Greater Cambridge Local Plan Preferred Options

The institutions that comprise the constituent parts of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus have formed a corporate entity (CBC Limited) for the purpose of speaking and acting as a single voice on all matters relating to the development and enhancement of the Campus. CBC Limited has produced a long term vision for the evolution of the Campus into a sustainable, mixed use Innovation District, which requires further development at the Campus and its phased expansion onto land to the south (the 2050 Vision).

The landowners south of the Campus whose land is identified for development comprise two landowners (Cambridgeshire County Council – as a landowner – and a private family trust) who have come together to work with CBC Limited to enable the sustainable development of the Campus in accordance with the principles of the 2050 Vision (the landowners). The family trust and the County Council have land identified for development within the Campus (known as Phase 3, which was allocated in 2018) and for the potential expansion of the Campus (Phase 4 as identified in the Preferred Options).

The landowners and CBC Limited support GCSP’s recognition of the need for growth in Cambridge to address the undersupply of housing in the greater Cambridge area and the need for housing to meet the needs of the life sciences sector in Cambridge in order to fulfil the potential for knowledge based employment growth.

We support the First Proposals approach to concentrate growth in sustainable locations, recognising that the Cambridge Biomedical Campus and its immediate environs has or is planned to benefit from some of the best sustainable transport infrastructure in the plan area.

The Cambridge Biomedical Campus sits at the heart of an important eco-system. The Campus has grown rapidly over the last twenty years to establish itself as an internationally important cluster of leading Life Sciences businesses and research institutions. In order for the Campus to continue to contribute to Cambridge and the UK’s success, CBC has developed the 2050 Vision, which recognises the importance of integrating Campus related housing, environmental improvements and social infrastructure within an expanding cluster of science. The Campus is one of the best locations within Greater Cambridge to sustainably address future needs.

We will continue to support the long term development of the Campus in line with the Vision 2050 and we recognise that recent revisions to the NPPF urge a longer term approach for strategic development. However, the landowners and CBC Limited recognise that the First Proposals present an opportunity to plan the next phase of the Campus expansion and they wish to work closely with GCSP to deliver on that opportunity.

We support the directing of growth towards locations that have the least climate impact, and where active and public transport are readily available. Development should be planned with good existing and proposed public transport, particularly in locations close to existing employment clusters. With the benefit of planned public transport improvements, the Campus is developing into an exemplary location at which to concentrate development.

We support the expansion of the Cambridge City settlement boundary to include any additional land required to support the sustainable and environmentally respectful growth of Cambridge Biomedical Campus, including land identified to the south of the Campus as the potential Major Area of Change. Any development will be carefully planned to take account of the views of neighbouring authorities and with a primary objective to achieve great placemaking.

With insufficient brownfield sites in the urban area and too few allocated sites to meet long term demand, new land must be allocated in the Local Plan if growth in Cambridge is to be effectively enabled for the wider benefit of residents and the economy. Given the significant investment planned in new sustainable transport infrastructure, there are places at the edge of Cambridge that offer an equivalent opportunity to accommodate the demand that will come forward in the future in a way that is sustainable and inclusive.

Through the effective development of the CBC Vision 2050, which promotes an inclusive, sustainable, mixed use development approach to improve and grow the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CBC Ltd and the landowners have shown how edge of Cambridge development, to the south of the Campus could be realised and be effective at supporting the priorities of the Local Plan. We recognise the clear direction in the First Proposals that any expansion of the Campus in this plan period must be focussed on the land immediately to the south of the existing development. We agree that this area could accommodate additional development without undermining the wider function of the Green Belt or impacting on landscape.

The landowners and CBC Limited support Policy S/CBC and in particular welcome the support it offers to Vision 2050 and the design principles established therein. As author and steward of Vision 2050, CBC Ltd is glad that the First Proposals document supports effective placemaking on the existing Campus and emphasises the need to consider the existing land and any future expansion as a single district that must operate in an integrated way, whilst also integrating with and providing enhanced facilities and benefits to the existing neighbouring communities.

We support the policy position that a priority should be to enhance the existing Campus land. CBC Limited and the landowners support the intention to renew the masterplan for the Campus, taking account of existing commitments and anticipating the implications of Vision 2050 future expansion, to ensure that it can deliver an effective and broader offering of facilities and services to support the needs of Campus employees and visitors, together with an integrated programme of services, utilities and transport. The masterplan will embed the placemaking principles of Vision 2050, including establishing a clear, legible urban grain with active and sustainable travel at its heart.

The First Proposals advise that “Development on the additional land will only be allowed to take place when evidence is provided that opportunities on the existing Campus have been fully explored and utilised before development takes place on the released land”. We recognise that land on the Campus must be used efficiently and that expansion onto greenfield land requires special justification. In this context, the landowners and CBC Limited acknowledge the need to plan the development of the expansion land taking full account of the development of the Campus.

It is our clear view that, even with a more intensive use of existing land, the market demand for Life Sciences space, coupled with the need to offer a much better, more wide ranging Campus experience to attract, retain and support talent on site will exhaust the existing allocated land early in the plan period. We are also aware that the existing proposed land release may be insufficient to address all the pertinent matters, not just in terms of demand, but also to provide the wider landscape, amenity and neighbourhood mitigations required to make a growing CBC fulfil its potential as an asset for the economy and for South Cambridge communities.

To that end, we wish to work with GCSP to determine the proposed boundaries to ensure that any solution works with the true grain of the landscape and optimises infrastructure, sustainability and placemaking priorities.

Looking therefore at the programme of work required to assess the ultimate need, scale, phasing, mix, accessibility, environmental impact, delivery and design of the Campus expansion we propose the following key tasks and assessment approach should be worked through jointly with the Councils during the course of next year:

CBC Ltd and the landowners intend to work closely together and with:
• all landowners affected by the development and expansion of the Campus,
• GCSP, the Highways Authority, Statutory Undertakers and all other regulatory stakeholders,
• The local communities of South Cambridge, those employed on Campus and those who regularly use and benefit from or are impacted by the services provided on site.

The work would be designed to produce:
• A set of clear parameters that support the social, environmental, and economic priorities of stakeholders, including:
• an environmentally facing solution for energy, water, waste and transport; which futureproofs the Campus against change;
• an agreed approach to accelerate delivery of supporting uses to remedy existing qualitative deficiencies;
• A clear movement strategy that leverages the opportunities created by investment in sustainable transport on site and to promote an active travel hierarchy;
• A placemaking strategy with a specific set of phased interventions that improve legibility, wayfinding and better integrate the campus with its hinterland; and
• Committing to achieve Net Zero and net biodiversity gain within a clear route map.

The work would also produce principles of a landscaping and green infrastructure strategy that enhances the wider environment and mitigates visual impacts from the Campus expansion, whilst enhancing the quality and access to the countryside south of the expansion land.

These documents would then enable GCSP to:
• determine whether the parties had addressed the various requirements of the First Proposals sufficiently to justify the removal of the land from the Green Belt and
• Design a suite of site allocation planning policies to effectively manage the growth of the Campus so that it can become more reflective of Vision 2050 and achieve the highest standards of inclusive, sustainable placemaking it represents.

In order to ensure that this evaluation and design process is followed and to provide GCSP with the resources it would need to fully engage in that process, CBC Ltd and the landowners would be pleased to formalise that approach. This would help direct resources as required, ensure governance is effective and enable an effective working relationship to be established without prejudicing the independence of the planning authority.

Documents within the GCSP evidence base including the Development Strategy Options and Strategic Spatial Options for Testing documents from November 2020 highlight the benefits of meeting development needs in sustainable locations adjacent to Cambridge. The identified expansion into land south of the Campus offers one such opportunity. Opportunities to do so should be optimised and preferred, which will help to reduce pressure from proposals for new settlements that do not offer the same sustainability benefits, proximity to existing employment and active and public transport infrastructure offered by locating growth in locations adjacent to Cambridge including at Cambridge Biomedical Campus.

CBC Limited and the landowners support the recognition that existing key assets in the South Cambridge Life Sciences cluster need to be maintained and developed to retain their effectiveness and value to the wider economy. The South Cambridge Life Sciences cluster is one of the UK’s most important Applied Research and Development hubs. CBC, as the largest cluster and home to the biggest anchor institutions in this network plays a central role and is the best and most sustainable location to accommodate significant growth. The success of the ecosystem is closely linked to the success and continued enhancement of CBC.

CBC and the landowners share and strongly support the proposed transition to net zero carbon by 2050 and welcome the recognition that this will be enabled by locating developments in locations that limit carbon emissions. The CBC 2050 Vision for growth at Cambridge Biomedical Campus aligns with GCSP’s goals and it is our intention to ensure that development mitigates and can adapt to the impacts of climate change through measures such as management of water supply, mode shift, local living, green infrastructure and net zero buildings. We envisage close joint working with GCSP, stakeholders and local communities to co-design steps towards these outcomes. The Greater Cambridge Local Plan Strategic Spatial Options Assessment - Integrated Water Management Study, November 2020, identifies that “… Growth is most preferable concentrated in new settlements or urban extensions …. and can maximise opportunities for high standards of design for efficient water usage and re-use, and multi-functional blue-green infrastructure.”

Specific ways in which future development must meet these objectives are anticipated to be agreed with GCSP through the development of the general and site specific local plan policies.

CBC Limited and the landowners share and strongly support the vision for biodiversity and green spaces. The expansion of CBC into the identified Major Area of Change enables the ultimate development of an integrated masterplan in which green infrastructure forms an essential framework for the development. CBC’s Vision 2050 shares the Councils’ determination to achieve the highest standards of development, to integrate and deliver biodiversity enhancement.