Stapleford Cambridge Planning news

Stapleford Neighbourhood Plan update

Good news! The Stapleford & Great Shelford Neighbourhood Plan has been submitted to the local planning authority

We are delighted to report that our villages' Neighbourhood Plan has today been submitted to the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning team.

Neighbourhood planning gives communities a role in the development and future of their local area. The Stapleford and Great Shelford Neighbourhood Plan does this for the whole of our combined parish area over the period to 2041. Its 21 planning policies have been created by a volunteer group of residents and parish councillors and shaped by three periods of community and stakeholder engagement from 2022-24. Thank you to the hundreds of residents who have provided input and encouragement along the way.

Our Plan's policies span multiple topics which you told us are important to you: housing; climate change and biodiversity; our rural setting and landscape; community amenities and infrastructure; active travel; traffic movements; and countryside access.

This isn't about stopping development; it's about saying what we want and need from development. It's about this community having a say in its future. And since big plans are afoot for our wider area, it really could not be more timely.

Greater Cambridge Shared Planning will shortly organise a final consultation on the Plan. Comments from this will be sent with the Neighbourhood Plan to an independent examiner early next year. If the Plan passes examination, it will return to residents for a yes/no referendum. A majority of 'yes' votes will see it given equal weight to the Local Plan and National Planning Policy Framework when decisions are made about all planning applications - big and small - coming forward in our parishes.

You can find out more about our Neighbourhood Plan at www.greatshelfordparishcouncil.gov.uk/SGSNPlan and catch up with progress bulletins at www.greatshelfordparishcouncil.gov.uk/sgsnplan/sgsnplan-latest-news/.

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Jenny Flynn
Chair, Stapleford & Great Shelford Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group

Posted Nov 22 2024

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Strawberry Fields update

Work has started on the of construction of Strawberry Fields, a £50 million retirement development of 147 homes in Stapleford.

It will offer 147 one, two and three-bedroom properties with the first phase estimated to be completed in 2024, and building work finished in 2025.

Developers Rangeford have published a number of artist's impressions about what Strawberry Fields will look like.

Images courtesy of Rangeford Villages

What does the future hold for Great Shelford and Stapleford?

Since Autumn 2021, a steering group of Stapleford and Great Shelford residents and parish councillors has been working to produce a combined Neighbourhood Plan (NP) on behalf of our parishes. This is a chance for the people who know and love our area to set out a positive, shared vision for how we want it to develop and to ensure that identified local needs are not overlooked in the rapid economic growth which our wider region has been targeted to deliver. Policies in our NP will ultimately have equal weight when assessing all planning decisions in our area to those in the Local Plan and National Planning Policy Framework.

In April/May of this year, we undertook a second public consultation with residents, combining pop-up displays and a survey. We are very grateful to everyone who gave a few minutes of their time to participate.

A report summarising survey outcomes and outlining next steps in the process is now available to read at https://www.greatshelfordparishcouncil.gov.uk/sgsnplan/neighbourhood-plan-consultations/.

Posted June 28 2023

100 new homes for Stapleford and Shelford?

One hundred new homes off Hinton Way and Mingle Lane have come a step closer.

Around 100 new homes in the area have been included as a list of potential

development sites, for the new draft Greater Cambridge Local Plan published on Aug 31.

The draft plan identifies an area of 10 hectares between Hinton Way and Mingle

Lane for possible future development.

“Maximum capacity limited to 100 homes, relating to Cambridgeshire Fire Service

requirements for no more than 100 homes to be served via a single vehicular

access,” the new report states.

“There may be potential for a higher capacity if an additional access could be

provided.

“(It is) Very well located in relation to existing railway station, with resulting excellent

access to Cambridge, and to Cambridge Biomedical Campus once the new Cambridge

South station is open, providing the exceptional circumstances required for Green Belt release.

“Development should accommodate the following constraints:

Design of development should preserve key views from Stapleford Conservation Area including from Mingle Lane past St Andrew’s Church and the adjacent vicarage.
Open space to be provided to the east of the built development to help provide compensatory improvements to the environmental quality and accessibility of remaining Green Belt.

Out of over 690 sites put forward by developers and landowners, and another 200 considered by planners, only 19 new sites are proposed to be taken forward into the new Plan

The new Local Plan is the most important document you've (probably) never heard of. It will affect how we live, work and play in Greater Cambridge over the next 20 years and beyond.

The sites are published as part of the draft First Proposals for the new Plan, made public ahead of decision-making by Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire District councillors through their respective committee processes. Once Councillors have reviewed and commented on the proposed sites, the list will be finalised for public consultation. This consultation is due to start at the beginning of November.

Posted Aug 31 2021

Mingle

Stapleford planning

Dernford reservoir proposals

New proposals have emerged for Dernford reservoir between Stapleford and Little Shelford.

Russell Smith Farms are assessing the potential redevelopment of the former Dernford Quarry at Stapleford to provide a community country park with camping and caravanning facilities.

They are applying for planning permission for a caravan park in conjunction with the Caravan and Motorhome Club. As part of the caravan park, there would be further amenities that would benefit the local community.

This would include water-based activities, a farm shop/ café and a children’s play area.

An outdoor event space is also proposed with various options:

• Competitor camping for sporting events like triathlons and duathlons

• Outdoor cinema

• Food festivals

There will be scope for a variety of ancillary sport and recreation facilities, which could include a bowling green, gym, sauna, tennis courts, all-weather courts (for football), farm shop and associated parking.

This initial consultation will run from Monday 24th May for a six week period until 5th July.

Read more details at the South Cambridge Waterpark website.

Posted May 28 2021

1,000 homes proposed for Stapleford

Major housing developments for more than 1,000 new homes have been proposed for Stapleford.

Proposals include up to 987 new homes centred around a new station for the new tramway on land east of Haverhill Road.

There are also proposals to build new homes on the allotments

The proposals for Stapleford include:

Land to the east of Haverhill Road, Stapleford 987 homes

Land at Hinton Road, Stapleford – up to 500 homes.

Land to the north east of Gog Magog Way Stapleford - 200 homes

Land south of Hinton Way, Stapleford - Up to 100 homes or a retirement village

Land east of Haverhill Road, Stapleford – up to 58 homes.

Wedd Joinery, Granta Terrace, Stapleford - 25 homes

The suggested developments are a long way from reality. The proposals have been made as part of a ‘First Conversation’ consultation to create a new Local Plan for the area by 2023.

Developers and landowners have put forward their initial proposals for homes across sites in Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire.

The first wave of the consultation took place in January and February. The next public consultation stage is planned for Autumn 2021.

These proposals are not planning applications. Councils stress that none of the suggested sites have any real planning status at this stage and far more land for development has been suggested than will be required to meet the area’s housing needs.

The Greater Cambridge Local Plan will set out where development in Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire is allowed to happen, and what it should include – such as homes, business space, community facilities, shops, leisure facilities and green spaces. It will guide how development should help address current and future environmental, social and economic issues.

You can read the responses and a summary report on the Greater Cambridge Planning Service

website: www.greatercambridgeplanning.org/localplan (The site can be challenging to navigate - you may find it easier to click on the links within the story to read about specific proposed schemes.)

A map of all the proposals can be seen here.

You can have your say about the proposals by contacting South Cambridgeshire District Councillors Peter Fane or Nick Semple or Stapleford Parish Council.

Read the coverage in the Cambridge Independent.

Posted September 18 2020.