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Developers eye up Cambridgeshire sites for thousands more homes




Developers are pushing for thousands of new homes on speculative developments, including new towns, in the Cambridge region during the latest stage of the Local Plan process.

The sites do not yet have any planning status, but are being put forward for councils to consider. The largest proposals include 10,000 houses north of Cambourne, a new garden village at Dry Drayton, a potential new market town in Abington of up to 5,000 houses and hundreds of homes in Whittlesford.

The suggestions came ahead of the latest Census data, out last month, which shows Cambridge has had the fifth biggest UK population increase in the last decade – from 123,900 to 145,700 – and South Cambridgeshire has also experienced major growth.

The new link road between Girton and Dry Drayton (57836258)
The new link road between Girton and Dry Drayton (57836258)

South Cambridgeshire’s Conservative MP Anthony Browne said: “Residents will be worried to see yet more greenfield sites submitted into the draft Local Plan. I have been very clear that South Cambridgeshire cannot cope with ever more development. We already have very ambitious targets for the area, with more housebuilding than almost anywhere else in the country.

“We cannot turn a blind eye to the water crisis we are facing. And we still don’t have a credible plan for the truly integrated transport system we need to cope with the population growth we are experiencing.”

The new and amended proposals for development were put forward during a consultation on the first proposals for the Greater Cambridge Local Plan, which will guide development in the area for the next two decades.

Labour-led Cambridge City Council and Liberal Democrat-run South Cambridgeshire District Council will examine the proposals, having already identified sites that could accommodate 48,794 homes by 2041, some 37,198 of which are already in the pipeline at sites like Northstowe, Waterbeach New Town and Eddington.

Among them is a new town at Grange Farm, Abington, described by developers as a 184-hectare site with potential for 4,000-5,000 homes, schools, open spaces, community facilities, recreation and leisure, healthcare, a hotel and retail.

Developers say it would be a “modern market town” featuring homes “within easy walking and cycling distances of Granta Park and Babraham [science parks] and the surrounding villages”.

They note “it lies at the head of the proposed busway extension from the centre of Cambridge.” They claim it could create around 5,000 jobs.

The biggest site proposal is for north of Cambourne, where developers hope to build a new town of 10,000 homes, plus schools, shops and services.

Cambourne is earmarked for further development in the councils’ first proposals, but not to the scale suggested by developers in their response.

Another 10,000 new homes in the north of Cambourne will also transform the entire landscape from the rural farmland to another concrete world

The developers say: “Our vision is for a new community to the north of Cambourne, that is linked to, and complements the existing town. The new community would also be linked to Cambridge via a Park & Ride/metro station/transport hub in close proximity to the A428 junction. The new community would comprise a number of linked mixed use local centres providing social, leisure and cultural uses (potentially including a new music venue); retail and employment spaces; primary and secondary education provision; and significant accessible green space.”

District councillor Dr Shrobona Bhattacharya (Con, Cambourne), said: “The residents of my ward, Cambourne, are already overwhelmed with the excess developments without having proper infrastructure.

“Buses to several destinations in a good frequency are still a dream in Cambourne. Another 10,000 new homes in the north of Cambourne will also transform the entire landscape from the rural farmland to another concrete world.”

There are also multiple developments being out forward for around Whittlesford and Duxford, including a proposal for 800 homes at an urban extension to Duxford Village, plus a General Aviation Centre of Excellence and country park.

Cllr Richard Williams, Conservative, South Cambridgeshire District Council (57836330)
Cllr Richard Williams, Conservative, South Cambridgeshire District Council (57836330)

Cllr Richard Williams (Con, Whittlesford) said: “We should be under no mistake that proposals for development in the Green Belt around Duxford Road in particular, are simply the thin end of the same wedge. Health, education and particularly transport infrastructure in this area are already stretched to breaking point and could not cope with further significant development. And that is to say nothing of the loss of prime agricultural land, negative environmental impact and further stress on water supplies, that mass development would bring.

“The council administration is fond of saying that it has protected villages in its first proposals and that only a few hundred houses will be built on rural sites. But thus ignores the 5,000 extra houses planned for “windfall” i.e., unspecified, sites across the plan area.

He added that while villages would support sensible development, “mass development proposals that turn rural villages into semi-urban settlements and concrete over the green belt are not acceptable… My fear is that in pursuing a plan that seeks to justify “housing building that is far in excess of what the government says is needed, South Cambs and Cambridge City Councils have let the developer genie out of the bottle. In that context, it no surprise that developers have taken the opportunity to push for yet more unsustainable development in rural communities.”

Anthony Browne. Picture: Keith Heppell. (57836269)
Anthony Browne. Picture: Keith Heppell. (57836269)

Another major proposal is for a “garden village” in land west of Scotland Road, Dry Drayton.

The 266-hectare site is proposed to accommodate a new garden village settlement of up to 8,000 homes. The landowner wants to develop the site “as soon as feasibly possible”.

A spokesperson for South Cambridgeshire District Council stressed that none of these sites has planning permission as yet.

A council spokesperson said: “As we are still developing the Local Plan, the consultation allowed people to comment on sites that have been included, or not included, in our proposals. Landowners, developers, individuals, and other interested parties suggesting additional sites for development is a normal part of plan making. There have been some further large sites put to the councils.

“We will assess all the new sites we have received in a similar way to the 650 other sites we had received previously. None of them have any planning status now. We are now reviewing all the comments on proposed sites and policies that we have received. The next stages will be confirmation of our preferred strategy and then consultation on a draft Local Plan, and people will be able to see if any new sites are taken forward after our analysis. People will be able to comment on that draft plan and the council will consider the need for any further changes before the subsequent formal consultation stage and examination.”



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