South Newnham Neighbourhood Plan Submission version
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South Newnham Neighbourhood Plan Submission version
South Newnham Neighbourhood Plan Submission version
Representation ID: 200119
Received: 07/06/2024
Respondent: South Newnham Neighbourhood Forum
We are delighted to have reached the Regulation 16 Consultation stage and would like to take this opportunity to thank you and the officers at Greater Cambridge Shared Planning who have supported us during the process of making a Neighbourhood Plan. We especially appreciate the guidance we have received from GCSP when drafting and refining our policies.
During discussion with yourselves, we recognised that the maps we had produced were not easy to read and are therefore very grateful to GCSP for offering the services of their map department to re-do the maps which are now much easier to understand. Thank you for picking up some small errors in the Submission Version of the Neighbourhood Plan and for proposing to revise the maps, which we agree with.
The making of the plan has been a lengthy process, in part due to the interruption of Covid when no progress was made, but it has now come together due to the efforts of many residents in our community, who have worked together to gather evidence for the Evidence Base and the Street Appraisals. These documents have recently been updated to reflect any changes that have taken place since the evidence was first gathered.
The Consultation Statement shows how the Forum has consulted widely with stakeholders and residents from the early days of the workshops through to the Local Consultation under Regulation 14. Feedback from residents, statutory consultees and stakeholders and our responses are all recorded in the Consultation Statement. The early invitations to stakeholders, in particular Colleges who own property in South Newnham, show how the Forum engaged with the wider community from the onset of the process.
The very real concern held by many residents for the future of the environment, both globally and in our neighbourhood area is behind the policies we have drafted on our Green Instructure. These issues were tabled by residents at the workshops held in 2016 and 2017, and residents concern about the potential for damage to our local environment has increased year by year since then.
We have proposed four Local Green Spaces and Skaters Meadow Footpath is one of them. During the Local Consultation we met with Cambridge Past Present and Future (CPPF) who were concerned that the designation of this footpath, which is Cambridge County Council Public Right of Way 39/32, as a Local Green Space would preclude any formal development in the future for car parking spaces. As described in the Evidence Base, the footpath “has become a rutted area due to parking by visitors, daily commuters, and recently by caravans and residential/motorhomes” and it is now unsightly and unsafe for the hundreds of people who walk along it daily to access Grantchester Meadows.
The wording of our neighbourhood plan policy SNNP 4, Creating Local Green Spaces, does not preclude developing a formal car park with marked bays and a safe all-weather surface, though the policy would be a barrier to an inappropriately scaled development by requiring measures that would enhance the ecological value of the site and prevent the erection of buildings. Since the style of car park CPPF described to us would be of limited size (10-12 cars), require payment, have robust protection of the verges to enhance the site’s ecology, and have no parking along the verges of the access road, it would not be prohibited by policy SNNP4.
In response to new thinking on climate change and its effect on the environment the Forum has included two Policies, SNNP 9 Improving the Energy and Water Efficiency of Existing and New Buildings and SNNP10 Responding to Climate Change and the Risk of Local Flooding. We would like to thank GCSP for their guidance in drafting these policies.
Since becoming Statutory Consultees in 2017 the Forum has commented on many planning applications, mostly concerning house extensions and some new build. The Forum has supported development that improves the housing stock, but has discouraged overdevelopment where scale, massing and overlooking adversely affects the street scene and the amenity enjoyed by neighbours. As a result of these experiences as a Statutory Consultee, Policy SNNP13 Protecting Residential Amenity in South Newnham has been included. The policy aims to protect against unacceptable overlooking, levels of pollution and general disturbance arising from a site during construction and occupation.
If the Neighbourhood Plan is adopted it will a first for Cambridge and will be an invaluable aid to Cambridge City Planners, when considering planning applications in this area.
We are delighted to have reached the Regulation 16 Consultation stage and would like to take this opportunity to thank you and the officers at Greater Cambridge Shared Planning who have supported us during the process of making a Neighbourhood Plan. We especially appreciate the guidance we have received from GCSP when drafting and refining our policies.
During discussion with yourselves, we recognised that the maps we had produced were not easy to read and are therefore very grateful to GCSP for offering the services of their map department to re-do the maps which are now much easier to understand. Thank you for picking up some small errors in the Submission Version of the Neighbourhood Plan and for proposing to revise the maps, which we agree with.
The making of the plan has been a lengthy process, in part due to the interruption of Covid when no progress was made, but it has now come together due to the efforts of many residents in our community, who have worked together to gather evidence for the Evidence Base and the Street Appraisals. These documents have recently been updated to reflect any changes that have taken place since the evidence was first gathered.
The Consultation Statement shows how the Forum has consulted widely with stakeholders and residents from the early days of the workshops through to the Local Consultation under Regulation 14. Feedback from residents, statutory consultees and stakeholders and our responses are all recorded in the Consultation Statement. The early invitations to stakeholders, in particular Colleges who own property in South Newnham, show how the Forum engaged with the wider community from the onset of the process.
The very real concern held by many residents for the future of the environment, both globally and in our neighbourhood area is behind the policies we have drafted on our Green Instructure. These issues were tabled by residents at the workshops held in 2016 and 2017, and residents concern about the potential for damage to our local environment has increased year by year since then.
We have proposed four Local Green Spaces and Skaters Meadow Footpath is one of them. During the Local Consultation we met with Cambridge Past Present and Future (CPPF) who were concerned that the designation of this footpath, which is Cambridge County Council Public Right of Way 39/32, as a Local Green Space would preclude any formal development in the future for car parking spaces. As described in the Evidence Base, the footpath “has become a rutted area due to parking by visitors, daily commuters, and recently by caravans and residential/motorhomes” and it is now unsightly and unsafe for the hundreds of people who walk along it daily to access Grantchester Meadows.
The wording of our neighbourhood plan policy SNNP 4, Creating Local Green Spaces, does not preclude developing a formal car park with marked bays and a safe all-weather surface, though the policy would be a barrier to an inappropriately scaled development by requiring measures that would enhance the ecological value of the site and prevent the erection of buildings. Since the style of car park CPPF described to us would be of limited size (10-12 cars), require payment, have robust protection of the verges to enhance the site’s ecology, and have no parking along the verges of the access road, it would not be prohibited by policy SNNP4.
In response to new thinking on climate change and its effect on the environment the Forum has included two Policies, SNNP 9 Improving the Energy and Water Efficiency of Existing and New Buildings and SNNP10 Responding to Climate Change and the Risk of Local Flooding. We would like to thank GCSP for their guidance in drafting these policies.
Since becoming Statutory Consultees in 2017 the Forum has commented on many planning applications, mostly concerning house extensions and some new build. The Forum has supported development that improves the housing stock, but has discouraged overdevelopment where scale, massing and overlooking adversely affects the street scene and the amenity enjoyed by neighbours. As a result of these experiences as a Statutory Consultee, Policy SNNP13 Protecting Residential Amenity in South Newnham has been included. The policy aims to protect against unacceptable overlooking, levels of pollution and general disturbance arising from a site during construction and occupation.
If the Neighbourhood Plan is adopted it will a first for Cambridge and will be an invaluable aid to Cambridge City Planners, when considering planning applications in this area.
