The people and firms behind the proposed redevelopment of The Paddocks employment site in my part of Cambridge have submitted their planning application to the city council
- You can see their website here
- You can see the full set of documents on the planning portal typing in 24/04859/FUL into the simple search box.
I’ve moaned about this application before – noting that when I went to the face-to-face consultation, none of the representatives of the firm providing the funding were actually there. It was only their consultants or ‘the fire wall’ – and none of those consultants were based locally, so knew precious little about the place they were working on.
“Three of the representatives I spoke to were from London, Bristol, and Reading respectively. Inevitably when I quizzed them on what the local community was like, what our local concerns were, what local traffic was like and what the future housing and transport plans and options were, none of them could respond in any detail.”
Ugly bland buildings
I moaned about their proposals at the webinar they ran when they published the first computer-generated images, because I’m bored of this type of unimaginative building and architectural design. Something that was swiftly dismissed.
“What does their design code say?”
It’s a separate document so feel free to browse it in the list of documents they have submitted.
“Through careful adoption of two facade systems, considered variation and interest is to be applied across the design of all phases”
Above – Design Code p34/p35pdf
Make of that what you will – including whether you think they’ve failed the terms of their own design code aspirations on variation and interest! (You can email the council’s planning service here citing the reference number earlier and tell them this yourselves if you want to submit an objection or any other comment!)
“Transport – what’s that like?”
“This Travel Plan has been prepared by SLR Consulting Ltd“ and not being Cambridge based they know little about our day-to-day long term travel issues. And it shows. One thing for Peter Freeman and co to consider when they consider which consultants to commission: What lived experience do the individuals have of the problems that he will task them with resolving?
“With the package of measures summarised within this Travel Plan and the key role played by the TPC in promoting non-car modes and communicating alternatives to staff, the target of no more than 30.9% car driver mode share for the development is considered realistic and achievable.”
Travel Plan p20
I hope someone’s going to follow them up on this and impose penalties in the event of non-delivery/non-achievement of said target!
In reality, there’s nothing in law that would enable such a move. In the meantime, having some sort of post-construction evaluation a few years after completion should be a mandatory part of the process – something that can be fed back into policy-making and professional studying processes.
“What constitutes legally valid reasons to object to a planning application?”
Design, massing, and overdevelopment of a cramped site stand out as two prominent ones. I’ll leave it to others to comment on the transport issues and what contributions the developers might have to make for improved cycling infrastructure given the big deal they’ve made about this and the appalling state of the roads and pavements that lead to the site.
Nothing for young people or the community
At the webinar I recall the developers saying that it would be up to the future tenants to decide how much community space they wanted to allocate – which doesn’t sit right with me. I hope this is something that the Greater Cambridge Planning Service officers can really push back on given that the community centre proposed for Queen Edith’s ward in the Holford Wright Report was never built.
Either way, do have a look at the application and have your say – even if you are in support of it! https://applications.greatercambridgeplanning.org/online-applications/ Ref: 24/04859/FUL, or via https://greatercambridgeplanning.org/about-us/contact-us/ quoting the reference number. Alternatively/additionally, email your city councillor via https://www.writetothem.com/
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Will the development contribute to an increase in social capital? Andy Haldane, the former Chief Economist at the Bank of England, now at the RSA, will be in Cambridge on 18 Feb 2025 with the county chambers of commerce. Get your tickets here.
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