Greater Cambridge Local Plan Preferred Options

LVA are of the view that the Local Plan should allocate enough deliverable small to medium sized sites for development so Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council are not heavily reliant on the delivery of large strategic sites. There appears to be a disproportionate reliance on such sites to meet the 11,640 additional homes that are required in the period 2020-2041. 11,200 of these are quoted as coming from just six sites (3,900 at North East Cambridge, 2,850 at Cambridge Airport, 1,000 at North West Cambridge, 750 at Northstowe,750 at Waterbeach New Town, and 1,950 at Cambourne).

Small to medium sized sites can make an important contribution to meeting the housing requirement of an area as they are generally built out quicker than larger sites (as per Paragraph 68 of the NPPF). In this regard, they are an important element of improving the supply of sites. This is particularly the case for Cambridgeshire which contains an area in which there are sustainable settlements and villages where smaller greenfield sites tend to be more readily available than brownfield sites and large strategic sites.

LVA believe there should be a more detailed focus on villages within the Local Plan and a mechanism introduced to allow for larger levels of development in these locations. The key point in LVA’s view is that it is accepted that interrelationship with surrounding areas is material and that it is accepted that residents in village locations must rely upon services and facilities outside of their particular settlement to meet all of their needs. This is not uncommon and is generally how most residents in villages within Cambridgeshire meet their daily needs. In such villages, a reliance on the private car is to be expected and that development in these locations should not be prohibited on this basis. More distinction needs to be given as between rural settlement as opposed to rural areas.

LVA consider it important to permit all villages to grow proportionately and enhance the quality of life for all generations. Not to plan and allow housing in these areas will lead to ever reducing demands for schooling, employment, and shops services as the aging population grows in such settlements. Further, we will see a continuing trend of aging dependent populations in villages lacking the care support of having families nearby as they will be forced to move to larger settlements due to a lack of new housing options especially those of an affordable nature that are typically found within open market led schemes.

Housing Need - The Councils Homes topic paper states that as of April 2021 there were 1,603 applicants on the Housing Register for South Cambridgeshire and 1,919 applicants for Cambridge (Source: Home-Link Choice Based Lettings Scheme Register). There is a need for affordable housing from within the local community in almost every village in South Cambridgeshire. The Housing Statistical Information Leaflet (South Cambridgeshire District Council, December 2019) shows that there are no Housing Register applicants in only five out of the 102 villages in the district and the Housing Register only captures part of the overall need. Market housing is also often needed to support the delivery of affordable housing, and this would bring a significant benefit.

Working from Home needs to be catered for - One of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic over the past 21 months has been the introduction of an era of home working and it naturally follows that this flexibility will give rise to workers feeling less inclined to live close to their workplace, which are commonly in urban areas. They will instead seek to retreat to life in more rural areas that provide better quality living and amenity spaces, with more value for their money after a year spent at home. Furthermore, after a year of isolation from friends and family, it is inevitable that people will want to live nearer to their loved ones, namely who are elderly or vulnerable and residing in villages. The Local Plan therefore must acknowledge and cater for number of city and town residents moving to more villages due to the effects of COVID-19.

LVA consider the levels of growth attributed to Infill Villages (indicative maximum scheme size of 2 dwellings, and exceptionally consist of up to about 8 dwellings where this would lead to the sustainable reuse of a brownfield site bringing positive overall benefit to the village) far too restrictive.

The Local Plan should take a more flexible approach to development at Infill Villages and thus encourage an increased amount of growth that that currently proposed, particularly at those that are capable of doing so such as Caxton. This can provide an important contribution to housing land supply over long and short-term period. Housing is needed in villages to support and retain local services and allow vitality. This is highlighted in paragraph 79 of the Framework to promote sustainable development. There is also a need to provide affordable homes suitable for elderly and younger residents to continue living in villages – market housing can support the delivery of such need. LVA would welcome the identification of housing requirements for all villages, particularly so at Infill Villages. The Council must make absolutely certain that sufficient land is identified for development to provide a supply of deliverable sites through the way of allocations.

The Infill Village of Caxton is an example of such a settlement that would be suitable for new housing growth over the Local Plan period. Caxton sits approximately 9 mile west of Cambridge City Centre, 9 miles to the east of St Neots and 1.5 miles to the centre of Cambourne, and contains the following services:
• A church;
• Village hall;
• Allotments; and
• Informal open space and children’s equipped play areas.
• Regular bus services to Cambridge and St Neots.

Caxton also benefits from a number of services and facilities which are available for the local community but are located just outside the settlement boundary. In most cases, Caxton is the closest built-up area to some of these facilities:
• Shopping and food facilities at Caxton Gibbet including McDonalds, Subway, Costa and a Costcutter convenience store.
• Shell Petrol Station (including an ATM) and a car wash;
• A pet store;
• Soft play centre for young children.

The consideration of the sustainability of settlements, especially at villages, should also not be done so in isolation. Instead, access to services and facilities within surrounding settlements within its hinterland should be appropriately considered as people do not meet their needs solely within the settlement they reside. They rely upon the network of urban areas within the locality. Caxton not only benefits from the services and facilities within its village area but is within close proximity to Cambourne and Cambridge City. The site sits approximately 0.6km from Lower Cambourne and less than 9 miles from Cambridge City Centre. Cambourne contains a large range of shops, services and facilities, and is also due to be served by a new East West Rail station. Such a strategic decision to create a new town and rail station is clearly intended to support the local outlying villages and settlements. To a large extent this is the spatial purpose of the creation of this new town.

Whilst in many Infill Villages there will have been little change to the composition of local facilities, that is not the case since 2014 in Caxton. Existing and planned services and facilities at Cambourne are readily accessible to residents of Caxton either via bus, foot, bicycle or car. The Bourne Airfield allocation is also expected to build upon the services and facilities in the wider area; and is within the bus route currently serving Caxton.

The village of Caxton itself stands out as one of the better located and served (in terms of facilities and services) of the ‘Infill Villages’. When considering the wider area and surrounding settlements which support Caxton, the village can be considered to be more sustainable than any of the ‘Infill Villages’. Caxton is not only amongst the most sustainable settlements considered as ‘Infill Villages’ but can also be compared to higher tier settlements such as ‘Group Villages’. Taking all into account, Caxton can be considered a sustainable location for development.

Sustainability is not solely based upon a snapshot in time, and by definition it is considered now and for future generations. The village of Caxton itself could already be deemed a sustainable location for development based on existing access to local facilities and services. The surrounding area is to be the focus of significant and sustained growth and to that end LVA believe the village of Caxton should also be apportioned a level of new housing.

Whilst considering how settlements could grow, LVA encourage the Council to also consider modern concepts of development outside of settlement boundaries. It needs to provide policies that are open-minded to different types of development at villages and within the rural areas beyond the usual market and affordable housing sites. Flexible live-work units should be strongly encouraged to cater for the many more people who are working from home. LVA urge the Council to broaden existing policies to incorporate concepts such as:

▪ Co-housing - There are key benefits to this type of development that are currently largely disregarded in planning policy. The concept permits families and communities to live together within their own spaces in diverse, multi-generational neighbourhoods. It results in a prosperous community approach to living, a reduced need for social care provision, improvements to the health and wellbeing of residents, especially among the elderly and vulnerable and many more benefits.

▪ Self-Build - Self-build sites that provide serviced plots offer people the highly attractive opportunity to build their own home to suit their own needs and lifestyles. The introduction of a policy which accepts that self-build led schemes to proportionate level will be permitted at all settlements (inside and outside settlement boundaries) where such need is evidenced would be welcomed. This would add to the richness of design and variety.

Additional, exceptional growth outside of any development boundaries should be supported where products serving specific needs and communities are provided, such as (but not limited to) first-time buyer housing, live/work units, age-restricted rural-style living sites (care homes, park home sites etc.), co-housing sites, self-build sites, special care sites etc.

LVA supports policy which seeks to deliver new development in the most appropriate locations and encourage the Local Plan process to allocate sites not just at the main settlements, but also those lower down in the settlement hierarchy, such as Infill Villages and in particular the most sustainable villages within that classification. LVA consider the proposed approach to provide a limited amount of development in the rest of the rural area as too restrictive. The rural areas can play a key role in meeting housing requirements where development here will help ensure the vitality of these rural settlements and contribute towards local affordable housing needs.

Paragraph 55 of the NPPF supports this view and advocates housing in rural areas should be located where it will enhance or maintain the vitality of rural communities. In line with paragraph 55 of the NPPF, it is vital to consider how sites would enhance the vitality of the rural community, and how, in line with paragraph 29, transport could play a role in facilitating sustainable development, contributing to wider sustainability.

The Local Plan should ensure that sufficient deliverable land is allocated in order to significantly boost the supply of housing and demonstrate that a supply of deliverable sites is indeed present. This should not just include sites in key settlements at the top of the settlement hierarchy, but sustainable settlements within the Infill Villages category.

LVA believe the Local Plan should not be restrictive in terms of providing new housing in villages and instead encourage the Council to utilise this process to permit proportionate, blended growth of open market led developments to provide a wide range of living opportunities in rural areas and settlements through the form of allocations. Associated policies should be worded to allow for Infill Villages to grow and allocations should be made within the Local Plan to compliment this. Paragraph 78 of the NPPF requires that “…housing should be located where it will enhance or maintain the vitality of rural communities. Planning policies should identify opportunities for villages to grow and thrive…”.

The allocation of additional developable sites in suitable locations especially in the rural areas will ensure the required levels of growth are delivered in the plan period whilst providing flexibility and certainty in the event that the large-scale extensions do not come forward as expected.

If the Local Plan is to be drafted to restrict development in Infill Villages such as Caxton for example, it could inevitability impede suitable, developable and deliverable sites in sustainable villages such as Land off Ermine Street, Caxton from being developed. The Local Plan must have a mechanism in place to deliver growth in villages where there is no ability or appetite to do so through community led planning (for example Neighbourhood Plans where there is no requirement for their production).

As such, LVA believe Land off Ermine Street, Caxton, located on the northern edge of the settlement of Caxton to the east of Ermine Street extending to 1.5ha, should be allocated for development through the Local Plan process. LVA consider the site represents a logical opportunity for development in the rural areas.

For background, LVA is an investor and planning project manager in UK land and property, with a concentration of projects around the south of the UK. We focus on forming responsible alliances with all stakeholders, including Local Planning Authorities to create developments which add value to communities. We believe our approach of creating working ‘alliances’ leads to better development. LVA are acting on behalf of the Caxton LVA LLP who own Land off Ermine Street, Caxton.

In terms of the suitability for development, Land off Ermine Street. Caxton has been subject to an outline planning application submitted in May 2018 for up to 30 dwellings. The application was refused on 14 August 2018 (Ref: S/1849/18/OL), however it is important to note that there is no demonstration from the refusal of permission and consultee responses provided of an adverse impact which would arise from the grant of planning permission. There are no technical constraints that would prohibit the site from being developed.

The village of Caxton lacks recent development and opportunities would be very limited due to the tight settlement boundary. Due to the concentration of development focusing on Ermine Street; the majority of businesses and services in the village are within close proximity to the street. This village area comprises of:
• A restaurant and bar;
• The village hall;
• Two children’s equipped play areas;
• Informal open space;
• Allotments;
• A church;

Caxton Gibbet, is approximately 1 mile north of Caxton’s northern boundary; and is situated off the A1198 and A428. This includes a Costcutter convenience store, petrol station, car wash and ATM, McDonalds, Subway and Costa. There is also a pet store (Cambridgeshire Hunt) and soft play centre (Giggles and Wiggles) for young children located 1.1miles south of Caxton, outside the settlement boundary. Caxton provides a frequency of busses daily to Cambridge and to St. Neots (with the common exception of Sundays). This is above and beyond the frequency of services in larger settlements.

It is also important to consider the interrelationships between villages and their surrounding settlements. The sustainability of each village is also influenced by the surrounding settlements and their connectivity. Caxton benefits from its close location to Cambourne which is easily accessible by all modes of transport within a short distance. Cambourne is the largest town within the South Cambridgeshire district, comprising the villages of Lower, Great and Upper Cambourne, with an approximate population of 12,000 people and 4,250 homes. Services and facilities currently present within Cambourne include:

• Local centre with supermarket, shops and a number of eateries;
• Community facilities (including sports centre, multiple pavilions, Multi Use
• Games Area and youth club);
• Public houses;
• A nursery and pre-school;
• Four primary schools;
• One secondary school;
• A business park;
• Increased number of bus services;
• Cycle-ways within Cambourne;
• Services (including fire station, police station, GP, dentist, pharmacy, vet
• and library)
• Public open space (including a variety of recreational spaces); and
• Landscaping and recreational uses present within the area.

Cambourne is confirmed to see continued growth more specifically on its western side in the direction towards Caxton. Once developed, the site off Ermine Street, Caxton will be approximately 0.4km from the first phase of the West Cambourne development which will provide:
• 2,350 new houses (including affordable housing);
• Two Primary Schools;
• One Secondary School;
• Retail uses;
• Indoor community facilities;
• Two sports pavilions;
• Office/ light industry;
• Open space; and
• Improved accessibility (including linkages to existing PROWs leading directly to Caxton and LVA’s site itself).

Further, Cambourne is also due to be served by a new rail station which will be situated on the central section of the proposed East West Rail Oxford–Cambridge line.

In conclusion, LVA consider that the village of Caxton is an appropriate and sustainable location for new housing over the plan period, and that the Local Plan should not restrict growth in such a location. The allocation of a site/s in Caxton would be appropriate. Land off Ermine Street, Caxton can be considered a suitable, developable and deliverable site (this has been demonstrated through planning application Ref: S/1849/18/OL) that in LVA’s view should be allocated for housing development within the Local Plan. LVA strongly endorses a plan-led approach to development and would welcome the opportunity to work with the Councils and the Local Plan process to achieve high quality development on the site. Land off Ermine Street, Caxton is suitable, available, and immediately developable.