£54 million regeneration for most deprived areas of Cambridge
Cambridge City Council has approved the plans to build 120 new council homes
A £54million regeneration project in one of the most deprived areas of Cambridge has been given the green light.
Cambridge City Council has approved the plans to build 120 new council homes, as well as a new library and community centre in East Barnwell.
Councillor Gerri Bird, executive councillor for housing, said the homes were “desperately needed” and that the redeveloper area of East Barnwell would look “fantastic” once completed.
The 120 flats are part of plans to create a new ‘local centre’ across two sites at the Newmarket Road junction in East Barnwell.
The proposals for the redevelopment were put forward by the Cambridge Investment Partnership, a development company set up by the city council and Hill Investment Partnerships.
Under the plans the existing buildings on both sites will be demolished, including the Abbey Bowls Club, the library, and a parade of shops with flats above them.
In their place 120 council homes are due to be built, alongside a new community centre, library, pre-school, shops and a new cafe.
The new homes are proposed to include 42 one-bedroom flats, 61 two-bedroom flats, 12 three-bedroom flats, and four three-bedroom maisonettes.
The city council previously said that it estimated the regeneration project would cost over £54million.
In order for the East Barnwell redevelopment to go ahead, plans were also presented to relocate the Abbey Bowls Club to the Abbey Leisure Complex.
However, members of the Abbey Bowls Club raised concerns about the proposed new bowls green and pavilion, arguing it would offer them a “considerably smaller bowls facility” than they currently had.
Susan Coil, secretary of the bowls club, told councillors at a planning committee meeting this week (11/6) that initial conversations with the city council about the new facility had been about “improving” what was on offer, however, she said this had been “compromised” by “trying to fit it into a small site”.
She said the proposed new bowls green was smaller than what the club currently used.
Ms Coil added that while the proposed new pavilion was larger than the club’s existing 70 year old hut, she claimed it did not meet the needs of a modern bowls facility.
She said the changing rooms proposed were designed to fit 10 players, but she said teams included up to 24 players and argued the facility did not meet their needs.
However, Ian Ross, the sport and recreation manager at the city council, said the proposals would provide the investment he said was needed to “secure the future of Abbey Bowls Club” and provide them with a “new modern facility”.
He explained that both the design of the proposed bowls green and the design and size of the pavilion had been agreed with Sports England as meeting its standards.
Mr Ross added that there was capacity at other bowls facilities in the city for the Abbey Bowls Club to play while the construction work for the new club takes place.
The planning committee approved the relocation of the bowls club, before going on to consider the main regeneration project in East Barnwell.
Some of those who live near to the redevelopment site raised their concerns about the plans.
One neighbour, Patricia, said she was “not strictly speaking a NIMBY” and said she recognised there was an “urgent need for housing”, however she said she had to object to the “sheer scale of high rise and high density” of the proposed development.
She said the proposed “high rise flats” were “out of character in the domestic low rise East Barnwell”.
Another neighbour, Scott, said he also did not believe the proposed development was in keeping with the character of the surrounding area.
He said no one wanted to stop the East Barnwell centre regeneration, but said there were issues with the current proposals.
Jim Pollard, senior development manager at the city council, said East Barnwell had a “strong local community”, but said it was one of the “most deprived areas in Cambridge”.
He said hopes to regenerate the area had been talked about for years, but there had been no “meaningful change or investment”.
Mr Pollard said the new proposal will “finally deliver for the community”.
Cllr Bird said: “This development is very important, we are going to build 120 homes, which is important because we have a high number on the housing waiting list and these homes will help so many people.
“I think this is going to enhance East Barnwell. It is such a deprived area with a lot of old buildings that need looking at, that corner will look fantastic once it is done.
“These homes are desperately needed, it is 100 per cent for council tenants which is the most important thing.”
It was explained to the committee that the city council planned to provide temporary space for the shops to continue to run while the reconstruction work takes place.
Councillor Katie Porrer asked if signs could be put up at the redevelopment site while the work took place to point people to where the shops had been temporarily relocated to.
Councillor Dave Baigent said it was “wonderful” to see this “important and much needed development coming to this area”, adding that he thought it was “magnificent”.
Councillor Nadya Lokhmotova raised concerns that some of the flats were proposed to be single aspect, meaning only one side of the flat has windows facing the outside.
She raised concerns about the potential for these homes to overheat in hot weather.
Councillor Katie Thornburrow said she shared these concerns and said she would support the introduction of vertical shading to try and help mitigate the risk of the flats overheating.
Planning officers said they were always pushing to design out single aspect homes from proposed developments that come forward in the city.
However, they highlighted the city council did not have a specific policy opposing single aspect homes and said it was therefore difficult to oppose them all together.
The sustainability officer said some mitigation measures for overheating had been incorporated into the design.
They said they recognised the current measure used in the planning process to determine whether the risk of overheating in a home was acceptable was not a perfect system, but said it was what they currently had to be guided by.
The committee ultimately voted to approve the redevelopment plans.