New guided bus stop could be created at transformed Cambridge Business Park
A new guided bus stop could be created when Cambridge Business Park is transformed into a “next generation innovation district”.
The Crown Estate, which owns the site off Milton Road, gave an update on its plans to councillors from Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council.
It envisages more than 5,000 jobs could be created with refurbished, retrofitted and new buildings. More than 350 homes, a new high street with public and cultural amenities and sport and leisure facilities are also proposed as “part of a proper mixed use gateway innovation district”.
Matt Sampson, development director at The Crown Estate, and project lead for Cambridge Business Park, told councillors at the briefing last Wednesday (18 June) that the “80s-style business park” would be transformed.
Landscape architect Tommy Clark described an “experimental approach to the masterplan”, which would test out ideas in early phases for expansion later. An example of this can be found with the ‘Origin’ pilot project, which aims to turn an empty office block at the business park into a new innovation hub with a rooftop farm.
A modular laboratory building is also proposed in an existing car park next to the office block.
Mr Clark said the team wanted to “flip” the car domination of the site to focus on pedestrian and cycle routes.
The team highlighted that the business park is currently “surrounded by fences” with only one public access point from Milton Road.
They set out plans to create two new access roads from Cowley Road and revealed that they hope to create new access to the guided busway, with a new stop and crossing point.
Victoria Chase, WSP planning consultant, said the business park redevelopment is “not coming forward in isolation” but will form part of the wider regeneration of north-east Cambridge. The aim is to connect the site with the surrounding area, including new developments, such as the proposed Hartree development at the sewage works site.
Councillors supported the idea of making the site more open and accessible to people.
Cllr Anna Bradnam (Lib Dem, Milton and Waterbeach) was “delighted” by the amount of green space proposed.
But Cllr Katie Thornburrow (Lab, Petersfield) highlighted that the area action plan said 500 homes should be built at this site, not 350.
She said: “We have a housing crisis in Cambridge and if you are not going to provide that number of homes I would like to know why.”
Cllr Simon Smith agreed, saying: “I think falling short of the housing requirement will be a significant concern for me. It is 500 homes, let’s be clear about that.”
Mr Sampson said the ambition is to go above 350 homes, but did not want to overcommit at this stage.
He explained that they hope to define the number of homes in forthcoming pre-application meetings, before an outline application is submitted next year.