Michael Gove’s plan to ‘triple Cambridge’ is a ‘hugely worrying’ developers’ charter, says Lib Dem Pippa Heylings
Michael Gove has been accused of drafting a “hugely worrying” developers’ charter” by suggesting that Cambridge could effectively be tripled in size.
Pippa Heylings, the Liberal Democrats’ Parliamentary candidate for South Cambridgeshire, made the claim in a letter to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities following the revelation of proposals from his department that 250,000 new homes should be built here over the next two decades.
The ‘Cambridge 2040’ plans - revealed in a Sunday Times article that took Cambridgeshire politicians and councils alike by complete surprise - have drawn widespread criticism.
Cllr Heylings, who is also a South Cambridgeshire district councillor, wrote to Mr Gove to “urgently seek reassurance” about the plans.
In the letter, reproduced in full below, she agreed with the aim of being of “ambitious” for what the Greater Cambridge area can achieve, but suggested the new Local Plan, being jointly developed by the city council and South Cambridgeshire District Council, was already proposing “significant housing growth, to meet the needs of local communities and employers”.
It envisages nearly 49,000 homes by 2041, but the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is, according to the Sunday Times article, proposing five times that growth to create Europe’s answer to Silicon Valley, with space to be identified for business parks and new labs in a drive to turbocharge the life science and technology sectors.
Cllr Heylings wrote: “It is essential that any housing growth is delivered sustainably, with water supply, access to green space, and quality of life for residents considered from the outset. Our natural resources in Cambridgeshire are already over stretched, with water supply at critical levels and several months of drought every year. Local essential services like doctors and dentist surgeries are already over capacity and unable to take on new patients.”
She also warned that a suggestion in the Sunday Times that the department is “actively considering weakening environmental protections makes this look like a developers’ charter, with little consideration for the residents living and working in South Cambridgeshire”.
The article claimed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Mr Gove were considering amending the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill in the autumn to change the nutrient neutrality environmental rules that ensure developments do not add pollution to an area. These rules “have been blamed for blocking as many as 120,000 new homes”, the article reported.
In particular, it was reported that the government may alter rules that currently oblige developers to prove the homes they are building will not increase the amount of phosphates and nitrates polluting rivers, potentially by offsetting them through environmental improvements on other land or by contributing towards water treatment or the clean-up of rivers.
Cllr Heylings sought reassurance that “the government will not pursue the weakening of environmental protections”.
She also asked for confirmation that the government will not go ahead with plans to change Section 106 arrangements through the Levelling UP Bill that could mean housebuilders are no longer required to provide upfront funding for GP surgeries, schools and transport links on any new large developments.
Anthony Browne, the Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire, has also written to Mr Gove, telling him the plans for 250,000 new homes in the Cambridge area are a “pipe dream” and calling for an urgent meeting, as the Cambridge Independent has reported.
The DLUHC has not yet answered specific questions in response to the article.
But a government spokesperson told the Cambridge Independent: ‘‘We are determined to help more young families own a home of their own - and that means working with local communities to build more of the right homes in the right places.
“We know that development is only welcomed when new homes are beautiful and built alongside new GP surgeries, schools and transport links.
“Our reforms have democracy, environmental enhancement and new neighbourhoods at their heart and will help us reach our target of one million new homes this Parliament.”
Pippa Heylings’ letter to Michael Gove in full
Dear Secretary of State,
I am writing to you today to urgently seek reassurance following the proposals published in the Sunday Times for up to 250,000 new homes in and around South Cambridgeshire.
The Greater Cambridge area is already a huge net contributor to our national economy, and it is right that we are ambitious for what more we can achieve here. The new joint local plan being developed by Cambridge City and South Cambs already proposes significant housing growth, to meet the needs of local communities and employers. However, it is essential that any housing growth is delivered sustainably, with water supply, access to green space, and quality of life for residents considered from the outset. Our natural resources in Cambridgeshire are already over stretched, with water supply at critical levels and several months of drought every year. Local essential services like doctors and dentist surgeries are already over capacity and unable to take on new patients.
Communities support housebuilding when the GP surgeries, schools and transport infrastructure are provided upfront to meet needs of both existing and new communities. Also when there is the critical infrastructure to address the water crisis without further abstraction from chalk scheme aquifers.
Proposing growth on such a radical scale - essentially tripling the size of the city - without setting out clearly how the natural and physical infrastructure needed to support and sustain such expansion would be delivered is hugely worrying. The added briefing to newspapers that you are actively considering weakening environmental protections makes this look like a developers charter, with little consideration for the residents living and working in South Cambridgeshire.
Our community deserves your immediate reassurance that you will listen to their concerns. Please can you therefore:
1) Clarify your plans and how relate to the current work to develop a Joint Local Plan led by Cambridge and South Cambs;
2) Confirm that the government will not pursue the weakening of environmental protections;
3) Confirm that the government will accelerate investment to bring forward regional water infrastructure to address the water crisis and to supply existing housing demand. The local plan makes clear that housing targets are contingent on an adequate water supply but your government is failing to deliver on this;
4) Confirm that the government will not be ditching the requirement on developers to contribute upfront infrastructure investment for GP surgeries, transport and schools for new developments as currently proposed in the Levelling Up Bill;
5) Commit to protecting Cambridgeshire waterways and clean up sewage already dumped in rivers on your watch.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Pippa Heylings
Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for South Cambridgeshire
