Click on any of the statements or questions below to see how the North West Cambridge team responded.
"Can't you work closer with other developers to create shared community facilities?"
Local people are aware that ours is just one of the major developments proposed for this part of Cambridge and many have questioned how closely these are being coordinated, particularly in relation to community facilities.
The neighbouring NIAB site already has a planning application submitted to the local planning authorities and this somewhat restricts the scope for integration although the local planning authorities are working to ensure that between us we provide the necessary community facilities. The most important element will be the proposed secondary school which will be provided on the second NIAB site to serve the needs of both sites. The University will make a significant financial contribution to its construction.
We envisage that the community facilities planned on our site, for example the supermarket and hotel, will be used by local people from the wider area which should restrict the need for longer car journeys.
We are planning improved pedestrian crossings on the Huntingdon Road and a bus route linking both sites to make it easy for people to move from one to the other.
"There need to be religious facilities for the new local community – what will these be?"
The University believes that faith plays an important role in creating a strong community. It has therefore convened a group representing all faiths in Cambridge to determine what provision is most appropriate.
The University does not feel that a dedicated new faith building is necessary on the site but is continuing to work with the faith group to explore innovative ways of encouraging an active faith community. This may include shared-use of planned community buildings which could be designed to meet the needs of the different faiths.
"There is already a large amount of new development in North West Cambridge – it is too much."
Some people expressed concern to us about the overall impact of the various developments taking place or planned around Cambridge. This is largely out of our control. The local planning authorities are working to meet centrally set housing targets (although under the new Government this may change) and are responsible for ensuring that the infrastructure necessary to support all new development is provided, either by the public or private sector.
What is important in relation to our site is that the University is not undertaking speculative development for profit. Most of the accommodation that the University is creating is to house key university workers and research graduates. The University’s proposals are directly related to providing much of the research and residential accommodation that the University will need over the next 20 years or so if it is to retain and enhance its position as one of the world’s top universities. That is what makes this development different from most of the others.
Also, because the development is so important to the University’s future, the University will retain ownership of most of the land. It must ensure that it creates and maintains a high quality, sustainable community that attracts world class individuals and research organisations. This is what makes the North West Cambridge site so different from most of the other developments taking place in the area.
"We don't want another huge supermarket here."
Some consultees were worried about rumours about the size of the supermarket that the University is proposing for the site. They were concerned that there should not be another hypermarket size store on the scale of Tesco at Bar Hill.
The University has been clear that it does not see a store of this size as necessary or desirable for this site. The supermarket must be big enough to serve all the grocery needs of local people both to be a true community facility and to ensure that people can do their full weekly shop without having to drive further afield. But we do not want a huge store that would attract people from far and wide or that would make it difficult to integrate in the local centre of the development.
One option in the Councils’ recent study into supermarket need and provision proposes a store of 2,000 square metres (net) on our site which seems a sensible size and is consistent with what the University is currently proposing.
"You must integrate with the existing community – we don’t want this to become a university ghetto."
The issue about the mix of uses and accommodation types on the site has been keenly debated and is still being discussed.
The site is large and will contain a wide mix of uses including research establishments, community facilities, open space and a range of different residential accommodation. One of the great strengths of the University of Cambridge is the way in which the Colleges provide an environment where academics live and work closely together, which is important to inspire and enhance creative thinking. The University wants to ensure that this productive academic environment is replicated at North West Cambridge, whilst being conscious of the need to create a wider community amongst all of the residents and workers on the site. We are therefore still discussing with the planning authorities how we can balance the need to concentrate University employees with the council’s policies on creating mixed developments.
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