Agenda item

The Scrutiny and Overview Committee is asked to review the attached draft Cabinet report, to comment upon it, and to make any recommendations that it deems appropriate.

The Scrutiny and Overview Committee reviewed a report?recommending that Cabinet confirms selected elements of the Greater Cambridge Local Plan development strategy via a Development Strategy Update (Regulation 18 Preferred Options) as set out in Appendix A to that report, namely

·       Updated needs for jobs and homes

·       Exploring provision of employment and housing – what is deliverable and how we will determine what is appropriate in terms of environmental, social and economic impacts – in particular water supply

·       Confirming our development strategy

·       Confirming key strategic sites

·       Development strategy next steps

The Scrutiny and Overview Committee Chair specifically invited members of the Climate and Environment Advisory Committee (CEAC) to this meeting.

On the subject of water, Scrutiny and Overview Committee members expressed concern about the challenge of water supply and consequent impacts on the chalk aquifer. They discussed the issues set out in the Development Strategy Update regarding the sequencing and timing of development in relation to water infrastructure, and the connected issue of realistic rates of housing delivery in the period following provision of water supply infrastructure.

Also in relation to water, CEAC members emphasised the importance of the two Councils’ (South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridge City Council) independent water cycle study exploring all relevant issues in full. They expressed a desire to use all policy levers possible to influence high water efficiency, and carbon, standards in new development. They called on central government to support accelerated delivery of water supply infrastructure.

A concern raised was that South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridge City Council might be obliged by water constraints to refuse preferred strategic-scale sites while not having the ability to refuse smaller scale development. Dispersal of development to villages would be unacceptable and Councillor Bridget Smith (Leader of the Council) assured those present that South Cambridgeshire District Council was committed to the current spatial strategy. She added that water capacity would determine the extent to which such development could be permitted.

With reference to jobs, those present discussed

·       the robustness of the employment forecasts in relation to the level of scrutiny officers had had regarding the assumptions made

·       specific queries about the forecasting model and methodology

·       the forecasts’ statistical bases

·       commuting patterns; and

·       comparison of the employment forecasts with those for other comparable locations such as Oxford.

Comments from Scrutiny and Overview Committee members included:

·       Concern regarding the impact of proposed national policy changes on the appropriateness of identifying updated needs at this point

·       Question regarding what could be done to encourage the mid-tech sector in Greater Cambridge. Officers confirmed that this was an issue being explored through the plan

Scrutiny and Overview Committee members then considered the development strategy. They said that South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridge City Council should seek reassurance that, in considering sustainability impacts to identify a development strategy, the environment would be given priority in relation to the three elements of economic, environmental, and social - each of which was dependent on water resources.

They added that consideration was needed of the likely implications of not delivering enough homes to support the expected increase in the number of local jobs.

Members noted central Government’s use of the phrase ‘gentle density’, in relation to its proposed revision of national planning policy, and Councillor Tom Bygott asked officers to provide a written explanation of what that phrase might mean in reality.

Members explored the rationale for considering whether exceptional circumstances existed for releasing Green Belt at land south of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, and the potential benefits of providing a better range of uses on the site. There was a desire that a new Cambridge Biomedical Campus Masterplan be prepared to improve amenity and effective functioning of the site.

Speaking as Chair of the Climate and Environment Committee, Councillor Pippa Heylings supported the climate-focused development strategy principles set out in the First Proposals, and sought confirmation that South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridge City Council would follow such principles when considering additional sites, rather than the housing delivery study’s conclusions that a change towards a more dispersed spatial strategy could support higher annual housing delivery rates if that was the councils’ priority, which she said would be unacceptable from a climate perspective. She said that CEAC would like to be involved in confirming the definition of unacceptable environmental harm referenced at paragraph 3.13 of the Development Strategy Update.

Other comments made at the meeting included:

·       Concern about the risks to South Cambridgeshire District Council’s 5-year housing land supply of identifying a high objectively-assessed need that may not be deliverable. Discussion followed regarding the proposal to manage this risk through the production of a stepped housing target as set out at 3.20 of the Development Strategy Update.

·       Anxiety about the balance of development between South Cambridgeshire and Cambridge and support for engaging with other neighbouring district councils about those districts potentially meeting some of Greater Cambridge’s identified development needs.

On housing, discussion ensued about the desirability that infrastructure such as electricity, transport, healthcare, schools, green space, and community facilities (including Faith provision) be delivered ahead of or alongside market and policy-compliant affordable housing.

Scrutiny and Overview Committee members emphasised the importance of

·       creating communities, not just jobs and housing

·       ensuring that healthcare facilities were placed close to where new housing would be built

·       minimising the impact of building new homes

·       providing for key workers

CEAC members raised concerns about the impact of proposed national changes to infrastructure funding mechanisms on infrastructure and affordable housing delivery and about the ability of the South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridge City Council to support delivery of a diverse range of housing types in the current economic climate. In response to a specific concern raised by Councillor Geoff Harvey, Councillor Bridget Smith (Leader of the Council) said that the Cabinet would be considering the question of electricity capacity and battery storage. The Chief Executive would also write to OFGEM about those same issues.

Having reviewed the draft Cabinet report and Appendix A, and subject to the comments made during the meeting, the Scrutiny and Overview Committee noted and supported by affirmation the submission of the Greater Cambridge Local Plan to Cabinet on 6 February 2023.