Agenda and minutes

The Chairman and Vice-Chairman will be from Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council and will alternate annually. Chairmanship and Vice-Chairmanship will be determined each year at the first meeting.

Councillor Katie Thornburrow, seconded by Councillor Neil Shailer, nominated Councillor Dr Tumi Hawkins as the Chair and the Group appointed Councillor Hawkins as Chair by affirmation. Councillor Dr Tumi Hawkins, seconded by Councillor Simon Smith, nominated Councillor Katie Thornburrow as Vice-Chair and the Group appointed Councillor Thornburrow as Vice-Chair by affirmation.

To receive apologies for absence from Members of the Advisory Group

There were no Apologies for Absence.

With respect to Minute 5, Councillor Katie Thornburrow declared that she had engaged with a number of local groups over the years and was involved with the Cambridge Doughnut Economics Action Group at the time, but was not involved in any of their analysis or feedback that was part of the consultation phase.

To agree the proposed schedule of meetings

The Planning Policy Manager introduced the purpose of the upcoming sessions and offered a summary of the Local Plan consultation process that had led up to the meeting. The Planning Policy Manager offered an overview of the proposed schedule and what topics each session would cover. Members requested that agendas be published at the earliest possible opportunity in order to allow them to fully digest the depth of detail that the reports contained. A request was also raised to revisit Vision and Strategy at the end of the meeting cycle. Wellbeing & Social Inclusion was highlighted as an area that would require significant Member discussion as it was the least developed area of policy in the Local Plan.

By affirmation, the Committee approved the proposed schedule of meetings as laid out in the report.

The Planning Policy Manager introduced the report and the Principal Planning Policy Officer (Stuart Morris), gave a presentation on the Vision & Aims and offered a summary of the representations received in the consultation process, as laid out in the report and its appendices. This was followed by a discussion on the presentation and the Vision and Aims section of the report. Following that, a presentation on the Climate Change section of the report was given by the Principal Sustainability Officer, the Policy Planner and the Principal Planning Policy Officer (Nancy Kimberley). A discussion on the Climate Change section of the report followed the presentation.

Across the discussions of the two sections of the report, Members offered numerous comments on a range of the topics raised. These included:

On the Vision Statement, Members acknowledged that vision statements are notoriously difficult to produce. However, Members felt that the provided Statement was relatively generic, in that it could apply to many areas, and that a Vision Statement which was more specific to the unique nature of Greater Cambridge and its status as an area of excellence and global significance, and its unique environmental capital, was desirable.

Members debated growth and the level of growth needed in Greater Cambridge. One Member felt that high levels of growth were not compatible with environmental aspirations and that the targets for growth laid out in the report were possibly overambitious. Others felt that the proposed levels of growth would allow for innovative, sustainable development which could be instrumental in tackling sustainability issues in Greater Cambridge.

There was discussion around the transport aspects of the vision and aims. The suggestion of the phrase “connectivity as a golden thread” was recognised as valuable by Members and it was felt that effective transport links were to play a significant role in the sustainable development of Greater Cambridge. Active travel infrastructure was highlighted as an area that needed to be a key part of development in the area, as was effective public transport. The need to recognise the differences between the city and rural environments was raised, with private vehicles being more essential to those in rural parts of Greater Cambridge. Car parking provision in rural areas was raised as a point of concern and it was felt that a “one size fits all” approach to parking provision requirements was not suitable given the range of needs that were held by different areas. There was reference to a concern that a lack of parking provision in larger developments could lead to increased on-street parking that would worsen traffic issues. The request to revisit the Vision & Aims at the end of the meeting cycle was reiterated.

On Sustainable building standards, Members felt that it was essential to ensure that future developments were built to the highest standard in order to future-proof them and not create “stranded assets” that would not meet future standards. As the Climate Emergency was already happening, the Group felt that it was best to be ambitious on the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.