Gov green lights 400 homes and science buildings in Cambridge
The Government says it's consistent with their "Cambridge Vision”
The Secretary of State has granted permission for a new development of over 400 new homes and new life science buildings on the edge of Cambridge.
They said the development planned for land north of Cambridge North Station would support the government’s vision for the city.
The development is proposed to include 425 homes and five commercial buildings including research and development space.
The plans were submitted by Brookgate Land Limited on behalf of The Chesterton Partnership. The developers said the proposals offered “high quality architecture” and would be an “excellent place to live, work, and visit”.
An appeal was lodged by the developers after South Cambridgeshire District Council failed to make a decision on the plans within the required time period.
The proposals were considered by councillors from the district council and Cambridge City Council at a joint development control committee last year.
Councillors said they believed the application for the development should be refused, raising concerns that it would create a “giant wall of development” on the edge of the city.
However, following an inquiry the planning inspector recommended that the appeal should be allowed and planning permission granted.
The Secretary of State announced this week (23/4) that they agreed with this recommendation and that the development should go ahead.
In a report published by the government it said the Secretary of State had given “significant weight to economic growth and productivity benefits and driving innovation” of the proposals.
It said: “The Secretary of State agrees with the Inspector’s conclusions that the proposals would assist with meeting the shortfall in laboratory and office floorspace in the short and medium term.
“He also agrees it would contribute to the continued growth of the research and development cluster in the North East Cambridge area and that it would be consistent with the government’s Cambridge Vision.”
The report also said the Secretary of State agreed with the inspector that the development would offer “high quality design and a distinctive sense of place”.
It said they also agreed that the proposal would “respect and retain the character and distinctiveness of the local landscape including the River Cam corridor”.
The report said: “The Secretary of State agrees with the inspector’s overall conclusions that the proposal would harm the character and appearance of the surrounding landscape, but such harm would be limited and generally localised and is mainly due to the change in the character of the site from a largely brownfield site to a new Urban Quarter.
“The Secretary of State agrees that, considered in the context of the allocation of the site within the development plan, the proposal as a whole would respect and retain the character and distinctiveness of the local landscape, including the River Cam corridor.”
The concerns about water supply in the Greater Cambridge area were recognised in the report.
The Secretary of State highlighted the joint statement addressing water scarcity in Cambridge, which was published in March by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Environment Agency, and the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Services.
This statement set out plans to develop a water credits market to “supplement and potentially accelerate delivery of water management measures”.
The report said that “in the context” of this statement, the Secretary of State did not think the development would have an “unacceptable consequence on water supply and quality”.