Agenda item

The Deputy Leader of the Council, Joint Director of Planning and Economic Development and Planning Policy Manager presented the report which set out the main issues raised during the public consultation on the Bourn Airfield New Village Supplementary Planning Document, and officers’ response to these. 

The committee considered and commented upon the summary of representations made during the public consultation on the draft SPD, which the committee noted reflected the concerns it had raised during its consideration of the draft SPD in May 2019. The main points discussed were as follows.

A letter  was received from Bourn Parish Council in advance of the meeting, raising concerns regarding lack of direct access to the A428, the transport modelling in the Local Plan and traffic volumes estimated by the developers. Officers informed the committee that all the issues raised in this letter had already been considered and responded to by officers.

Councillor Tumi Hawkins addressed the committee as the Local Member representing Caldecote. She supported the comments made by Bourn Parish Council in their letter and set out her own concerns regarding:

·         The current problem with congestion in Caldecote.

·         The lack of direct access to the A428.

·         The treatment of the separation between the new village and Caldecote.

·         That the SPD should not allow any housing in the north east corner of the Major Development Site.

The committee expressed concerns that the lack of a junction providing access to the A428 would lead to rat running through surrounding villages; the committee emphasised the need to protect villages from this.

The committee was informed by the Joint Director for Planning and Economic Development, that there was no policy requirement in the Local Plan for a new junction providing direct access to the A428, and a need for this had not been identified by Highways England. While committee members were still concerned that proposals did not include direct access to the A428, the committee acknowledged that this was in line with the policy of the approved Local Plan and with which the SPD had to be consistent. The committee was informed that these concerns could be addressed at the planning application stage.

The committee was informed by the Joint Director of Planning and Economic Development that the transport modelling used had been updated to reflect the latest known situation and took traffic growth rates into account.

The Deputy Leader highlighted the Council’s policy, which was in line with national policy, to achieve zero carbon and as such, car dependency needed to be discouraged. It was recognised that the location of Bourn Airfield New Village was an issue due to its distance from employment sites, however making car use easier went against the zero carbon policy. Committee members acknowledged this and highlighted the need for public transport options to be available from the outset for new developments. Committee members pointed out that the use of public transport needed to be made easy and appealing for residents in order for them to use it. Committee members also suggested that employment should not be constrained at Bourn Airfield.

Regarding the lack of access to the A428, some members suggested that provision should be made for flexibility to allow for this, as more people would be moving to low carbon and electric vehicles. In future the issue would therefore not be about carbon but about congestion.

Committee members suggested the Wildlife Trust should be engaged with at an early stage in the development of Bourn Airfield New Village, regarding the management of the wildlife centres. The benefits of this approach had been seen at Trumpington Meadows.

Regarding the provision of a health centre, it was suggested that having separate health centres at Bourn and Cambourne may be counter intuitive; by having one large centre, more services such as minor surgery for example, could be offered on site in future.

The committee received and noted the report and drew Cabinet’s attention to its comments.