South Cambridgeshire District Council has this month moved a step closer towards putting in place a Local Housing Plan for the next 20-30 years. A full day meeting went through the recommendations and heard objections. The meeting was contentious because of the large numbers of people opposing the plans to build several thousand houses at Waterbeach and Bourn Airfield in particular.
This process started some years ago, and residents of local villages will remember the "call for land" exercise in 2011, which saw significant areas of land around and in Whittlesford Heathfield and Thriplow put forward. These areas of land were not taken forward into the Local Plan, principally on the argument that such development would present too great a challenge to the local infrastructure (roads, schools etc.
My main interest in attending was to represent the views of Whittlesford Heathfield and Thriplow residents on the issue of the proposed building of several hundred houses between Sawston and Babraham, as well as to review the plans more generally. The concern is that these additional houses will mean that the services in Sawston on which other villages nearby rely, such as the health centre, parking and shops, become overloaded.
If the Local Plan is agreed by the full Council meeting in March then it will go to the planning inspector for review. The adoption of the Local Plan does not mean that there can be no further development other than that specified in the plan. This is why the proposed neighbourhood plan for Whittlesford that the parish council is taking forward matters. It is a means by which the community can have some control over future planning applications in and around the village.
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