200 homes for Netherhall Farm in Cambridge approved after developer agrees changes

Cala Homes has been given permission to build 200 new homes on the edge of Cambridge.

Cambridge City Council granted planning approval for the homes at Netherhall Farm, off Wort’s Causeway, after the developer agreed to make some changes to address a number of concerns.

The new development will include 76 flats with one or two bedrooms, 22 two-bedroom houses, 51 three-bedroom houses, 49 four-bedroom houses and two five-bedroom houses.

A decision on the plans was scheduled to be made in April, but was pushed back because councillors were “extremely concerned” about parts of the plans.

One councillor at the time branded the new housing estate as “car heavy”, raising concerns that it did not encourage people to be able to walk and cycle around. Others were worried about the lack of visitor car parking proposed.

Concerns were also raised about the number of homes planned to be single aspect - meaning with windows on only one side - and about the proposals to have black cladding covering some of the properties.

At a planning committee meeting last Wednesday (24 July) a representative of Cala Homes confirmed the number of visitor parking spaces had been increased from eight to 21.

Only 14 of the homes were now proposed to be single aspect, but the representative said a “full assessment” had been undertaken to show they would not overheat.

The developer promised “extensive cycle paths around the site” and noted that there would be 40 per cent affordable housing to help meet housing needs.

But Cala Homes did not propose to change the dark cladding, with the representative stating that it would not cause overheating due to a ventilation cavity.

A planning officer highlighted that the amount of visitor car parking planned was still short on the council’s policy requirement. For a development of 200 homes, 50 visitor parking spaces would be expected.

But the officer said adding more would “eat into the landscaping”, or force a reduction in the number of homes, so on balance the number of visitor spaces was considered acceptable.

The officer noted the proposed cycleway and pedestrian path network throughout the site was “very good”.

Councillors still had some concerns about the dark timber cladding proposed and raised doubts that it would not create a risk of overheating.

Cllr Katie Thornburrow (Lab, Petersfield) was “disappointed” there had been “push back” from the developer about changing the colour of the cladding.

But at a vote, councillors agreed to approve the application.