TL/DR? Read the Secretary of State’s statement here.
Personally I’d have gone for Captain Planet and the Planeteers given Cambridge’s pollution problems.
The announcement is confirmation of the rumour of last week which I wrote about here. The same issues apply.
Inevitably Michael Gove’s announcement alongside that of the Prime Minister has polarised opinion. Scroll down to ‘Stakeholder Comments’ in the Prime Minister’s announcement here and you’ll see:
- the ‘high profile people’ who support the announcement
- the conspicuous absence of local government organisations supporting the announcement.
I was surprised to see Bright Blue included in the list of quotations given their very strong party-political links to the Conservative Party.
“Don’t panic! Cambridge is not going to be concreted over in the next 12-18 months!”
The timing of Gove’s announcement is completely out of sync with the political cycle. There’s less than 18 months until the general election, with some speculation today that the PM could go for a May 2024 date – which would be interesting for the older combined authority elections (not Cambridgeshire & Peterborough) and relatively few number local council elections that year. The time it would take just to set up the institutions mentioned and have the initial meetings would take ministers into the pre-election period – a time when civil servants normally start putting their foot down on big announcements that a future government might want to take a different view on. Normally an announcement of this scale would be made at the start, rather than the end of a government’s term of office. Therefore the detailed response from the opposition parties – in particular Labour as by far the most likely to form the next government, matters. A lot.
“What does Gove mean geographically by ‘Cambridge’?”
That’s the most important but the least clear bit of his speech – you can read the transcript here.
“We are going to develop a vision for Cambridge, a vision that will involve growing beautiful integrated neighbourhoods and healthy communities while supercharging innovation and protecting green spaces.”
Michael Gove – Transcript from 24 July 2023
The Secretary of State also said:
“In concert with national and local partners, Peter [Freeman – Chair of Homes England] will be charged with crafting the detailed vision for Cambridge’s future.”
***Well I didn’t vote for him!!!***
You don’t vote for Chairs of Homes England.
***I thought we voted in Nik Johnson?!?***
And he has responded diplomatically as always.
“My call to the Government is simple, utilise the existing institutions in our region to deliver your ambitions.”
Nik Johnson. -Statement 24 July 2023
Above – note the Combined Authority Board Meeting in under 48 hours time – expect an item about this announcement to be added.
The problem with the Secretary of State’s approach is that it conflicts with the existing development planning system. Also, reading between the lines I get the sense that Gove is not happy with the Combined Authority (and with good reason). I get the sense he’s asking the Chair of the Housing Corporation to provide the ‘independent’ cover for establishing a new institution.
“I have asked Peter to advise me on what the right long-term delivery vehicle needs to look like as well, because I do not underestimate the scale of the task, and just as the Olympics succeeded thanks to the right leadership and structure, so too will delivery of this vision require the expertise, focus and momentum of a dedicated, freestanding organisation.”
Michael Gove – Transcript from 24 July 2023
What is *not clear* from that statement is what the relationship that institution will have either with the Combined Authority or with local government in Cambridgeshire. There’s a huge democratic legitimacy risk here in that Gove creates a development corporation accountable to him, one that bypasses local government completely on planning (which is the entire purpose for its establishment) and one that a future non-Tory Government might have to inherit.
“What has Labour said?”
Michael Gove’s shadow, Lisa Nandy put out this thread. In the meantime, Cambridge Labour put out this press release.
Furthermore, for the Liberal Democrats, the Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council, Lucy Nethsingha was understandably angry at not being given prior warning of the announcement. Which is bad form from the Ministry.
A similar tone to Mayor Nik Johnson of the CPCA was struck at official/non-party-political level from the Leader of Cambridge City Council, Cllr Mike Davey (Labour – Petersfield)
“We welcome any proposals from central government that help to address the problems identified in our emerging Local Plan for Greater Cambridge, most notably the water shortage, a continuing housing affordability crisis and a lack of sustainable transport infrastructure.”
Cambridge City Council Press Release 24 July 2023
In the grand scheme of things, this announcement has been appalling managed as it:
- creates unnecessary uncertainty and anxiety within local government because he’s said nothing about the essentials – such as the geographical area affected and the local councils that fall within it;
- creates more work for himself and his civil servants because he now has to deal with furious back-benchers in the ‘blue wall’ of the OxCamArc who fear that their constituencies may be next for top-down development.
“Where would all of these homes be built anyway?”
My guess is that no one has shown Michael Gove or his advisers the maps from the Greater Cambridge Planning Service of the sites brought forward for incorporation into the Local Plan 2031-40. And what happens to that process I have no idea. Let’s have a look anyway from my previous post.
The next two maps below show proposals from developers.
- Red = residential
- Purple = mixed development
- Blue = employment sites
Above – from the Greater Cambridge Planning Service.
Doing a ‘back of an envelope calculation, assume each of the large plots of land will be able hold between 10,000-15,000 people. Developing those sites medium density sites *might* be enough to accommodate 100,000-150,000 people – essentially doubling the size of the city’s population. What it does not do is guarantee a decent quality of life for people already living in our city, nor for those moving to our city. A few gyms and yoga classes on the tech parks won’t get anywhere near meeting the needs of an under-provided city.
“How bad is the deficit?”
Have a read of the documents commissioned for the Cambridge Sewage Works redevelopment – the Hartree site here. In particular, look at the assessments on community and cultural facilities, and cultural place-making.
Above – a lot of money was spent on these reports, and there is a lot of useful information in them that residents can use to hold councillors and ministers to account on future provision of arts, sports, and leisure facilities – mindful that such growth means Cambridge will need regional-sized facilities far bigger than anything the city currently has.
And for South Cambridgeshire District?
Same key as above – only the green indicates the Green Belt.
Above – note the proposed mixed development at Six Mile Bottom, North Cambourne, and Papworth – all of these sites having been snapped up by developers or speculators with options to develop the land if it becomes available.
Hence why a land value uplift tax is essential to fund infrastructure and prevent massive unearned profits being captured from what is essentially a paper exercise related to planning permission. In the grand scheme of things though, if you are a developer or land owner in/around Cambridge, there’s a lot of money to be made from Gove’s announcement. Hence concerns as well about how political parties are financed. How much of this might head towards Labour if they get into government after the next general election?
Multiple political cans of worms opened
Understandably people living in areas likely to be affected are going to have a whole host of issues and concerns. Even the ones that support the principle of growing Cambridge rapidly – eg ensuring that the infrastructure needed to support new communities is in place *before* people move in. There will also be those that use the announcement for their own political ends, good, bad, and ugly.
- How does the announcement square with ‘levelling up’ the North?
- Can such growth be achieved within environmental limits? (Think our water crisis)
- Will it be a developers’ charter to build multiple ‘Eddingtons’?
- ‘This is only happening because [diatribe against specific cohort of human beings] who will come over here and [*list of bad stuff*].
- ‘This will destroy Cambridge!’
Amongst other things.
Gove is “committing to transformational change in Cambridge, central London and central Leeds.”
One of the things that local politicians are being called out on are the actions of the Greater Cambridge Partnership. I wrote about it here in Sept 2021 – noting the Grange Road problem is yet to be resolved. I also wrote recently about an alternative system of governance that creates a unitary council for the economic sub-region, while incorporating and strengthening the role of parish and town councils within those structures. i.e. having a clear system and structure of devolving decision-making to smaller, local councils (most of which already exist) and one for escalation – thus avoiding the farce of councillors 40+ miles away in North Cambridgeshire deciding on local parking policy in south Cambridge neighbourhoods that they might never have been to.
Ministers need to have policies to overhaul how Cambridge is governed – otherwise their plans will fail.
At the moment it feels more and more like the city is being run as a technocracy – and a broken one. One where individuals with expertise in narrow silos make recommendations without serious considerations of their wider impact, and ones that get rubber-stamped by councillors unwilling/unable to push back publicly. Hence my blogpost here.
I’ll finish this post here – there’s a lot more to be said, in particular on how communities in and around our city can mobilise to scrutinise and take action over what ministers are proposing.
In the meantime, tings you can do?
- Buy/borrow a book on the essentials of town planning
- Ask your local councillors to lobby the Combined Authority to set up some workshops and evening classes introducing town planning as part of their adult education budget. (The CPCA’s next Skills and Employment Committee meeting is on 04 Sept 2023 – you can use this form to table your public question for that meeting – either for you to ask in person, or to have an officer ask it on your behalf)
- Organise a community meeting on how your local area can respond as individuals and collectively
Food for thought?
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