Draft North East Cambridge Area Action Plan

Comment

Representation ID: 55702

Received: 02/10/2020

Respondent: St John's College

Agent: Savills

Neutral:
The requirement for developments to mitigate site specific impacts made necessary by the proposal is recognised. The requirement to “finance the early delivery of major strategic infrastructure as identified in the Infrastructure Delivery Plan established up-front by the Councils” needs to be carefully considered and justified. Further engagement with stakeholders when further details are available on this would be expected, and certainly well in advance of a Regulation 19 version of the Plan. Development viability will need to be a key consideration.

Support

Representation ID: 55703

Received: 02/10/2020

Respondent: St John's College

Agent: Savills

A policy providing support for meanwhile uses is supported.

Comment

Representation ID: 55704

Received: 02/10/2020

Respondent: St John's College

Agent: Savills

Neutral:
St John’s College are committed to promoting development that makes provision for a mix of meaningful employment opportunities in order to support local residents, students, apprentices and the Greater Cambridge economy.

The ambition set out in the Draft AAP to increase opportunities for training and employment by developers contributing to a range of employment, skills and training initiatives is also supported in principle. It is not clear though in the current draft how “access to new job opportunities, including an agreed target, created during the construction stage of development, will be secured through a Section 106 agreement” particularly in terms of how targets will be fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind to the development.

Comment

Representation ID: 55705

Received: 02/10/2020

Respondent: St John's College

Agent: Savills

Neutral:
North East Cambridge should be at the centre of new digital infrastructure and open innovation.

As set out in the ‘What you told us previously’, it is important that the Area Action Plan allows for innovative solutions as technological advances come forward, rather than being absolute and inadvertently restrictive.

Object

Representation ID: 55706

Received: 02/10/2020

Respondent: St John's College

Agent: Savills

8.9.2 provides a summary of the broad distribution of the office development (B1) provision set out in the plan and makes clear that, at this stage, the Councils are not advocating this programme but are inviting comment on the assumptions set out.

For St John’s Innovation Park, the summary includes:
9,080sqm in 2020-25;
7,160sqm in 2025-30;
9,380sqm in 2030-35;
9,380sqm in 2035-40 (and thereby a total of 35,000 in the Plan Period 2020-2040); and
4,700sqm in 2040+ (and thereby a total of 39,700).

Comments in relation to this summary:
• It should refer to business use (B1) (now Class E(g)) not just office development;
• The capacity analysis previously provided to the Councils and included as part of applications 20/03523/FUL (South Cambs) and 20/03524/FUL (Cambridge City) demonstrates that some 50,000m2 of additional commercial floorspace can be satisfactorily accommodated on the Park;
• The proposed development submitted under 20/03523/FUL (South Cambs) and 20/03524/FUL (Cambridge City) amounts to some 17,000sqm of additional commercial floorspace and is envisaged to be provided in the period 2020-2025;
• The capacity analysis provided to the Councils as part of these applications includes a phasing plan which anticipates all of the c.50,000m2 of additional floorspace being provided by 2042; and
• The anticipated delivery programme in 2020-2025 and even the earlier years of 2025-2030 emphasise the importance of comments made in relation to Policy 23, namely that it is important that planning applications submitted before the adoption of the AAP can be considered on their own merits and subject to ensuring that they would not prejudice the outcome of the AAP process and the achievement of the comprehensive vision for the area as a whole that will be established by the AAP.