Marshall unveils its vision for 7,000-home Cambridge East district
A vision for the new Cambridge East development on the Cambridge City Airport site has been unveiled by Marshall.
The plan is for 7,000 new homes and 9,000 new jobs to be created in a new urban quarter for Cambridge where people can live and work, all within a 15-minute walking distance.
The company – which is relocating the airport by the end of the decade to Cranfield in Bedfordshire – revealed it wants the new district to be part of the city, rather than a suburb. It envisions the majority of the proposed new homes being mid-rise blocks of apartments rather than two-storey detached houses, all close to office space and laboratories on the 462-acre site.
Green belt rules mean developers will have to leave a 300-metre wide green space running through the middle of the site, which could be turned into a park or woodland.
Now Marshall is inviting members of the public to have their say on what they would like to see in the new district – including ideas for community space, leisure facilities and landscaping.
Marshall CEO Kathy Jenkins explained: “We recognise the opportunity to work alongside the people of Cambridge to create a new, complementary urban quarter for our amazing city.
“This initial round of public engagement is just the beginning of the conversation but we firmly believe that Cambridge East has the potential to be the most exciting mixed-use development in the UK, encompassing a diverse mix of homes, employment, education, healthcare, transport, culture and sports and leisure opportunities.
“We want to make sure that Cambridge East can fulfil its true potential and help to address some of the city’s well-documented infrastructure and inequality challenges.
“People will be aware that in order to free up the land we will be relocating our aerospace business to Cranfield in Bedfordshire by the end of the decade, where it will benefit from a new purpose-built facility at the heart of an Eastern aerospace cluster.
“Cambridge, however, will continue to sit at the very heart of the Marshall Group and many of our existing operations will remain in the city, continuing to provide highly skilled employment as well as a wide range of training opportunities, for many generations to come.
“We are excited to continue the many valuable partnerships we have built up with our local community as we work together to create our vision for Cambridge East, and I do hope as many people from as many backgrounds as possible will take the opportunity to participate in this initial engagement.”
Recent concerns about a lack of water in Cambridge have led the Environment Agency to object to five large housing developments in South Cambridgeshire last month, including proposals for houses at Bourn and Darwin Green.
However, James Buxton, who sits on the Marshall Group Property board, says they will work with planners and the Environment Agency to solve any problems with water supply.
James said: “There needs to be an integrated strategic plan for water for Cambridge. And there has been criticism levelled in the past that there isn’t that strategic plan but that things have been done on a piecemeal basis. Developments have been permitted incrementally without looking at the overall consequences of lots of developments, one after the other.
“We expect to be part of discussion with water authorities and with the Environment Agency about what is the long-term solution for Cambridge and how do we fit into it, and how can we contribute towards it.”
He added that transport options of the new site would need to be considered, even if some people do live an work on the development.
“I think the 15-minute neighbourhood, in an ideal world, would probably be our starting point,” says James.
“But being realistic, there are going to be people living on Cambridge East who are working in other parts of the city. And we will need to work with the local authority on what improvements to the transport network can be made and when.
“There is probably a scale of development which could be accommodated without any major infrastructure improvements. But then there will probably come a point where it’s actually desirable, from everybody’s point of view, that there is some sort of significant change in modes of transport.”
He also promised that there would be both “affordable housing” and “social rent” properties on the site alongside “expensive properties”.
Cambridge needs the new district, he explained, because of a shortage of both housing and commerical property.
The site looks set to be one of the biggest brownfield developments in the UK, if not in Europe, he added. “And it’s all in single ownership, which is very unusual,” he said.
Marshall instends to vacate the plot by 2030 in time for decisions to have been finalised on the next Local Plan.
The company will hold four open events during July, encouraging members of the public to share their ideas and vision for a new mixed-use development on 462 acres of land in the east of the city which is currently occupied by the company’s aerospace and airport operations.
The public engagement sessions will take place at Concorde House on Newmarket Road, situated behind the ice rink at the following times:
- Tuesday, July 11, 2-7pm
- Wednesday, July 12, 3-8pm
- Tuesday, July 18, 2-7pm
Register at cambridgeeast.com to attend.
