Greater Cambridge Shared Planning

Appendix 3:

Glossary of Terms

Term	Definition
Aggregates	Aggregates take a number of different forms. Primary Aggregates include naturally occurring sand, gravel and crushed rock typically used for a variety of construction and manufacturing purposes. Recycled Aggregates are typically produced from construction and demolition wastes. Secondary Aggregates are aggregates typically derived from a range of industrial and mineral wastes such as power station ash, glass, and mineral site spoils.
Area action plan (AAP)	A local development document setting out policy and proposals for a specific area. The document establishes an overall vision, identifies key issues and sets out the principles for an area of change.
Affordable housing	Housing provided for people whose income levels mean they cannot access suitable market properties to rent or buy locally to meet their housing needs. It includes social rented, affordable rented and intermediate housing. Affordable housing should: meet the needs of eligible households including availability at a cost low enough for them to afford, determined with regard to local incomes and local house prices; and include provision for the home to remain at an affordable price for future eligible households or, if these restrictions are lifted, for the subsidy to be recycled for alternative affordable housing provision.
Affordable rented housing	Rented housing provided by local authorities and private registered providers of social housing to households that are eligible for social rented housing. Affordable rent is subject to rent controls that require a rent of no more than 80 per cent of the local market rent (including service charges, where applicable). From April 2012, most new homes funded by government grant have to be offered at affordable rents, to generate funding for further new affordable housing. Some existing social rent homes may also be converted to affordable rents in agreement with the Homes and Communities Agency.
Air quality	Since December 1997, each local authority in the United Kingdom has been carrying out a review and assessment of air quality in their area. This involves measuring air pollution and trying to predict how it will change in the next few years. The aim of the review is to make sure that the national air quality objectives will be achieved throughout the UK by the relevant deadlines. These objectives have been put in place to protect people's health and the environment.
Areas of major change (AMC)	Parts of Cambridge where considerable change is anticipated at some stage during the life of the plan period (2014–2031). Any changes to these areas will be masterplanned.
Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM)	BREEAM is a set of standards for measuring the environmental performance of a range of new and existing building types. It covers energy and water performance, construction materials, waste, ecology, pollution and health. Under this scheme, buildings that meet the standards are rated either ‘pass’, ‘good’, ‘very good’, ‘excellent’ or ‘outstanding’.
Cambridge Cluster	Refers to the 1,400+ technology, biotechnology, services providers and support companies and organisations comprising more than 40,000 people employed by these in the Cambridge region.
City wildlife site (CiWS)	A non-statutory designation for sites of nature conservation interest within an urban environment.
Climate change adaptation	Initiatives and measures to reduce the vulnerability of natural and human systems to actual or predicted climate change effects.
Climate change mitigation	Action to reduce the impact of human activity on the climate system, primarily through reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Cluster	Concentrations of companies in related activities, recognisable suppliers, service providers and institutions, which are cooperating, competing and collaborating to build competitive advantage, often across traditional sector boundaries. Such concentrations often depend on access to specialist skills and infrastructure within a specific area.
Community facilities	Community facilities include local, neighbourhood, district and city-wide community facilities which can include the following examples: Local: A community or civic room; Neighbourhood: Community house – typically the size of an average three-bed house – or community hall; primary school or day nursery; District: Public library; Primary care facility; community centre and other shared use/services buildings; function room, secondary school or place of worship; City-wide: Acute health care; civic and court buildings; colleges and universities.
Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)	CIL is a new levy that local authorities in England and Wales can choose to charge on new developments in their area. In areas where CIL is in force, landowners and developers must pay the levy to the local council. CIL charges, set by the local council, are based on the size and type of the new development. The money raised can be used to support development by funding infrastructure that the council, local community and neighbourhoods would like.
County wildlife site (CWS)	A non-statutory designation for sites of county significance for wildlife.
Development plan	Includes adopted local plans, minerals and waste plans, neighbourhood plans and the London Plan and is defined in the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (Section 38).
District centre	A group of shops, separate from the town centre, usually containing at least one food supermarket or superstore, and non-retail services such as banks, building societies and restaurants; boundaries are defined on the policies map.
District heat networks	District heating is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralised location for residential and commercial heating requirements. The heat is often obtained from a co-generation plant burning fossil fuels but increasingly biomass, although heat-only boiler stations, geothermal heating and central solar heating are also used, as well as nuclear power.
Employment land review	A document which: examines existing guidance, policies and requirements; takes stock of existing employment provision; assesses future requirements based on an analysis of past trends, future forecasts and discussions with existing employers and stakeholders; identifies a new portfolio of potential employment sites on land with the most potential for sustainable development; and identifies existing employment sites that could be released for other forms of development.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)	An EIA assesses the environmental implications of an individual development. It also allows a planning authority a means of ensuring that it can take account of the environmental implications of individual developments in its decisions on planning applications. The EIA Regulations relate to a European Union Directive (Directive 85/337/EEC as amended).
Fluvial flooding	Fluvial flooding occurs when rivers overflow and burst their banks.
Green Belt	A statutory designation made for the purposes of: checking the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas; preventing neighbouring towns from merging into each other; assisting in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment; preserving the setting and special character of historic towns and assisting in urban regeneration by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land. Specific Green Belt purposes have been set out for Cambridge.
Gross internal floor area (GIFA)	Is defined (by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) as the floor area contained within the building measured to the internal face of the external walls.
Green infrastructure	Consists of multi-functional networks of protected open space, woodlands, wildlife habitat, parks, registered commons and villages and town greens, nature reserves, waterways and bodies of water, historic parks and gardens and historic landscapes. Different aspects of green infrastructure provide recreational and/or cultural experiences, while supporting and enhancing biodiversity and geodiversity, enhancing air and/or water quality and enriching the quality of life of local communities.
Health impact assessment (HIA)	A health impact assessment is a tool to appraise both positive (e.g. creation of new jobs) and negative (e.g. generation of pollution) impacts on the different affected subgroups of the population that might result from the development. Public participation is considered a major component of the process. It usually assesses a policy or proposal that does not have health improvement as a primary objective. The implementation of the development may result in intended objectives being met but may also result in consequences that are unintended and unanticipated. These unintended effects may be good or bad for people’s health. An HIA is usually forward-looking (prospective) and done at a time when it is possible to change the proposed development if necessary, e.g. at the masterplanning stage.
High quality hotel	A high quality hotel is a full service hotel that has a high specification and offers a range of services and facilities. These will generally include a restaurant and bar, leisure facilities and function /conference/banqueting facilities. Smaller, independent high quality hotels may not have the full offer of larger hotels, however they compensate for this with a distinctive style and service. Such hotels will tend to be 3- to 5-star or boutique hotels, see the Cambridge Hotel Futures study for more detail.
Hi-tech or high technology industry	Activities including production in fields which include biotechnology, chemicals, consultancy research and development, computer components and hardware, computer software, electronic systems and products, information technology, instrumentation, new materials technology, telecommunications, other forms of new manufacturing process or fields of research and other development which may be regarded as high technology uses.
Historic environment	All aspects of the environment resulting from the interaction between people and places through tine, including all surviving physical remains of past human activity, whether visible, buried or submerged, and landscaped and planted or managed flora. (Source: NPPF)
Houses in multiple occupation (HMO)	An HMO, depending on the number of occupants, is classed as either: a small HMO – this is a shared dwelling house which is occupied by between three and six unrelated individuals who share basic amenities such as a kitchen or bathroom. This falls into use class C4 under the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 2010; or a larger HMO – This is when there are more than six unrelated individuals sharing basic amenities such as a kitchen or bathroom. This falls into the sui generis class under the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 2010.
Intermediate housing	Homes for sale and rent provided at a cost above social rent, but below market levels, and which meet the criteria for affordable housing (above). These can include shared equity (shared ownership and equity loans), other low-cost homes for sale and intermediate rent, but not affordable rented housing.
Integrated water management	This is the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources in order to maximise the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems. It considers the multiple benefits that can be derived from the management of water such as biodiversity enhancement and climate change adaptation.
Leisure facilities	Leisure facilities include: Leisure sport facilities which allow for supervised, organised or competitive sports, primarily indoors. Facilities include sports stadia, ice rinks, sports halls, boxing centres, badminton and squash courts, swimming pools (including outdoor), gymnasiums, indoor bowling centres, indoor tennis centres, health and fitness centres. Arts and cultural uses such as concert halls, performance venues and theatres, cinemas, ten-pin bowling alleys, punting stations, museums and galleries. Nightclubs, snooker/pool halls, bowling alleys.
Lifetime Homes Standard¹	This is a widely-used national standard, which uses technical advice to ensure that the spaces and features in new homes can readily meet the needs of most people, including those with reduced mobility.
Local centre	A cluster of shops and other community facilities that satisfy local needs and are accessible on foot. Usually comprising a newsagent, a general grocery store, a sub-post office and occasionally other facilities such as a pharmacy, a public house and a hairdresser. Boundaries indicated on the policies map.
Local development framework (LDF)	A suite of planning-related documents that guide development within the administrative area they relate to.
Local plan	Sets out policies to guide the future development of Cambridge. It also sets out where future development will take place, and identifies land for new housing, community facilities, shops and employment. In addition, the local plan identifies land to be protected from development, such as the Green Belt and open space. It is the key document used to determine planning applications for new development in the city.
Local nature reserve (LNR)	Reserves with wildlife or geological features that are of special interest locally.
Major developments	Major development is defined in the Town and Country Planning (Development Management) (England) Order (2010) as ten or more dwellings or a site area of 0.5 hectare or more where the number of dwellings is unknown, or the provision of a building where the floorspace is 1,000 sq m or more, or where development is carried out on a site having an area of 1 hectare or more.
Masterplan	A masterplan describes how proposals for a site will be implemented. The level of detail required in a masterplan will vary according to the scale at which the masterplan is produced.
Mixed use developments	Development comprising two or more uses as part of the same scheme (e.g. shops on the ground floor and residential flats above). This could apply at a variety of scales from individual buildings, to a street, to a new neighbourhood or urban extension.
Neighbourhood centre	Centres of six or fewer retail units, or where the units are scattered along a road or embedded within residential areas, which serve a limited local catchment and perform more of a neighbourhood function. Boundaries are defined on the policies map.
National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)	This document sets out national planning policies for England and the Government’s requirements for the Planning System. The policies in the NPPF must be taken into account when preparing Local Plans.
Open space	Areas of land not built on and water bodies such as rivers and lakes, regardless of ownership and access. These areas include parks and gardens; natural and semi-natural green spaces; green corridors; outdoor sports facilities; amenity green space; teenagers’ and children’s play areas; allotments and community gardens; cemeteries and churchyards; accessible countryside in urban fringe areas and civic spaces.
Passivhaus Standard	Passivhaus or 'Passive House' is an energy performance standard based upon excellent thermal performance, exceptional airtightness with mechanical ventilation.
Pluvial flooding	Surface water accumulating from the result of intense rainfall.
Protected open spaces	Areas of land protected by Policy 67 of the draft Cambridge Local Plan 2014. These include: allotments, amenity green spaces, cemeteries, churchyards, civic spaces, areas specifically for children and young people, natural and semi-natural green spaces, outdoor sports facilities, parks and gardens.
Public open spaces	Any land laid out as a public garden or used for the purposes of public recreation. This means space which has unimpeded public access, and which is of a suitable size and nature for sport, active or passive recreation or children and teenagers’ play. Private or shared amenity areas, for example in a development of flats, or buffer landscaped areas are not included as public open space. This definition relates to both open space provided within a development, and when considering the provision of existing open space.
Public realm	Public realm relates to all those parts of the built environment where the public has free access. It encompasses: all streets, squares, and other rights of way, whether predominantly in residential, commercial or community/civic uses; the open spaces and parks; and the ‘public/private’ spaces where public access is unrestricted (at least during daylight hours). It includes the interfaces with key internal and private spaces to which the public normally has free access. (Source: ODPM in Living Places: Caring for Quality (January 2004))
Public safety zones	Areas of land at the ends of the runways at airports, within which development is restricted in order to minimise the number of people on the ground at risk in the event of an aircraft crash on take-off or landing.
Railhead	A point on a railway from which roads and other transport routes begin. Railheads can act as reception points for aggregates moved in bulk by rail for onward distribution, normally by road. Railheads normally comprise a railway siding, off-loading and storage facilities, and sometimes including mineral processing and other plant.
Registered Provider	Means a registered provider of social housing within the meaning of Section 80(2)(a) of Part 2 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 (including any statutory replacement or amendment) as registered with the Regulator of Social Housing and as approved by the City Council or other competent authority pursuant to the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 or any other body who may lawfully provide or fund Affordable Housing from time to time and as approved by the City Council.
S106	A binding legal agreement requiring a developer or landowner to provide or contribute towards facilities, infrastructure or other measures, in order for planning permission to be granted. Planning obligations are normally secured under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
Safeguarding zones	These zones place restrictions on development height. While not currently shown on the policies map, they are used as constraints when considering planning applications. Developed by Marshall, they represent areas of the city where the take-off and landing of aircraft could give rise to additional risk of aircraft accident over the built-up area.
Skyline	An outline of land and buildings defined against the sky: the skyline of the city.
Spatial strategy	This is a long-term plan that outlines the vision for an area, what type of development is needed and where that development should best be located.
Sustainable drainage systems (SuDs)	Development normally reduces the amount of water that can infiltrate into the ground and increases surface water run-off due to the amount of hard surfacing used. Sustainable drainage systems control surface water run-off by mimicking natural drainage processes through the use of surface water storage areas, flow limiting devices and the use of infiltration areas or soakaways.
Sustainable modes of transport	Sustainable modes of transport include walking, cycling and public transport.
Urban grain	The combined pattern and arrangement of streets, green infrastructure and plots. It covers elements such as the design character, building size, scale, height and form.
Use classes order	The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 (as amended) puts uses of land and buildings into various categories known as use classes. More detail on what types of uses fall within each use class is set out below. Planning permission is not needed when both the present and proposed uses fall within the same class. For example, a greengrocer’s shop could be changed to a shoe shop without permission as these uses both fall within use class A1. However any physical changes associated with a development may still require planning permission. The General Permitted Development Order also allows some changes from one use class to another without the need for planning permission. For example, a restaurant (class A3) could be changed to a shop (A1) or an estate agent (A2) as the use classes order allows this type of change to occur without requiring planning permission.
Walkable (neighbourhood)	Areas typically based on 400m (five-minute walking time) catchments. The Urban Design Compendium (2000) Paragraph 3.1.2 describes the principles of ‘The Walkable Neighbourhood’, describing what facilities should be within a five- and ten-minute walk from home.

¹ www.lifetimehomes.org.uk

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