by Tony Hazell
South Cambridgeshire district council has finally approved a masterplan for a 422ha (1,040 acre) settlement west of Cambridge. It brings to an end the first chapter of a planning saga dating back to the 1980s when Cambridgeshire county council said there could be a need for a new settlement in the south of the county.
The settlement at Cambourne will take some 3,300 homes which will be built during 12 years and split into three village groups. The project will be overseen by Alfred McAlpine Homes, which will now take up the options it owns on the site.
Ian Douglas, director responsible for the development, commented: “With the masterplan and design guide in place – providing controls on the whole area – Alfred McAlpine Homes is now committed to turning the plan into reality.”
Other key elements of the scheme include a business park, two schools, village centre shops, a library, police and fire stations, a community centre and church plus sporting and leisure facilities.
With considerable infrastructure work needed on the greenfield site, work is likely to start on site at the beginning of next year.
Although the developer could undertake the whole project it is thought to be likely that it will bring in other builders to provide a variety of homes.
Initially, eight new settlement proposals had been put forward by a variety of developers. Planning applications for each of the sites were submitted and then called in by the Environment Secretary. A public inquiry in 1990 concluded that none of the sites fully satisfied government policies but concerns might be overcome by revising schemes in the vicinity of the Cambourne proposal.
Two revised schemes were submitted to the district council in December 1993 and Alfred McAlpine received the go-ahead subject to a section 106 agreement.
