Greater Cambridge Local Plan Preferred Options

Ensure that Neighbourhood Plans are fully taken into account when considering housing locations.

Fully support as lonf as irrigation and maintenance or areas and trees are built into this policy.

This comment is in relation to Item 3 - Gog Magog and chalkland fringe and refers to the Green Call for Sites submitted by Foxton Parish Council Ref URN G023. Opus Consultation ref 53032

Please refer to the LUC report to see where our proposal for Foxton may fit in. It is disappointing that SCDC initially left our bid off the map (then rectified after the PC complained) and then did not include our bid and four others in the LUC briefing. It therefore appears that our bid has not been properly considered in the LUC work, and subsequently the SCDC strategic GI map and policy. In the table our bid is GO23, but the brief description makes no attempt to see how it might fit into the strategic themes and areas. Para 2.9 says that these bids were considered alongside the GI opportunity zone long list, but there is no evidence of this. The LUC report and hs identified a number of these to which our proposal is relevant, and these are outlined below.

Firstly, a couple of general observations. There appears to be no reference in the LUC report to the earlier GI strategies, particularly the 2011 strategy. In addition, whilst it is good to see the Natural England ANGSt standards used to inform the analysis, the consultants could have saved themselves some work if they had looked at the Natural England ANGST report for Cambridgeshire. This was used as part of the analysis for our Neighbourhood Plan, as justification for our Local Plan bid and can be found under the Neighbourhood Plan section of the Foxton Parish Council website.

Foxton proposal as it links to the GI strategic objectives and themes
The 16 ha site is part of the Cambridgeshire CC County Farms Estate, and links the southern development boundary of the village with the CCC owned community woodlands on the hill. In landscape terms it is very important (ref: Foxton Landscape Character Assessment) and is included in several of the Neighbourhood Plan policies: FOX/5, 6, 7, 8, 14 and 15. The grade 2 agricultural land is currently farmed under a five year tenancy. There has never been any agri-environment grant schemes on this site or the land south of the woodland.

As referenced in the Neighbourhood Plan (para 7.17 and community aspirations page 90), the PC considers that this key site provides a superb opportunity to create new chalkland habitat, open to informal recreation, with enhanced hedgerows and woodland management. The community is already working in partnership with CCC to reinstate management of the woods, but unfortunately the CCC objected to our inclusion of this site and the policies above in the formal consultation on the Neighbourhood Plan. The community would love to work with the tenant and landowner to create a section of wildlife corridor linking the chalk stream tributary, Fowlmere SSSI close by and the agri-environment land to the east of the road, which links to Hobson Brook and is of course Green Belt land. An exemplar project perhaps?

Our proposal links to the Cam Corridor 2C, the pollinator corridor identified by Buglife (the site lies just north of the line shown on the map), the woodland expansion and resilience theme (the woodland and the land around is shown on figure 3.3, and environmentally friendly farming.

It is surprising that expansion of chalk meadow habitat only gets a mention under the Gog Magog strategic area. Much of our part of south Cambridgeshire is chalk, providing such opportunities for enhancement and re-creation.

The ANGST analysis shows Foxton as being outside the 2km, 5km and 10km catchments. This therefore informed our desire to create more informal accessible natural greenspace for local residents. The proposed site lies immediately south of the village and is crossed by a well-used public footpath, so provides ideal access opportunities.
This site could be a candidate for delivering 20% biodiversity offset gains.
The report identifies the County Farms Estate and community Friends groups as potential delivery partners for some of the opportunities.
The Wildlife Trust has a Living Landscape project for creating wildlife corridors that connect smaller sites
in table 1.5, among the key challenges are improving biodiversity and green spaces, and improving wellbeing and social inclusion.

Caroline Ilott, the chair of Foxton PC Planning Committee, has asked me to respond to you regarding our bid under the Local Plan. I prepared the Foxton bid for the parish council (PC), and also chaired the group that prepared the newly-made Foxton Neighbourhood Plan. As Mark is aware, I led the green infrastructure work for Natural England across the East of England prior to my retirement 10 years ago, and was involved in the steering groups that oversaw the preparation of the two previous GI strategies for Cambridgeshire in c 2006 and 2011.

With this in mind, I have looked carefully at the LUC report to see where our proposal for Foxton may fit in. It is disappointing that SCDC initially left our bid off the map (then rectified after the PC complained) and then did not include our bid and four others in the LUC briefing. It therefore appears that our bid has not been properly considered in the LUC work, and subsequently the SCDC strategic GI map and policy. In the table our bid is GO23, but the brief description makes no attempt to see how it might fit into the strategic themes and areas. Para 2.9 says that these bids were considered alongside the GI opportunity zone long list, but I can see no evidence of this. I have read the LUC report and have identified a number of these to which our proposal is relevant, and I outline these below.

Firstly, a couple of general observations. There appears to be no reference in the LUC report to the earlier GI strategies, particularly the 2011 strategy. In addition, whilst it is good to see the Natural England ANGSt standards used to inform the analysis, the consultants could have saved themselves some work if they had looked at the Natural England ANGST report for Cambridgeshire. This was used as part of the analysis for our Neighbourhood Plan, as justification for our Local Plan bid and can be found under the Neighbourhood Plan section of the parish council website. I have a hard copy here as it was one of the last projects I was involved in before retiring.

Foxton proposal as it links to the GI strategic objectives and themes
The 16 ha site is part of the Cambridgeshire CC County Farms Estate, and links the southern development boundary of the village with the CCC owned community woodlands on the hill. In landscape terms it is very important (ref: Foxton Landscape Character Assessment) and is included in several of the Neighbourhood Plan policies: FOX/5, 6, 7, 8, 14 and 15. The grade 2 agricultural land is currently farmed under a five year tenancy. There has never been any agri-environment grant schemes on this site or the land south of the woodland.

As referenced in the Neighbourhood Plan (para 7.17 and community aspirations page 90), the PC considers that this key site provides a superb opportunity to create new chalkland habitat, open to informal recreation, with enhanced hedgerows and woodland management. The community is already working in partnership with CCC to reinstate management of the woods, but unfortunately the CCC objected to our inclusion of this site and the policies above in the formal consultation on the Neighbourhood Plan. The community would love to work with the tenant and landowner to create a section of wildlife corridor linking the chalk stream tributary, Fowlmere SSSI close by and the agri-environment land to the east of the road, which links to Hobson Brook and is of course Green Belt land. An exemplar project perhaps?

So our proposal links to the Cam Corridor 2C, the pollinator corridor identified by Buglife (the site lies just north of the line shown on the map), the woodland expansion and resilience theme (the woodland and the land around is shown on figure 3.3, and environmentally friendly farming.

I am surprised that expansion of chalk meadow habitat only gets a mention under the Gog Magog strategic area. Much of our part of south Cambridgeshire is chalk, providing such opportunities for enhancement and re-creation.

I note that the ANGST analysis shows Foxton as being outside the 2km, 5km and 10km catchments. This therefore informed our desire to create more informal accessible natural greenspace for local residents. The proposed site lies immediately south of the village and is crossed by a well-used public footpath, so provides ideal access opportunities.

Some more points I picked up from the report and policy:
• SCDC is to look for 20% biodiversity offset gain for new developments. This site could be a candidate for delivering such offset gains
• the report identifies the County Farms Estate and community Friends groups as potential delivery partners for some of the opportunities
• the Wildlife Trust has a Living Landscape project for creating wildlife corridors that connect smaller sites
• in table 1.5, among the key challenges are improving biodiversity and green spaces, and improving wellbeing and social inclusion
On behalf of Foxton PC, I would welcome the opportunity to discuss our bid which, in my view, certainly fits in with Greater Cambridge Planning's strategic GI objectives.