Cambridge Northern Fringe East AAP - Issues and Options

The quantum of development envisaged through the AAP should be reduced to reflect that which is sustainable in the next five years. This needs to take account of the delivery times for the railway station, Guided busway interchange and the Milton Road A10 / A14 access upgrades.

Phasing of development and the need to review the AAP should development not be meeting with market demands.

The statements contained in paragraphs 10.1-10.5 are benign and contain little to object to but considerable further assessment is required to understand the infrastructure requirements and identify viable and appropriately phased funding streams

The Council need to take ownership for the delivery of the AAP site and provide clear guidelines on how the necessary infrastructure will be funded and delivered.

The first planning application should not be overburdened with having to provide an entire masterplan. The Council need to ensure that all of landowners have been fairly and comprehensively consulted.

Monitoring needs to be quantifiable. Monitoring policies should be developed that clearly show whether the AAP is delivering on its objectives and meeting with the City's needs. The monitoring needs to be firm that failure to meet realistic targets within defined timescales will result in other development options being considered.

We are concerned that while the area has some potential the existing land uses and those which are proposed are generally incompatible with no obviously satisfactory solution. The industrial and waste recycling nature of the existing land uses will result in issues associated with noise, dust, odour, vermin and vibration being experienced at other sites which would be allocated to host residential and office / R&D developments. The resources which will be expended by the statutory authorities in attempting to control the industrial and waste activities to the satisfaction of the local community would be a burden on local authority services. It is acknowledged within this issues and options paper that there is lack of industrial land in Cambridge, the mix of uses proposed will endanger the functionality of this important land use. The AAP area should concentrate on developing a comprehensive industrial and recycling hub which can take advantage of the existing business rather than be severely limited by them. The constraints which would be attached to any of the new allocations for residential and office / R&D may not be attractive to the market. Based on the evidence currently available, the sites are not considered to be viable, deliverable, suitable or capable of being brought forward within a short timescale to meet with the City's objectively assessed need or an unexpectedly high demand.
The delivery of essential infrastructure to make any of the options proposed sustainable in transportation terms is in doubt. NPPF paragraph 177 advises that it is important to ensure that there is a reasonable prospect that planned infrastructure is deliverable in a timely fashion. The Milton Road vehicle upgrades are listed as a priority scheme for City Deal investment to address and are programmed in the City Deal documents to be started by 2017 and completed by 2019. This is an unrealistic target as the County have acknowledged at the recent City Deal Joint Assembly that the Milton Road works have not got to a design stage as yet. The City Deal papers acknowledge that there is a high risk of delay to this scheme, therefore the capacity that the Milton Road works would create should be discounted from the scheme and the floorspace quantum's adjusted accordingly.
To achieve the aims and objectives and incorporate the design principles, outlined in this AAP Issues and Options Paper a site:

* should not be constrained by fragmented ownership;
* should not be limited by sustainable transportation upgrades which are unsure of being delivered and/or paid for within a timely fashion;
* should not have severe cost implications associated with contamination;
* should not put at risk the City's limited industrial land resources.
If the AAP progresses with a large amount of office / R&D allocation and does not deliver its intended outcome or cannot be brought forward quickly to meet with unexpected demand then it will have failed the local and national economy and will mask the true supply level for employment floorspace.