Greater Cambridge Local Plan Preferred Options

Vision and Aims

The Vision
The Commissioners for England strongly endorse the Councils’ vision of Greater Cambridge that is focused on decreasing climate impacts and increasing the quality of everyday life for all communities. The vision as set out at page 21 of the First Proposals, identifies that the Councils are working to prepare a Plan that takes “inspiration from what is unique about our area and embraces the bold new approaches that will help us achieve this vision”.

The factors that equate to the area’s uniqueness are woven throughout the First Proposals. The First Proposals acknowledge that agriculture is a key economic and environmental resource for the Greater Cambridge area (page 235) and that the area sits at the heart of several economic corridors including; the Oxford-Cambridge Arc (“the OxCam Arc”), the UK Innovation Corridor and the Cambridge-Norwich Tech Corridor (Page 14). The document also highlights the area’s global reputation for innovation (page 21). As identified at page 25 of the First Proposals, the ‘Centres for Cities’ report published in 2021 describes Cambridge as one of the most important research and innovation-led employment hubs in the UK and in recent years, it states, the city started from a strong, well-educated employment base and moved from strength to strength. Recent fast jobs growth has resulted in implications for housing demand (as identified at page 25 of the First Proposals).

In establishing a vision for the Site, the Commissioners have taken inspiration from the unique characteristics of the area, as summarised above. The bold approach which the Commissioners have taken in creating a vision for the Site, which would align with the Councils’ vision for the Greater Cambridge area, is set out within the accompanying Vision Document and discussed further in response to Policy S/CB.

The Aims of the Plan
In turning to look at the Councils’ aims for the Plan which relate to: climate change; biodiversity and green space; wellbeing and social inclusion; great places; jobs; homes; and infrastructure, all align closely with the five priority areas as included within the accompanying Sustainability Charter prepared by Hoare Lea on behalf of the Commissioners, in relation to the Site. The Sustainability Charter has helped underpin the formulation of the Vision Document and the Commissioners’ sustainability related aspirations for the Site. Further information regarding the Sustainability Charter is provided in response to Policy S/CB found later within this document.

The Commissioners support the ethos of the aims but, as is the requirement of the NPPF (paragraph 16 (b)), for Plans to be aspiration but deliverable, the Commissioners consider that, particularly in relation to ‘homes’ the Councils could go further to align with this national policy. The housing aim simply states that the Local Plan plans “for enough housing to meet our needs”. Given that paragraph 60 of the NPPF identifies that it is the Government’s objective to significantly boost the supply of homes and that the local housing needs assessment only identifies a minimum number of homes needed, this aim should be updated to be more aspirational. It is suggested that the aim is amended to “…for enough housing to meet our needs, as a minimum”.