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On the eve of the holidays, and in the spirit of Christmas past, present and future, we were finally presented with the long-awaited speech. This commits the Government to ‘building more homes, more quickly, more beautifully and more sustainably’, with a particular emphasis on the growth of Cambridge. The modus operandi of this new vision is the equally anticipated latest incarnation of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), published on 19 December (subsequently amended).
The speech by Michael Gove and the publication of the latest iteration of the NPPF represents a difficult compromise in terms of setting the right balance for the near-term future of town planning under the present administration. Essentially the Government is walking a political tightrope between addressing the acknowledged chronic housing crisis in the run up to the next general election in 2024, and placating opposition from numerous factions in rural areas who are committed to reduce greenfield development and protecting Green Belt land at all costs.
The inclusion of Cambridge in the speech as a major growth centre therefore presents something of a paradox, as this historic location is currently tightly constrained by the Cambridge Green Belt. Similar to the London Metropolitan Green Belt, this area completely encircles the city to preserve its heritage interest and intrinsic character including its ‘necklace villages’.
The Cambridge Green Belt comprises over 24,000 hectares and extends between 3 to 5 miles from the edge of Cambridge and includes numerous outlying settlements. As such, the commitment to strategic national growth in this specific location, apparently to be administered by a new ‘armed’ delivery body with teeth, appears to run contrary to some of the key themes advocated in the latest version of the NPPF, namely Green Belt and localism.
In the speech, Gove expanded on the Government’s vision for Cambridge 2040, which outlined plans for a new urban quarter, adjacent to the existing city, which will include "beautiful Neo-classical buildings, rich parkland, concert halls and museums providing homes for thousands." Gove stated that this would be accompanied by further, ambitious, development around and in the city to ‘liberate its potential with tens of thousands of new homes.’
Gove further stated that Peter Freeman, the Chair of the Cambridge Delivery Group, has been developing a vision for the city (a fact which has been well known locally for some time). He also set out plans to establish a new development corporation for Cambridge (which was strongly foreshadowed in the recent Autumn Statement), which the Government intends to ‘arm with the right leadership and full range of powers necessary to marshal this huge project over the next two decades, regardless of the shifting sands of Westminster.’
Gove recognised that the scale of development envisaged will require support from across the public and private sectors and also acknowledged that due to the nature of Cambridge’s geography, that water scarcity is inhibiting the adoption of Local Plans and the granting of planning permission for new homes. The stated approach is therefore to address the water issue primarily by imposing tighter water efficiency standards in new homes than currently set out in national guidance.
Having worked as a planning practitioner in the Cambridge sub-region for most of my career, the proposed expansion of Cambridge in the national interest is not a particularly new concept. Therefore, given the undeniable major economic potential of the city, as a host for world class life science institutions, major planned upgrades to the A428 and the future arrival of East West Rail, the case for planned, sustainable long-term growth in the Cambridge sub-region is a very convincing one.
Accordingly, we welcome the renewed growth focus on Cambridge, in principle, with a revised aspiration for up to 150,000 new homes, which seemingly departs from the original earlier Gove concept of up to 250,000 homes. However, given the lack of specific details available at this time, we question how these ambitious plans will be effectively delivered in practice.
The primary issue will be how to address the numerous identified constraints. For some, the most contentious issue will be the major release of Green Belt required to accommodate the scale of the new urban quarter(s) envisaged. In this regard, it is noted that Green Belt is not a landscape designation in its own right (as some in the media seem to believe) but a planning policy tool to tightly control the location of new development. Therefore, all iterations of the NPPF, including the latest version, have allowed for plan makers to release Green Belt for future development needs where exceptional circumstances can be demonstrated. And, in the case of Cambridge, Michael Gove clearly considers that these exceptional circumstances exist to serve the long-term national interest. This will, however, not be a simple exercise as most of the Green Belt around Cambridge is highly functional in terms of preventing coalescence and maintaining important levels of openness in areas with identified landscape or historic sensitivity.
A further significant constraint is water supply, and waste water treatment, which are both critical issues in the Cambridge area, which has also held back the emerging Greater Cambridge Local Plan to date, which itself is moderately aspirational and looks to provide around 50,000 new homes, subject to addressing these issues. As such, we are not convinced that merely constricting water consumption further is a deliverable strategy for the scale of growth envisaged and so it is clear that new water supply infrastructure is urgently needed. Whilst new reservoirs are currently being planned to serve the region by the statutory provider, these will not be available for at least another decade under current planned water infrastructure delivery strategies. Therefore, if the Government are committed to major, accelerated growth in the Cambridge area, then the forward funding of primary new water infrastructure is essential to genuinely unlock the potential for ‘tens of thousands of new homes.’
Other major issues for the Government to address, if they are committed to sustainable major growth in Cambridge, include selecting the right locations for development as part of a wider spatial strategy and how to ensure efficient delivery. By way of example, the existing airport site north of Cambridge, which has long been earmarked as a suitable location for a new urban quarter (should the airport site become available) could potentially accommodate approximately 10,000 new homes consistent with existing local densities. So, in a broad concept, the Gove vision is to essentially to create up to 15 new development sites around Cambridge, all of a similar scale to the existing (huge) airport site. This would effectively eliminate most of the existing Green Belt from around the city if it were to be implemented as a series of close-knit urban extensions. The potential impacts upon the character and integrity of such an historic city, which is highly compact in nature and ultimately reached by a series of narrow historic streets, could be significant. In the absence of a modern fully functioning public transport system to serve such developments, the advantages of such a closely drawn growth strategy could therefore be potentially outweighed by the harms.
Our view is that the growth should be distributed throughout the wider Cambridge sub-region, creating a more dispersed pattern of development, which looks to Cambridge as its main economic focus. This will need to be delivered hand-in-hand with significant public transport improvements to help connect a series of further new and expanded settlements sustainably to Cambridge. Whilst we acknowledge that the city does have some direct growth potential, if all the growth proposed is focused only on the existing urban fringes of Cambridge, then the existing character of the city is likely to fundamentally change in nature. In contrast, by dispersing a significant percentage of the growth into the main transport corridors and by increasing the number of available sites under construction, there is stronger potential to accelerate the overall delivery rate.
In summary, the focus on major growth at Cambridge as a key national economic driver is as contentious as it is ambitious, but perhaps long overdue for the national economy. Whether the vision is actually able to get off the ground remains to be seen, given the generally negative reactions to the speech so far from the Local Planning Authorities in both South Cambridgeshire and Cambridge City[1] and the stated opposition to the changes in the NPPF by the Labour Party. Support from an increasingly development-averse but well-connected local population can similarly not be taken for granted.
In broad concept, we recognise the potential of Cambridge for strategic scale growth to benefit the national economy, provided that the Government commits to help deliver the necessary forward infrastructure that is clearly needed. They must also adopt a spatial strategy that spreads the economic benefits of Cambridge growth further into the sub-region. Such a dispersed strategy has served the area well in the past, with new and expanded linked-settlements at Cambourne, Northstowe, Bourn Airfield and Waterbeach. These developments have collectively served to mitigate the immediate development impacts upon the compact nature and historic character of the city, whilst helping to multiply the housing delivery rate.
It will also be crucial for the Government and, in particular, the new delivery body to fully engage with the development industry to help build a functional and deliverable vision for the sub-region.
Please get in touch with Steven Kosky to find out more and discuss your Cambridge and East of England planning needs.
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