Briefing note – Nov 2009 1

North West Cambridge – University Site

Briefing Note for Cambridge University’s Consultation Events Following the recent adoption by South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridge City Council of the joint North West Cambridge Area Action Plan (AAP), Cambridge University is organising a number of consultation events in mid November 2009 as part of its work developing a masterplan and planning application for the North West Cambridge Site. This note aims to provide a summary of the University’s consultation and the key planning policy requirements for the development as set out in the adopted AAP, which will provide an important framework for discussions on the emerging masterplan.

University’s Position

Emerging Masterplan – the University has been working on an emerging masterplan since 2005 and some earlier consultation was undertaken. The masterplan has been evolving over that time and has informed the University’s representations to the AAP throughout its process, including through its independent Examination by Government Inspectors at hearings held in 2008 and 2009. The masterplan is currently evolving further, as part of the University’s work towards a planning application, which it intends to submit in late 2010. As such, the University has advised that the key principles of the masterplan need to be set in January 2010 so that it can put the plan through its own internal processes and get authority to submit the outline application to that timescale and also in order to prepare the Environmental Statement that will accompany the planning application. eg. land uses and their distribution, density parameters, heights of buildings, street hierarchy, urban design framework (key vistas, landmark buildings etc), landscape, and so on, although it says there will be scope for ongoing discussion on the detail of the masterplan during the first part of next year. Consultation process - The University is holding a new consultation process on the emerging masterplan. Public exhibitions will be held on 18 and 21 November with a public workshop also on 18 November. For further information relating to the University’s consultation, please visit: http://www.nwcambridge.co.uk/. The University is intending holding further consultation events early in the new year. A further briefing will be provided ahead of those events.

North West Cambridge Area Action Plan The North West Cambridge Area Action Plan (AAP), which was adopted on 22 October, provides the planning policy framework for a new University quarter against which the evolving masterplan and planning application must be considered. Key aspects of the AAP for the masterplan process, including the findings of the Examination Inspectors where relevant, are summarised below. The full AAP can be read on the South Cambs or City websites. Purpose and nature of development - The Structure Plan and the AAP are clear that the site is only released from the Green Belt because of the importance to the local and national economy of providing for the long term needs of Cambridge University. Whilst the University has established an overall need for the development, and a specific need for University and College Key Worker Housing, other development will only be appropriate on this site if the University can demonstrate a need for a particular development at the time of an application. The AAP allocates a built footprint of 91 ha for predominantly Cambridge University related uses as summarised below. The Inspectors were persuaded that a larger site was appropriate in view of the importance of the University to the local and national economy, notwithstanding their acceptance

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of the importance of this location to the Cambridge Green Belt. Copies of the AAP Proposals Map and Concept Diagram are attached to this note for information. Also attached is a map showing the adopted site boundary compared with the boundary that the Councils proposed in the submission AAP. Landscape and Setting – The AAP requires that the development maintains the purposes of the Green Belt, provides an appropriate landscape setting and high quality edge treatment for Cambridge, and provides appropriate separation between Cambridge and the village of Girton to maintain village character and identity. The development must also protect special geological interest (in particular a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) located in the strategic gap), existing wildlife and wildlife corridors and secure a net increase in biodiversity. Noise and Air Quality – The location of the site in close proximity to the M11 and A14 raises issues of noise and air quality particularly in the outer part of the development and the NW corner of the site, which lies within an Air Quality Management Area. The AAP stresses the importance that the design of the development fully takes into account the impact of noise and air pollution on the amenity and health of residents, workers and school children, the amenity and use of open spaces and impact upon the setting of Cambridge. It requires specific studies to be undertaken to address these concerns. Masterplanning and the detailed planning application process will need to determine the appropriate disposition of uses, location and design of buildings, and mitigation measures. The AAP requires that the development be planned to avoid the necessity for noise and air quality mitigation measures that would detract from the landscape setting of Cambridge and say that the use of certain types of physical acoustic barrier such as a fence alongside the M11 are unlikely to be acceptable in this sensitive location. Technical work is ongoing by the University with a view to establishing the parameters for noise and air quality on the site to inform the masterplanning process. Housing Levels and Density – Approximately 3,000 dwellings are to be provided across the site. The AAP sets a net density (ie. excluding major roads and other uses) of at least 50 dwellings per hectare; no maximum density advice is given. This is to be subject to a design led approach. It is likely that higher densities will occur along the transport routes and at the local centre in order to make best use of this last land resource for the University. The AAP states that new residential development at the edge of the site should be developed at an appropriate scale and form where it adjoins existing housing. In addition, 2,000 units of student accommodation are proposed. Key Worker Housing and Housing Mix – The AAP requires 50% of housing to be affordable housing to meet the needs of University and College Key Workers, ie. staff. A key requirement of any masterplan will be the definition of key worker housing and the policy for allocating it, which must be agreed with the Councils. This will have important implications for the provision of an appropriate level of services and facilities eg. education, and is therefore an early priority. Key Worker housing should be affordable to the range of identified University needs and be available in the long-term. The AAP requires the affordable housing to be provided in small groups or clusters (6-25 dwellings) and mixed with the market housing to help create a balanced and mixed communities. The University has concerns about this approach but the Inspectors concluded the AAP was sound. Employment & Academic Development – The AAP provides for 100,000sqm floorspace comprising approximately 60,000sqm of higher education uses (academic faculty and University Conference Centre) and up to 40,000sqm University-related sui generis research institutes and commercial research, to allow the embedding of commercial research within University uses to encourage a cross-fertilisation of ideas.

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Transportation and Access – The AAP requires that the development and its transport systems are planned in order to reduce the need to travel and maximise the use of sustainable transport modes. Measures such as segregated bus priority routes, excellent cycle links, and attractive safe and direct walking routes must encourage people to move about by these sustainable means and there must be no more than 40% of trips to work by car (excluding car passengers) generated by the development in order to ensure there is not an unacceptable adverse impact on congestion in this part of Cambridge. The nature of the development with a high proportion of homes for University staff and the strong proctorial control over student parking provide a major opportunity for this development. Local Centre – the AAP requires a single local centre to serve the development, located at its heart and adjacent to the strategic gap. The Local Centre is required to be well served by public transport and the cycle path network and within reasonable walking distance from all parts of the development. The adopted AAP refers to a small supermarket being appropriate on the site. There is no specific size for a small supermarket. However a supermarket is defined in nationally adopted Planning Policy Guidance (PPS6) as being below 2,500sqm net floorspace. Therefore a small supermarket would be some way below this threshold, potentially in the order of say 1,500sqm. The University has expressed an interested in providing a larger main foodstore - see Other Issues below. Community Facilities, including Education – the AAP requires an appropriate level and type of high quality community services and facilities to be provided to serve the development, with that level being established though detailed assessments and strategies as part of the masterplanning work. The local centre will act as a focus for the new community and many services and facilities will be located here, including a primary school, potentially with shared facilities where appropriate. Public art will also be required to help create a distinctive character and identity for the new community. An important issue for masterplanning is whether the number of children that will result from the population on this unique development will require 1 or 2 primary schools to be provided. This requires the Key Worker allocation policy to be addressed. Even if 1 primary school were sufficient, it may need to be a larger school than is normally the case in Cambridgeshire, and would need to be carefully considered by the County Council. If 2 primary schools are required, this needs to be known at an early stage so the location of a second school can be considered through the masterplan process. A new secondary school to serve the NW quadrant, including the University site, is now confirmed for the NIAB Extra site, which lies to the east of the University site across Huntington Road. Open Space & Recreation - The AAP requires the development to provide a range of formal and informal public open spaces and sports facilities that comply with the recreation standards for Cambridge. The Area Action Plan identifies the central open space between the 2 parts of the development as an opportunity for a large high amenity value recreational space. The masterplan discussions with the University have identified potential for a central open space of around 300 metres wide, which is a similar size to Parker’s Piece in Cambridge, although it is not a single open area and includes the SSSI that is at a lower level with steep banks. The open area between the built development and the M11 provides an opportunity for mainly informal open space as part of the treatment of this area to provide a high quality Green Belt setting to Cambridge. Climate Change and Sustainable Design - The AAP requires that almost 3,000 homes should be built to level 5 of the Code for Sustainable Homes (the code is an environmental assessment method for new homes covering such matters as energy and water efficiency and waste management), the highest level believed to have been required so far by a statutory planning policy for a single development. The

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Examination Inspectors agreed with the evidence presented by the Councils as to why this particular development should be setting leading edge standards ahead of the national Building Regulations timetable for zero carbon in 2016. The plan also requires all non-residential buildings to achieve an ‘excellent’ rating, under the BREEAM scheme and a minimum of 20% onsite renewables. The plan requires a site-wide decentralised energy system with the appropriate fuel determined on the basis of minimising carbon and greenhouse gas emissions. If renewably fuelled, this could save over 60% of carbon emissions compared to current requirements for a development of this type. The University is contemplating combined heat and power (CHP) as a response to the requirement for local energy generation. All buildings will need to be ‘climate proofed’ and the development as a whole designed to reduce the impacts of predicted climate change. In terms of surface water drainage, the development must be designed as far as possible as a sustainable drainage system (SuDS), consider any impact on the wider catchment and ensure water is released from the site at a rate equal or slower than prior to development, which will protect existing communities downstream. Phasing and Construction – The phasing of the development will be determined through the masterplan and planning application process. The AAP recognises that there may be advantages in terms of place making of a central start to development around the local centre if it is deliverable, particularly in terms of viability, whilst the AAP housing trajectory assumes that development will take place generally from east to west pending further investigations. The trajectory assumes first house completions in 2012/13 with 1050 dwellings by 2016 (825 in the City, 225 in South Cambs; this would change with a central start to development with more in South Cambs and less in the City by 2016).

Other Issues

Retail and Supermarket Provision – the University is pursuing a proposal for a main foodstore. The University regards this as a key issue and a means of bringing forward development for key worker housing in the current economic climate. The scale of foodstore currently proposed would be in the region of 2500-3000 sqm net retail floorspace which is comparable with a number of existingmain foodstores elsewhere in Cambridge. This scale is greater than provided for by the AAP. Other developers in NW Cambridge are also considering a main foodstore. In the light of this, and recognising that the scale of development in this part of Cambridge is greater than originally planned, the City and South Cambs Councils have commissioned a retail study by external consultants (Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners) to help inform the Councils in reaching a position on the emerging proposals. The recommendations of the retail study will also need to be subject to transport modelling to test the impact on the highway network. This work is still ongoing. Therefore present retail discussions on the masterplan are being held on the basis of the AAP, which allows for a small supermarket on the University Site, as set out earlier in this note. Hotel – The AAP makes no provision for a Hotel on the site. The University has put forward the idea of a hotel as enabling development since the beginning of the AAP process. However no evidence has been put forward to persuade the Councils or the Inspectors to make an allocation in the AAP. Any proposal for a facility of this kind will be assessed on the basis of the University demonstrating a need for a hotel or a requirement as enabling development.

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24/08/09Matthew Merry

Policy & Projects, Environment & Planning

"This map is reproduced from Ordnance Survey material with the permission of Her Majesty's Stationery Office (c) Crown copyright.Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings." Cambridge City Council (Licence No. 100019730) 2009. 1:12,000

North West Cambridge Area Action PlanInset Proposals Map October 2009

AAP BoundaryCity / SCDC BoundaryMajor Development SiteOpen SpaceGreen Belt

10 m buffer

Indicative Boundary of NationalGeological Interest

Existing SSSI Boundary

A

A428

A14

M11

Huntingdon Road

Girton

Ro

ad

Storey’s Way

Madingley Road

A

M11

Madingley Road

A428

A14

Huntingdon Road

P&RPP&PP&R"This map is reproduced from Ordnance Survey material with the permission of Her Majesty's Stationery Office (c) Crown copyright.Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings." Cambridge City Council (Licence No. 100019730) 2009.

B

A

NOTE: THIS DIAGRAM IS INDICATIVE ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE PART OF THE PROPOSALS MAP

Figure 2.1: Concept Diagram

A Indicative Access fromHuntingdon Road toRadial Route

C Indicative Access fromMadingley Road toHuntingdon Road link

Green Belt / Open Space

Indicative Built Environment

Indicative Local Centre

Indicative Access option from HuntingdonRoad to Madingley Roadlink

B

City / SCDC Boundary

P&R Park & Ride

SSSI

C

NN

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