Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Holland and Hipkin.

There were no declarations of interest.

Masterplan Review, West Cambridge Site, south of Madingley Road

The pre application proposal is for a masterplan review to inform a new outline planning application for the West Cambridge Campus, at Land south of Madingley Road.  The site is a major new development for the University of Cambridge for academic and commercial research, totalling 66 ha in area.   The proposed densified West Cambridge development would have a total floorspace of 500,280 sq m (by 2031).  This is broken down into 257,900sqm academic and 210,386 sqm commercial floorspace.  Phase 1 (2021) would provide 284,310 sq m, composed of 167,159 sq m of academic floorspace and 92,386 sq m of commercial floorspace.

The extant 1999 masterplan has been partially implemented. This related to a scheme of 248,272 sq m floorspace in total.  The principal roads through the site have been implemented along with numerous key buildings and the East and West Forums.

The West Cambridge campus has been slow to develop, and issues identified as a result of this include remoteness, isolation, lack of social facilities, high car dependency and little ‘sense of place’.  Car parking dominates the site and severs the public realm from buildings. The site suffers from a lack of facilities, although the sports centre has helped start to readdress this issue over the last 18 months.

Key Points from Developer Presentation

University’s Vision is for a world class, well connected development which benefits the Cambridge and United Kingdom economy.

Physical Sciences and Technology – West Cambridge will be a premier location.

Key Phase 1 – first major moves to implement the new masterplan explained, this includes relocation of the Cavendish Laboratory.

Transport Assessment Work – to date explained.  Initial modelling based on the Cambridge Sub Regional Model (CSRM) was carried out which helped identify the study area and provided further data.

Transport strategy for Cambridge and the wider sub-region, including the implications arising from the emerging City Deal projects is changing and strategic solutions will be needed to address issues in the future.

Mitigation - Uncertainty of when strategic transport mitigation will come forward relative to the indicative phasing assumptions for the build out of this development up to 2031.

Adaptive Phased Approach proposed to be used to assess the transport impacts of the development.  It is a pragmatic solution to allow the development to come forward. This has previously been used on Alconbury and at Ebbsfleet, Sheffield sub-region although not previously on any Cambridge schemes.

Process: Key Phases approach – will allow a reassessment of the development to reflect the current situation in future on a phased basis.

Open, Transparent, flexible and deliverable – strategy which can be responsive to future transport initiatives in the wider region.

Car parking – proportion of car parking reduced in key phase 1 compared to the approved outline.

Private Car Journeys – University Team advise it will be significantly reduced through the Transport Strategy and secured through the site-wide Travel Plan.

Enhanced Connectivity – bus routes to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16/3/Preapp