amusing to watch the Conservatives across from me completely lose the plot. Stepping back some four years …. when the Local plan was created and submitted, the Council was run by the Conservatives. They used their majority to push it through during the meeting of 13 March 2014, claiming amongst other things that it had to be submitted then and that by doing so, we would be protected from the effects of a lack of 5 year land supply.  You can read the minutes of that fateful meeting here.  History proved otherwise.

Many of us raised various concerns about the proposal and as you will see, I expressed concern at the fact that houses were being forced onto the A428 corridor without the property infrastructure to support it. I prepared and circulated a paper to Members prior to that meeting as I knew I would have limited time to speak. You can find the paper that I circulated to Members here.  In the event, the vote was carried with 27 in favour, 21 against and 5 abstentions.

This time round, the makeup of the Council is significantly different with 30 LibDems, 11 Conservatives, 2 Labour and 2 Independent councillors. Only 7 of the current band of Conservatives were present during that meeting in March 2014.  I had some sympathy, but it quickly evaporated when the contributions from them on this occasion amount to personal attacks on me for abstaining and not voting for their plan. How rude is that? Disappointing and rude.

But that is the difference – doing the right thing for the right reason takes guts. It was amusing to see one ex-cabinet Member who voted for the plan back in March 2014 and is not recorded as saying anything against it, now got a case of the conscience and voted against adopting the plan this time round. When his voice would have mattered and could have swayed the vote, he stayed silent!

My Statement

As always, I stated my case, expressed disappointment that the Inspectors report was so short – I felt we had been had. I re-iterated that my objections had always been the inclusion of Bourn Airfield in the plan and drew attention to the specific paragraphs in relation to that policy.

I stated that our stance in voting against the submission of the plan as it was then was justified by the Inspectors report paragraph 211. The plan as submitted in March 2014 was not sound. We told them so but they would not listen.

However, what saved the day were the Main Modifications that were made, which enabled the plan to be found sound, as the inspectors stated in Paragraph 212.

In my statement, I re-iterated that the lack of an adopted plan and lack of 5-year land supply had meant our villages, including Highfields Caldecote, had been overun by speculative developments, that having a local plan now is absolutely necessary for protecting our villages from any further harm due to unplanned developments, and that as this is the only plan on the table, the choice was limited really. It is a case of this plan is better than no plan.

For the good of the district, the best option was to accept the verdict and adopt the 2014 Conservatives Local Plan. It is the right and proper thing to do. It also means we can begin to look at delivering the plan in the best possible way, subject to the delivery of the required infrastructure, especially transport for the A428 and A10 corridors.

I also stated that in view of my vocal opposition at the time, I would be abstaining from this vote as I did at the Cabinet meeting earlier in the month. I would also not be leading the delivery of Bourn Airfield, but would be working as the Ward Member with the Deputy Leader and officers to delver for residents a development that sits well within its surroundings, is green, maintains as best as possible the rural character of the A428 corridor, and delivers the benefit of good quality housing of all types with the right transport infrastructure.

I believe this is the right way to move forward on this. Our residents are counting on us now to make sure those bad old days do not return.

You can read the full text of my statement here.

Next Step

The next step is the preparation of the Supplementary Planning Document for Bourn Airfield, and this is getting underway. This is the stage at which residents can have further input into how the new village should be built out.

I will keep you updated on when and how you can have your say on the SPD.