Waterbeach Neighbourhood Plan - Submission version

Comment

Representation ID: 168653

Received: 14/04/2021

Respondent: South Cambridgeshire District Council

Policy WAT 7 – An accessible Village and Town

Part 1b of policy: Query whether the requirement for a bus shuttle service to the new railway station can be justified by appropriate evidence regarding need for the service and viability as is generally required by national planning policy and advice. Reference could be made in the policy to ensuring the provision at the station of suitable and secure mobility scooter parking. The new railway station was granted planning permission without such provision and no evidence has been referenced in respect of the need for such provision or its effect on viability. The station permission expires in January 2023. They will need to commence development by then to keep the permission alive. If the applicant needs to apply again then this policy could come into play.

Comment

Representation ID: 168654

Received: 14/04/2021

Respondent: South Cambridgeshire District Council

Policy WAT 9 Protecting and enhancing the provision and quality of Waterbeach’s walking routes including the Waterbeach Public Rights of Way network and bridleways

Part 1 – Should the map reference be 6.6 not 6.5?

Comment

Representation ID: 168655

Received: 14/04/2021

Respondent: South Cambridgeshire District Council

Policy WAT 11 Public Realm improvements in the Village Heart –
• Would it be helpful in the supporting text to briefly describe each of the public realm areas from 1-5 shown on Map 6.8 and then refer to each in turn in the policy? It may help to include a photograph showing each area too. Area 1 appears not to be included in the policy?

• It would help the future users of the Plan if Map 6.8 was annotated to show particular features such as where the existing bus stop is on Greenside; where it would be helpful to have resident access only and where the public house is located.

• In paragraph 6.11.4 reference is made to the Community Aspiration Chapter (chapter 7) – this is now chapter 8.

Comment

Representation ID: 168656

Received: 14/04/2021

Respondent: South Cambridgeshire District Council

Policy WAT 13 Denny Abbey Industrial Estate and Cambridge Innovation Park
• Would it be helpful to have an inset map to show where these sites are located within the parish and their extent. In the Cambridge Innovation Park there is a recent application in for 3 new buildings at the Park. It would be useful to know if this area is included in the policy and whether they envisage further development beyond this. (BC Test)
• The supporting text does not fully justify the content of the policy especially in relation to the Cambridge Innovation Park. (BC test)
• Bullet point a – Our landscape officer has suggested that this policy could benefit from an addition to this point - ‘… high quality landscaped frontage to Denny End Road.’

Comment

Representation ID: 168657

Received: 14/04/2021

Respondent: South Cambridgeshire District Council

Policy WAT 14- Waterbeach design principles.
• Second part of policy – There is no definition of what is meant by ‘contribute in a positive way’. How would a planning officer when determining an application know what this means? We had suggested that this term could be replaced by ‘have regard to’. (BC test)
• The Waterbeach Heritage and Character Assessment is one of the evidence documents for the Plan and is mentioned in the policy. We would query the weight that can be given to a planning policy that includes this assessment since the opportunity has not been given to interested stakeholders/parties to challenge the contents of this document. If there is key information that a developer should be aware of in this assessment they would be best summarised and included within the Plan. The supporting text does include some of the contents of the assessment and also that of the Design Principles document which is not specifically mentioned in the policy. This makes for confusing reading. Each has slightly different distinct areas identified in the parish. It would be necessary to cross refer to each of the actual document to find the details. A Plan should be easy to use and not expect the user to have to consult several other documents.
• The policy is for all development proposals in the plan area. For Waterbeach new town, there already exists the design guidance in policy SS/6 of the Local Plan (adopted in 27/09/2018) and the adopted (in 06/02/2019) ‘Waterbeach New Town’ SPD which contain suitable policies and guidance to guide the future design, layout, landscaping and use of materials in its development and has been subject to extensive consultation. It would not be necessary to provide such additional design guidance for the New Town area. The policy wording could be amended to reflect this.

Comment

Representation ID: 168658

Received: 14/04/2021

Respondent: South Cambridgeshire District Council

20. Policy WAT 14 – Schedule 1
• It is suggested that the status of the design principles would be clearer if they were to be included within the policy rather than in the explanatory text of the policy. They are from the Design Principles document which is part of the evidence base for your Plan. (BC test)
• Design Principles WDP1, WDP4, WDP8 and WDP14 - These design principles seek to guide and restrict the design, layout and use of materials in the new town by reference to the existing village of Waterbeach despite the new town on completion being considerably larger in area and population and a clearly a construct of the 21st century rather than of organic growth over many centuries. In practice the new town will have its own distinct identity and character as is made clear by sections 2 and 9 of Local Plan policy SS/6 Waterbeach New Town.

In order for the Neighbourhood Plan to be in general conformity with policies SS/6 and HQ1 Design Principles of the Local Plan these particular design principles should not apply to the development of the new town. The Local Plan and the Waterbeach New Town SPD already contain suitable policies and guidance to guide the future design, layout, landscaping and use of materials in its development.

Comment

Representation ID: 168659

Received: 14/04/2021

Respondent: South Cambridgeshire District Council

• Design principle WDP5 - As written this principle would apply to uncontroversial domestic extensions and alterations to modern ‘suburban’ type buildings with limited heritage, aesthetic or cultural value (in circumstances where planning permission is required), and so be unduly burdensome to local residents and businesses. The safeguards it is seeking to secure are already addressed by the policies of the Local Plan and by other elements of WHCD13. Suggest that this design principle be deleted or made more specific.

• WDP7 – Our landscape officer has suggested that as hedgerows are also important particularly on the edge of the village this could be added to this principle.

• WDP8 – Also a suggestion that the boundary planting should be mixed native hedgerows.

Comment

Representation ID: 168660

Received: 14/04/2021

Respondent: South Cambridgeshire District Council

Policy WAT15 Development and landscape quality
• Part 1 of policy - It was suggested that rather than using the term ‘they accord’ to use ‘have regard to’ as this is more of a usual planning term.

• It is suggested that the status of the landscape principles provided in Schedule 2 would be clearer if they were to be included within the policy rather than in the explanatory text of the policy.

• Character Area table 1 - Our landscape officer has suggested some amendments to principles within this table
i. Bullet 3 – What are the prominent landscape features, views and landmarks? For a future user of the Plan it may be helpful to have a map indicating the key features in the parish from the WHCA Design Principles document.
ii. Bullet 4 – Suggestion that reference is made to a management and maintenance plan.
iii. Bullet 5 – This should be indicating protecting and retaining landscape features
iv. Bullet 6 – Suggestion that the proportion of front garden should reflect the existing layout.

Comment

Representation ID: 168661

Received: 14/04/2021

Respondent: South Cambridgeshire District Council

Policy WAT 17 Protected Village Amenity Area of green space at main entrance to the barracks off Denny End Road

The wording of this policy could be simplified if reference was made to the relevant PVAA policy in the Local Plan – NH/11 after the second line ‘… designated as a protected village amenity area under Policy NH/11 of the Local Plan’. There is no requirement then to repeat the requirements of Policy NH/11 in this policy. The title too could be simplified as the term green space detracts from the PVAA designation. Map 6.11 also refers to green space rather than new PVAA

Comment

Representation ID: 168662

Received: 14/04/2021

Respondent: South Cambridgeshire District Council

Policy WAT 18 Protected open space in Waterbeach village

We are unsure of the distinction between these open spaces and that protected in WAT 17. As long as the areas are within the development framework they could be considered as PVAAs. Allotments and the Recreation Ground will already be protected from development under the Local Plan Policy SC/8 Protection of Existing Recreation Areas, Playing Fields, Allotments and Community Orchards.