425 new flats approved in latest stage of Cambs North masterplan
The station opened in May 2017 and the site has seen offices, a hotel, and a shop built in the years since
Hundreds of new flats have been approved in the latest stage of the Cambridge North development despite concerns over parking and overheating.
The station opened in May 2017 and the site has seen offices, a hotel, and a shop built in the years since. The latest stage will provide 425 flats.
The homes will be across three blocks and range from one to three bedrooms, with 46 marked as affordable rent and a further 72 as affordable private rent.
Officers recommended that the application be approved by Cambridge City Council and South Cambridge District Council’s joint development management committee on Wednesday (August 19).
Richard Thomas, speaking on behalf of developer Grainger, told the committee that the company reinvests a “significant percentage” of their returns into the railway network.
He said one of their previous schemes in Nottingham has been 100 per cent let “since first occupation” and had the same design team as the application.
Cllr Dr Richard Williams said he was “extremely concerned” that there were only 22 parking spaces proposed – only enough for around five per cent of the flats to park a car.
The Conservative said: “Cambridge station – which is blocks of flats – has car ownership of about 49 per cent of dwellings.
“There will be parking on streets in surrounding areas and that has happened again and again and again in this city.
“If you look at King’s Cross in London, which is pretty sustainable, car ownership is about 25 per cent.”
Cllr Tim Griffin said there were “many commendable aspects” about the plans, but was concerned that most flats (57 per cent) were single-aspect – with windows that open in only one direction, limiting airflow and preventing a breeze.
The Labour councillor said: “This is just incredible, it’s sort of like people are still designing buildings for the 70s or 80s – come on, we have a problem and we all recognise that.
“I think our emerging local plan, if I’m correct, is demanding zero single-aspect flats, why can’t the community of architects and planners get with the programme and use a little bit of imagination and creativity and start designing buildings suitable for these high temperatures?
“There’s no excuse for it and we can do better in Cambridge and we should do better in Cambridge on this.”
Cllr Richard Stobart said he was confused that the heat pumps could be retroactively fitted to cool, but this wasn’t being done ahead of time.
The Liberal Democrat councillor said: “I think we should be considering the most vulnerable apartments as having to fit the cooling capability at this stage rather than some point in the future.
“It really only takes a day or two of extreme weather to hurt a family. I think we should be thinking of those discrete events rather than the average.”
Cuma Ahmet, principal planner, said the developer had done well with their sustainability commitments and stress testing and even “gone a bit further” than what they needed.
He said they had committed to fit the cooling “in future when they are required”.
Cllr Kathryn Fisher said: “There’s a lot of problems with this development and I feel depressed looking at it to be honest.”
The Green councillor asked if they were able to retroactively apply new planning policies requiring the use of low-carbon materials, but officers said no, as outline permission was already approved as part of the Cambridge North masterplan.
Cllr Fisher said there were too few three-bed flats allocated as affordable housing – only two – even though there is high demand for three-bed council housing.
They said: “They are the most sought after properties because people have children and they need that space.
“I think it’s kind of wild that we have a development just outside the city area that’s only providing two dwellings of the most sought after type of dwelling for people who are on low incomes.”
The committee approved the plans, with the management conditions that residents be told good practice for the heating pumps and a car parking strategy. There were four votes in favour, none against and five abstentions.