Question 6. Do you agree with the potential big themes for the Local Plan?
It is good that you have identified climate change and biodiversity as key themes at a time when we have global climate and biodiversity emergencies.
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Although “wellbeing and social inclusion” is an important big theme, it should be recognised that growth will have more adverse than beneficial effects, so “how the plan can help spread the benefits of growth” should read “how the plan can help spread the benefits and mitigate the problems of growth”
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Designing and building Great Places will have knock-on effects for improvement in Biodiversity, Climate Change, Social Inclusion and Health and Well-Being. It's all down to good design guided by some really strong design principles enforced by local authorities. We should not be building any more new dwellings (including factory built units) which use gas heating (unless they are part of a district heating system which could be converted at a later date to a non-carbon fuel). All new building should be to Passiv-Haus standards of insulation. We need to have these requirements in place NOW. We need to get developers to put a statement front and centre of theit plans indicating what they are doing in this respect so that their plans are open and transparent to the public. We need to build in a statement of provision of community centres and shops etc into every new development of 50 dwellings or more - and whether existing facilities are sufficient or new ones need to be built. Developers should be made aware that they are building new communities not just buildings. Walking and cycling provision is key to community health. No shared space with motor vehicles. Footpaths ideally separated from bicycles and also FLAT, not with slopes every few metres because of the needs of a car driveway - better to consider the needs of wheelchair users. This can be achieved by having verges between footpaths and roads where a slope can be included.
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The focus on climate change is welcomed
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The Big Themes seek to guide the Plan in its role to deliver housing, employment and infrastructure to support the needs of the population in a sustainable, economically, socially and environmentally responsible manner; however, they risk separating the themes from the role of the Plan. In order to make a “sound” Plan the Big Themes must include economics at the very least if not housing, employment and infrastructure as these are inextricably linked to the issues of climate change, bio-diversity, wellbeing and great places already identified. The Big Themes must recognise that if the Plan is to rely on funding from the private sector to deliver its growth agenda then economic viability must form part of the Big Themes.
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The themes are right but I don't think the policies in this document are specific or bold enough to achieve the full potential in these areas.
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The HCT agrees with the proposed big themes. Hobson’s Brook sits mainly in the second (Biodiversity and Green Spaces).
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Yes – but a clearer commitment to rebalancing our communities after 40 years of running down affordable housing options for residents is needed.
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It is essential that the Plan gives appropriate weight to supporting Cambridge and the region’s economic growth. The region’s superior growth underpins its future prospects and the Plan should seek to support this. Balancing the support of economic growth with the acceleration of improved sustainability is the crucial challenge for the Plan to answer by moving away from an unsustainable “dispersal” strategy for new build housing and offering viable alternatives to car transport to enable people to get to work. We therefore wish to see support of economic growth included as a key theme.
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I support the four published themes for the Local Plan as an integrated approach to a different Local Plan process. One which does not get captured by development interests and focusses too much debate on housing numbers and the scale of economic growth to the exclusion of other issues. The four themes reflect the start of a dialogue which I hope gives weight to a Local Plan that will seriously reflect the significant changes up to 2040 which for the Cambridge Partnership area will represent a step change from previous Local Plans. One issue I have is the use of the term climate change (cc), I recommend the use of the term climate heating. This reflects the real effect of cc that will have greater heat impact without mitigation and requires strategic and local adaptation across all fields. In terms of the potential themes, two points: cc could be seen to be in a different category than the other 3 themes and is better seen as integrating and affecting policy and proposals across the Local Plan, so could be better shown in the diagram around the other 3 themes . Also I would recommend the use of the term green infrastructure instead of green spaces which is too land use specific.
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Yes
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The big themes are misleading in a plan of this type. Homes, infrastructure and jobs are the keys without which the rest are nice-to-have: a. Everyone knows that the consequences of climate change are important and that we should try to reduce the causes; however we know that we are fortunate, thanks to VerMuyden and today’s EA and IDBs, not to be in the front line of those affected, unlike Australis, Bangladesh or low-lying South Pacific islands; we also know the unintended negative consequences of other past efforts like the rush to diesel or wood-burning stoves – should we kill people now or the earth later? There is also a helplessness with China, Germany and US continuing to pollute at an enormous rate and an irrational antipathy to the use of carbon-free nuclear power. b. The earth and many of its creatures is a resilient place; nature left to its own devices often heals itself – interference can hinder. c. Safety nets for well-being and social inclusion are difficult and expensive to implement yet there are technology tools that can help significantly if our care-workers were as open to its use as in other countries; this may be a consequence of reliance on low-skilled low-cost, often imported, labour. Use of graduate staff combined with more efficient deployment may have answers. Just adding cash will not resolve it; better-designed homes will help. d. Great places often turn out to increase social division and inequality – this one is hard to justify beyond the educated elite.
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On the main themes, I agree that growth and the implications of growth needs it's own themed section, as TRA suggest.
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Strongly disagree with 'Big Themes'.These are so vague, over arching and overlapping as to be virtually meaningless. For example, 'Wellbeing and Social inclusion' is surely a subset of building 'Great Places' and would have regard for both 'Climate Change' and 'Biodiversity'. A specific example of this duplication: Good access to public transport is referred to in bullet point 5 of 4.3.3 (Wellbeing and social inclusion) and by implication , bullet points 3 & 4 in 4.1.3 (Climate Change) Big Themes include overlapping issues which make then difficult, if impossible to prioritise. They need to be more sharply defined.
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Yes I agree with the themes but would also add transport as a big theme
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Yes
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No answer given
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Broadly yes, although there is not enough emphasis on growth - taking advantage of the unique position and opportunity available for the Cambridge sub region to develop further the knowledge based economy and build more globally significant technology companies.
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Climate Change, Biodiversity and Green Spaces – Yes, definitely these are the two key issues. Given the Council’s commitment to achieve Carbon Zero by 2050, it is urgent that these be addressed as soon as possible. One item that is missing from the four big themes is Infrastructure as this is causing a great deal of concern and controversy as the city tries to adapt to its ever-growing population and reliance on transport links to the City and surrounding communities.
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Yes.
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Yes but we reserve the right to make further representations.
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I think you’ve missed some things as almost all of the way people live is essentially connected and determines the decisions they make. I speak as a parent of a young family so that skews my priorities accordingly. -wrap around childcare seem to be absolutely critical to a parent’s ability to work and get to and from work. I genuinely believe better, more flexible wrap around care for children would lead to fewer car journeys. Without it you find yourself needing a car to be able to juggle your life. Sort this out and you could ease things. When my daughter was at nursery the only space was in the neighbouring village. If I had to take my two older children to pick her up we had to drive. Sort out child care and you take loads of unnecessary journeys out of the equation. Solutions can be cost neutral but need leadership and support. E.g. if the school laid on a breakfast club I’d happily pay a small sum and happily volunteer to help say 4 times a month. Things can be cost neutral but if I suggested it to my school I’d expect to get a flea in my ear and a humiliatingly negative response. The council can lead these things, find ways of setting up these schemes, encourage them. They don’t have to have a cost or organisational impact on the school but the school does have to be receptive and prepared to support such initiatives, identifying problems and supporting community lead solutions seems to be a good way forward when there isn’t loads of spare money. -food and shopping. A friend works for Waitrose they tell me Waitrose makes no money out of home delivery this tells us that home delivery as it is is not sustainable. How are people going to eat in the future, not just where is the food grown but how is it going to get to the consumer over the coming decades? Do we need food lockers on our streets – do they need power? Please speak to the big retailers and see if there are intelligent solutions which would work for everyone. Industry can solve the problem and will pay for the solutions but councils have to be receptive and supportive. I don’t see this happening at the moment. -what are we going to do in our leisure time? If you want your children to learn to swim is there a swimming pool within cycling or walking distance? Why was Cambourne built without a swimming pool – this would never happen in France? Learning to swim is a big thing so there need to be more swimming pools, I know this seems unrelated to sustainability but it is all part of the same argument we have to think more broadly about how we live and what are the critical requirements. We have to travel less to reduce our footprint the key to this has to simultaneously be us finding more to do locally, are there spaces reserved for this? Are they affordable? Do new developments have pubs? Orchard Park doesn’t. Do the buses travel late, can you get between villages by bus? All those considerations determine if you need a car or not and what the carbon footprint of the way you live is.
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It is clear that the themes arise from local needs, the Councils’ priorities set out in the Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire District corporate plans, and by taking into account national and local planning priorities and requirements. The Sustainability Appraisal (SA) sets out 15 objectives. The SA objectives have been developed to ensure all Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) topics are covered. This reflects the fact that an integrated approach is being taken to the Local Plan. The four big themes encompass all the SA objectives. USS support the Council in achieving the big themes of the emerging Plan. Future development at the Site can address all four themes whilst contributing to housing need and supporting homes for employees locally.
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Consistent with the NPPF, the bedrock for the Local Plan should be the three strands of sustainable development: an economic objective; a social objective and an environmental objective. The three aspects must be balanced to ensure that sustainable development is truly achieved. In the context of the Oxford-Cambridge Arc, the ‘Big Themes’ should focus on the new homes, jobs, transport and infrastructure required to achieve the significant growth ambitions envisaged for Greater Cambridge. The consultation document states that the Big Themes will influence how homes, jobs and infrastructure are planned, and draw on the feedback received from Councillors, communities and businesses. However, the purpose of the ‘Big Themes’ and how they will influence the spatial strategy, and resulting distribution of new homes, jobs and infrastructure has not been clarified. The Big Themes as drafted focus heavily on the environmental and social objectives without balancing the key economic objectives that will inevitably drive where and how much development should be planned for. While the environmental and social themes set out are important considerations in plan-making, the importance of identifying enough new homes, jobs, transport and infrastructure in the right places should be accounted for.
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The four big themes for the Local Plan are considered suitable and all are considered to be important in the consideration of the spatial distribution of growth in the district and for the determination of planning applications. The four big themes will generate a new way of planning, this may require a different way to make decisions; prioritising the four themes may require compromise in the balancing exercise in relation to other issues. The Local Plan will need to be on the need for a ‘planning balance’ in order to assess and prioritise the impact of development proposals.
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Agree - The four big themes for the Local Plan are considered suitable and all are considered to be important in the consideration of the spatial distribution of growth in the district, and for the determination of planning applications. The four big themes will generate a new way of planning, this may require a different way to make decisions; to allow other impacts to happen in order to achieve these four priorities. The Local Plan policy framework will need to allow for a clear planning balance to take place to assess and prioritise impacts. 6.2 Land to the west of Cambridge Road, Melbourn would address the four big themes as follows: ● Climate Change – new dwellings will be designed and constructed in a manner to be energy efficient and incorporate renewable technologies. Higher order villages provide a sustainable location for development (such as Melbourn, as identified as a Minor Rural Centre and as confirmed through a recent planning appeal to Cambridge Road), providing alternatives to private car use for residents to meet their daily needs; ● Biodiversity and Green Space – through the provision of on-site green infrastructure, in particular the on-site walking route which would be an ecological and recreational asset to be enjoyed by future and existing residents; ● Wellbeing and Social Inclusion – the proposals would incorporate a mix of housing sizes, types and tenures, including built to rent, to help meet the needs of the District and local community. The proposals would also promote healthy lifestyles and wellbeing through the provision of on-site recreation and the site’s accessibility to employment, education, shops and public transport by active modes of travel; and ● Great Places – a landscape-led approach is central to the design and layout of the scheme, as shown in the Illustrative Masterplan which shows how the site could come forward. Furthermore, the promoter, Countryside Properties, are a leading national housebuilder who have won numerous design awards and are committed to delivering a high quality development.
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4.1 The themes and issues identified in the Plan are supported and are all equally important to achieve. It is important that policies in the Local Plan seek to achieve these themes and aspirations. 4.2 A further issue which the Local Plan should seek to address is affordability and ensuring that there is a wide range of homes available to all. In Greater Cambridge, housing is less affordable than the national average and is getting worse. As such, it is imperative that housing delivery is a priority for the Council in an attempt to ease the affordability pressures in the District. 4.3 Our responses to other questions in this consultation provide more detail and demonstrates the suitability of a residential site at Long Lane, Fowlmere to achieve the aims of the Local Plan.
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5.1 Agree - The four big themes for the Local Plan are considered suitable and all are considered to be important in the consideration of the spatial distribution of growth in the district, and for the determination of planning applications. The four big themes will generate a new way of planning, this may require a different way to make decisions; to allow other impacts to happen in order to achieve these four priorities. The Local Plan policy framework will need to allow for a clear planning balance to take place to assess and prioritise impacts. 5.2 Land at Fishers Lane, Orwell would address the four big themes as follows: ● Climate Change – new dwellings will be designed and constructed in a manner to be energy efficient and incorporate renewable technologies. The site is also in a sustainable location where future residents could meet some of their daily needs locally and can access existing public transport infrastructure via active modes of travel; ● Biodiversity and Green Space – through the provision of on-site green infrastructure. The proposals include a substantial amount of on-site open space, providing linkages to the existing Local Green Space, which would be an ecological and recreational asset to be enjoyed by future and existing residents; ● Wellbeing and Social Inclusion – the proposals would incorporate a mix of housing sizes, types and tenures, including build to rent, to help meet the needs of the District and local community. The proposals would also promote healthy lifestyles and wellbeing through the provision of on-site recreation and the site’s accessibility to employment, education, shops and public transport by active modes of travel; and ● Great Places – a landscape-led approach is central to the design and layout of the scheme, as shown in the Illustrative Masterplan which shows how the site could come forward. Furthermore, the promoter, Countryside Properties, are a leading national housebuilder who have won numerous design awards and are committed to delivering a high quality development.
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5.1 Agree - The four big themes for the Local Plan are considered suitable and all are considered to be important in the consideration of the spatial distribution of growth in the district, and for the determination of planning applications. The four big themes will generate a new way of planning, this may require a different way to make decisions; to allow other impacts to happen in order to achieve these four priorities. The Local Plan policy framework will need to allow for a clear planning balance to take place to assess and prioritise impacts. 5.2 The proposed development of Land south of Hattons Road, Longstanton could address the big themes in the following ways: ● Climate Change – Peterhouse, as the landowner, recognise the climate emergency and wish to deliver a development that embraces the new agenda to work towards net zero carbon. The proposed new dwellings will be designed to a high quality and incorporate low carbon technologies and energy efficiency measures. The site is also in a sustainable location with access to public transport services thereby reducing residents’ reliance on private cars for travel; ● Biodiversity and Green Space – through the provision of a substantial amount of on-site green infrastructure. The proposals would provide approximately 5.9ha of on-site open space, creating a recreational and ecological asset to be enjoyed by future and existing residents; ● Wellbeing and Social Inclusion – the proposals would incorporate a mix of housing sizes, types and tenures, potentially including an element of custom and self-build, to help meet the needs of the District and local community. The proposals would also promote healthy lifestyles and wellbeing through the provision of on-site recreation and the site’s accessibility to employment, education, shops and public transport by active modes of travel; and ● Great Places – an indicative masterplan is submitted with these representations showing that a well-designed residential development of up to 150 dwellings with associated infrastructure and landscaping can be accommodated on site, providing ample open space on site and opportunities for increased recreation for the existing Longstanton community.
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I do NOT agree with the main themes. By FAR the most important thing about planning for Cambridge is that growth MUST STOP. 1. The fundamental issue is that the local plans completely fail to protect the (increasingly less) existing beautiful and SMALL nature of Cambridge. Even the term "Greater Cambridge" evokes horrendous images of e.g. Greater London or Greater Manchester - which are absolutely NOT want we want Cambridge to become. The whole point of Cambridge is that it is SMALL, and should stay so. 2. The plans fail to learn from UK history. History tells us that we have built on - and ruined - large areas ofour country during previous eras technological development at their times of boom, then allowed them to decay into appalling urban ghettos when those boom times have passed. Birmingham, Manchester, and large parts of London are horrific examples of this. We do NOT want Cambridge to become another such. 3. The plans fail to take into account that water supplies in this part of England are become critical - due an ever increasing number of houses, chalk streams are being increasingly threatened as natural habitats for endangered species. 4. These plans take as given instructions decreed by central government without making the slightest attempt to push back, resist, and point out the huge problems with that approach. If lower layers of government never try to push back against central government, local government is pretty much pointless. 5. Instead of increasing the number of jobs in Cambridge (and in consequence the need for either more housing in Cambridge or for more transport in and out of Cambridge), government (both local and national) should be making it economically impossible to put more jobs in Cambridge, so that jobs have a greater chance of being placed in regions that are already over-built-on but rife with unemployment. If a consequence is that some employers prefer to locate overseas if they can't be in Cambridge, then so be it. 6. I was very heartened to hear that the MP for South Cambridgeshire actually realises this problem, and that both he and the MP for Cambridge are resisting the massive economic development central government plans for the Oxford to Cambridge arc. 7. The examples in front of our eyes of how developers have built horrible high-rise buildings around the railway station in CB1, or to the North of Milton Road, are prime examples of what is TOTALLY INCOMPATIBLE with the nature of Cambridge. 8. Another example of something that should NEVER have been allowed to happen is Astra-Zeneca's move from Cheshire (an area of relatively high unemployment where they were needed) to Cambridge (an area where there are already too many jobs and too many housing and transport problems).
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