Good evening everyone, councillors, officers, guests and members of the public who are watching this webinar. Welcome to this North East Cambridge Community Forum meeting. My name is councillor Tumi Hawkins and I am the lead cabinet member for planning policy and delivery at South Cambridge Shared District Council and I will be chairing this evening's meeting. For the information of everyone present, this forum is a joint forum of the South Cambridge Shared District Council and Cambridge City Council and the purpose of this forum is to provide updates on progress of the development, proposed development at North East Cambridge and it is not just throwing information at you, it is a two-way communication process tonight so please use the details on the screen for questions that you might wish to ask us this evening and at the end of the meeting a poll will pop up on your screen so please engage and respond to that poll and help us shape the way that we do forums in the future. Before I go on for the benefit of everyone, if you are speaking live or even to our guests, if you can please use a headset if you have one with a mic to speak as it will help minimize acoustic problems otherwise do speak clearly and close to the microphone on your laptop or device that you are using and if I might ask if there are any members either of Southcams or Cambridge City who are attending the meeting if you can use the hands up raise hand function and we will acknowledge you as and when we see you popping up. Right, those who are attending tonight are stakeholders who are county council, Cambridge County Council, the Greater Cambridge Planning Service and of course officers from across both Southcams and the City Council, Anglia Water and the developers from the core site. So what we're going to do tonight is we're going to have a series of short presentations and then we will have some time after that for Q&A, after each presentation time for questions and then at the end we will have a bit more time for general questions and answers. And just to let you know we will be taking questions in one of the ways. There is a Q&A function on Zoom if you would like to use that and also if you wish to speak and ask your question live then please use the raise hand function game and one of the team will point out who it is and we will let you ask your question. And please in order to keep timing, keep your vocal questions as succinct as possible and make sure that you please ask a question rather than make a statement. There's a lot of people attending tonight so we do need to keep to time and I'll let you know that questions that we cannot get to or answer tonight. We will publish the answers on our website along with the recording. So without further ado can I ask Hannah who will give us our first presentation, Hannah Loftus. Hannah unfortunately has some technical issues with her camera so you can hear her speak but you won't be able to see her but she's here I promise. Thank you very much to me and I hope you can hear me that's the main thing can you hear me? Yes yes we can hear you. Thank you very much yeah apologies everybody my camera is not working today. I'm just really giving a very brief update on behalf I'm not going to show any slides so on behalf of the Northeast Area Action Plan team and also just on behalf of the local plan team just to update you on where we're at it is very brief because we really are just proceeding as we advised at the last forum meeting a couple of months ago and the team are working very hard on revising the draft area action plan following all the comments coming in after the consultation last year and that will be going into a formal member process for member scrutiny at both councils later this year in the autumn. Meanwhile I just wanted to make sure that everyone was aware that we were coming up to quite a big stage in the overall local plan for the area so the Greater Cambridge local plan is also in development as I think most of you know and it is again coming up to a significant milestone because we will be publishing the preferred options so that's really the first proposals from us as a planning service bearing in mind all the research and the evidence gathering and the consultation that we've done. The first proposals for the plan will be again published for member scrutiny and member comment through the committee process at the end of the summer and then they will also go into formal consultation so it will be a really busy autumn on the planning front in terms of planning policy and I just urge you all to get involved at the various different stages that's really for the local plan which is formal consultation for public consultation in the autumn and if you're not already signed up for updates you can sign up for updates on our website or just email any of our team and we'll make sure that you're on our update list because we wouldn't want anyone to miss out on commenting at those formal consultation stages. So that's that's my update very brief thank you very much Chimi back to you. Okay thank you very much Hannah I don't know if there are any questions for us on that I think I spot one. We do we have one question to me what does end of the summer mean in terms of your timeline Hannah? Very good question the member process will start literally I think it is actually the first of September so that is the formal member process for the local plan that's not the formal consultation so in a way that's a bit of a preview but of course until it's gone through the member process and members have made any amendments that they'd like to make to the plan through the scrutiny process that is not the final version that we consult on so the consultation is going to start I'm pretty sure it will start at the very beginning of November we are just finalizing some of those dates with our colleagues across the councils at the moment but it is almost certainly likely to be at the very beginning of November because the member process does take about six weeks to go through both councils quite a long process with the two councils involved I'm afraid and then we need a couple of weeks to prepare after that to make sure we've got everything lined up so I hope that helps answer your question. Thank you Hannah we don't have any further questions at present but if people do think of things as we go through the evening please do put them in the Q&A section. Thank you chair. Thank you very much Julianne before we move to the next item I wish to acknowledge some of the local members who are here we recognize councillor Anna Bradnum, councillor Martin Kahn, councillor Claire Donton. Thank you very much for joining us. Okay next item is land owners overview and I think this time we have Matt to take us through that so but to you please Matt. Thank you. Hi everyone hopefully you can see my presentation on the screen is that correct? Yep so yeah I was nope no I can see you you can see me but I can't see a presentation I thought I shared the right screen try that yes something is happening that's it yes thank you fantastic hi everyone yes I'm Matthew Patterson so I'm part of the shared planning service putting together the area plan for North East Cambridge it came to our attention that maybe people know about the core site because we've got had presentations in the past on the core site but they might want to know about the other parcels of land what's currently on those and what is proposed for the future so I'm just going to run through one slide hopefully if it works yep it's not very clear unfortunately but I will put my cursor over this is the area in orange is the extent of the AAP area that goes along the railway corridor here up to the A14 and along and this is the guided busway Milton Road is this one here running up and the guided busway comes down to the station so it includes some land just to the south of the guided busway as well but essentially that's the extent of the area up in the far corner here is referred to as Wells Triangle it's a bit of vacant land at the moment it's kind of hemmed in if you like by the A14 and the guided busway and the regional college so there's not much actually happening on that land currently we are looking through the AAP at whether there is a connection through which there is existing a connection under the A14 here whether that will be enhanced and that piece of land will be developed for some potential use we haven't actually identified any use of land at the moment. B is the Cambridge Regional College they are included in the plan not because they're looking to promote development but mainly because they are still a key contributor if you like to traffic movements in the area and in particular on Kings Hedges Road and it's a regional college and therefore it has students that come from all over and we need to take account of their trips and in managing any future development of the area they will also be keen in terms of vocational training for the construction and post-construction jobs across the area as well linking into the other business communities that are in the area as well so looking at the widest gambit of jobs. C is the Cambridge Science Park primarily it's a built in the 1970s fairly low density science park with individual buildings set out in plots that have large areas of landscape and also surface area parking the science park has over the past few years looked at bringing forward new development proposals that intensify and make greater use of the site and the AAP seeks to continue to promote that intensification of the use here for employment uses and ancillary uses that support people who work in the park but also for local areas as well so the types of uses are further provision of local shops and amenities currently there's hardly any on-site as well as some community uses within here as well in gymnasium and the like. D is the St John's Innovation Park again a bit like the Science Park it's primarily a number of larger buildings set within a landscaped area with surface level car parking again we're working with them to intensify their land use here for primarily employment uses on-site but there will be a strategic connection and link through under the under the Milton Road actually here that links up the two sites. F is what we refer to as Merlin Place it's a privately owned site that currently has a building on it that's occupied by was occupied by a legal firm but I think they've now moved on so I'm not too sure what use is currently in that but that is obviously we're looking to redevelop that site so that it provides a proper frontage and active use onto Milton Road. E you would have heard about substantially this is the Anglian Water and City Council site the current use obviously is the wastewater treatment works and the former driving centre which is now the golf driving range. The AAP promotes the site for mixed use but primarily residential use on the site including substantial community uses to support the residential elements so primarily the primary schools but also community facilities and local amenities by means of shops and other leisure uses. Moving on we have this plot here which is G which is Cowley Road industrial estate essentially that is remaining as it is really other than we are looking obviously to take some of the industrial uses that are currently down on Nuffield Road and and relocate them to Cowley Road in a more intensified form and we're looking to get rid of some of the bad neighbour uses that are in here to make it more compatible with the proposed residential uses on the other side. If we take the count of the little plot of land that's on Milton Road this is what we refer to as the garages site this is the car dealerships currently they are in the current city local plan for mixed use development on that site and we are promoting that as part of the AAP as well it just made sense for us to bring it into the air action plan as it's already an allocated site for development and make sure that it's the uses there are coordinated with what's happening across the other sites. As I've said down on Nuffield Road this is the Nuffield Road industrial estate obviously it's served by a single access road in through here and this is primarily residential neighbourhood we're looking to remove the industrial uses out of the site and we're promoting residential use primarily on Nuffield Road at the end of Nuffield Road is Trinity Hill Farm and we're looking at a mixed use development there potentially but at the moment the landowner who is Trinity Hill College are promoting it primarily for employment use which is currently in. Lastly is this large parcel here which is L which is the network rail land that's been promoted and brought forward by Brookgate and consortium with DB Shanker it includes what is the rail sidings and also the rail head that has the aggregates facility on it that is remaining and which is why we're looking to effectively screen that off with industrial uses around the aggregates to mitigate against the noise impacts. The remaining parts of this site we're promoting for mixed use development around the town centre around the station as well as shops and other amenities to provide a gateway and a nice entrance into Cambridge North East so that's a fairly broad overview of what we're proposing to do on each of these plots and bring them forward I think I dealt with Jay which I might not have done Jay is the crown this is the Cambridge business park land which is this bit here this is currently in business park use so it's just offices and with the crown we're looking to bring forward this for mixed use so renewal of the offices but with further residential development as a mixed use component of that site so that's broadly it. I was also just going to briefly give an update on other elements of the plan that went doing so as Hannah said we have been summarizing obviously and reviewing all of the representations we've received to the previous consultation document these are sort of the broad outcomes of that that the spatial framework itself was broadly supported in terms of the distribution of different growth in the mix of growth across sites probably that the office floor space given the existing office provision within the Cambridge business parks and Johns and Cambridge science park that that providing for further office space was probably too much in terms of the quantums that we were looking at that there would be a need for further informal open space provision to be provided in particular around we realize the impacts of COVID and people's health and wellbeing and the need for local informal spaces is essential for that that building densities and heights were too high and but we got significant support for the protection of the industrial estate in terms of protecting the industrial floor space to be secured on the site as part of its regeneration and then lastly whether we've got the balance of the homes and jobs right I think overall it was felt we could lessen the number of jobs and increase the number of homes just because the to get that balance right across the whole of the AAP area and just to take you through we've done further evidence base so since we last undertook consultation we've been working with Historic England on a heritage impact assessment that considers building heights against potential impacts on the city's skyline and its heritage value we've done further analysis on a Townscape assessment as well that looks at how the the new Townscape of NEC will fit in with the existing Townscape of Cambridge in the White Area as well in its setting and and the consultants have provided us with some key outcomes to consider in that respect we've done some further work on a relocation strategy getting commercial advice about how we will facilitate that consolidation of the industrial use and relocation of those into Cowley Road we're doing further work on the open space top paper as well to show how we will meet the informal open space needs as well as formal open space needs and the narrative around those and we've been obviously reviewing development capacities updating our demographics work we've done further work on noise design and even form and on our transport strategies well we can closely work the land owners around their own aspirations for place and then we're doing this is still work still to come as around the infrastructure delivery plan and development viability so that's still coming and as Hannah said the next stage is for us to complete the evidence-based studies top of papers we're targeting August for completion of those and then finalizing the pre-submission draft documents and all supporting materials in September and then we go into the regulatory approval process in October and November on the AAP and then unfortunately we then pause the AAP and we await the outcome of the development consent order process for the relocation of the wastewater treatment works okay and that's it for me okay thank you Matt I think we have some questions but before we take those when you were describing the land use for parcel I think it was Jean you mentioned bad neighbor uses what about neighbor uses we have um on there you've got a concrete batching plant so it pretty much makes a lot of noise and a lot of dust and um it's not compatible really with having it with surrounding residential it's very good to have it in the intervening period because obviously we'll be doing working and having a concrete batching plant on site is very useful for construction but in the long term probably not fit for for what we want the future place to be like likewise there's the viola wastewater treatment plant it's probably more the location of the the viola waste facility there being right on the corner of Cowley Road which we hope to be the main pedestrian boulevard through and it's so we're looking at whether we relocate that internally probably more towards the the aggregates yard or whether it's appropriate to take that off site and finally it's probably stagecoach as well which have their huge depot there it's just the bus movements coming and going all hours of the day and whether that fits with our our future of the place which is as a walking and cycling neighborhood and and whether it's appropriate to have hundreds and hundreds of bus movements that aren't really serving our our plot whether we can find an alternative location for those types of uses okay there's a lot to do there all right thank you looking at the Q&A boxes here we've got Francis from Mamaleta Lane and her question is is there any potential for community oriented projects in the Wells Triangle perhaps a community garden yeah I think there's a lot of potential to look at that site for a lot of different uses like I say it's in private ownership at the moment we need to understand exactly what those that private owner might be looking for but we could certainly influence those decisions in terms of even linking up with what the Cambridge Regional College are doing around vocational training on green infrastructure and things like that which would be key I think as well okay thank you um there's also a question about is the area E where the wastewater is currently located owned solely by Anglian water uh no that that's was two pass also it was the Anglian water site and also the city council's uh site which is the former driving center and now golf driving range okay that was easy uh next question here is from Anna Williams um who says are the decisions about land use ultimately down to the developers I'm disappointed to hear that Northfield Road is no longer proposed for mixed use no it's not primarily down to the developer but they are key if they don't want to bring forward their site for what we want it to come forward for then it won't ever happen so we need to work with the landowners to understand what they want to do and they need to understand what we would would like the land needs to be on their sites I think at Northfield Road is a thorny one for us and that we want to promote mixed use along there but at the same time we the reason we've got it in the plan is to address the traffic impacts of commercial use on what is a essentially a residential uh street and neighborhood and area and therefore we have to be mindful of that okay so this this will have to be a um I guess a compromise between the developers and ourselves is that what you're saying yeah essentially at at times uh hopefully in the vast majority of instances we're aligned in what what we want other times we have to do some hard negotiating with the developers to say yes that may be what you would like that you land used to come forward for but but given what we want the area to look like or what our needs are for the place actually these are the types of land uses that that the local planning authority and and ultimately the community would think are more acceptable okay so there's um it's not a chance to be had that well I hope they are broadly in line with what what we are hoping will be will be brought forward on the sides um there's a question here from a peter who says what developments in the UK have a density comparable with proposals for the NEC yeah there's lots I mean and we've done a um a typologies paper and you can go into that and you can see the different densities where there's lots of examples even from uh in Cambridge itself where we're using similar typologies to recent developments as well as other examples from around the UK so yes we're well within and significantly below some of the densities that are coming forward in places like central land okay is it possible to provide a link to the work so that we can actually go have a look yep certainly we can at some point yeah I'll drop it into into the thank you um next question asks are you looking at the potential impacts of COVID on long-term home working yeah yeah definitely and um we're from two aspects obviously um it it may reduce the need for office although when we've discussed this with those who do office markets generally they think it will recover and and will continue to thrive in terms of Cambridge's office market um they don't see any real downturn as a result of COVID but um we do think that there will be significant opportunity for people that that wish to homework to to do that we're obviously looking at um ensuring that we make provision for home working but also that you have drop-down space and other things where you can get out of the home and not go into the office but but still do you you work in a different environment if that's what suits people as well and we think overall it's going to have a significant benefit for um traffic movement in the area certainly people not having to come into the existing science parks or the business parks and and a lot of the residents not traveling out to jobs either we've got sustainable means by which they can do that but ideally it's going to hopefully significantly reduce traffic overall well that's that's the hope um this might be a more difficult one I don't know how long will it take to remediate the land the sewage plant is on and what will be the cost is that probably a question for Anglia Water I think so I know that I know that Anglia Water have done a phase one land contamination study um and uh the results of that don't show that there are significant uh showstoppers on the side and therefore um they'll be factoring in the the that remediation period and also um yeah what the costs of that are but not something that we have um we're privy to at the moment now I think perhaps I will ask the question again when we have the um Anglia Water present presentation so mark that one um Ryan can you just please mark that one for me so that we don't forget it uh next question says given the proximity of the site we guided and came north and given the evidence from the junction while the distance is that people travel what scope is there for a small stroke medium-sized community theatre performing arts music very of a similar size to the junction yeah so so we did a lot of community consultation and this is one of the things that came up through um our um cultural uh evidence-based study that we did on cultural and leisure provision and we are looking at whether we can provide some sort of small theatre or performing arts it may be associated with one of the schools or it may be associated with um some of the uses within the um Cambridge Science Park in particular who are looking at conferencing facility which isn't too dissimilar in terms of uh making that that sort of space multi-purpose and multi-functional in terms of providing for other uses such as uh a venue for for other cultural activities okay certainly well you know the good to how you probably have similar questions coming up with people wanting other things um you know that make a community um next question uh I think this is Councillor Steve Hunt from South Cams I hope it is hello Councillor Hunt uh his question is how will you address concerns rebuilding height and density and also increase open space without drastically reducing the number of dwellings and industrial floor space that the development will achieve yeah so in particular we're obviously looking at reducing the amount of commercial given people's comments about getting the balance between homes and jobs right so that obviously frees up a quite a bit of the site that then can go over to open space provision as well and secures that and and it allows us probably to reduce densities as well so that that's essentially what we're doing um and and the new draft plan you'll you'll see a reduction in heights anyway okay I think you mentioned in your presentation that um there was still some work ongoing on open spaces am I correct yes yeah so we're still doing some work on the open spaces um and again it's it's we're meeting or seeking to meet the informal space standards of the city council on site and then looking at strategic provision for the formal open spaces that would benefit not just NEC but all of northeast Cambridge and surrounding areas in terms of its provision okay thank you for that uh next question ah welcome former councillor Hazel Smith it's good to see you here with us and the question is is there no question of access from Milton Road into Norfield Road we have looked at this obviously we don't it's mainly for the county who have informed us that because of the guided busway where the guided busway goes and how the how close the distance is to if you were to puncture and provide access that it just doesn't work from a transport perspective ah okay I don't know if there are any transport people here who might like to expand on that we have our county council ah hi there hello David welcome hi there David Ellert here a growth and development manager at the county and transport assessment manager being involved in supporting the transport evidence base and I think what Matt's described is is right in in that the the just the technical ability to to deliver that connection within the space available is extremely difficult um and that's been investigated as part of the um the the transport work for the area um I mean I I can take take it away and provide the highways engineers a list of list of reasons and where and where we got to on that and circulate that uh separate to the meeting but it has been investigated okay I think that will be helpful because obviously you know I'm sure this is not going to be the only time that this question will be asked and it will be helpful for the communities to actually understand the reason why that decision has been taken the way it is so thank you and the next question is from councillor Anna Bradnam the crown site which is the Cambridge business park is a good employment site as it is I'm surprised you're envisaging changing to mixed use yeah I mean this is one where we negotiated with the the existing landowner of the crown and we obviously want to see housing alongside employment um and and we want to make best use of that existing site it will continue to be a fantastic site for employment but it can be both um given its location essentially you know on the right beside a transport network really so yeah yeah okay um I think we have a just looking at the time yeah okay a few more questions and then we'll go on to the next one um for trumpington meadows there were proposals for live work units has this been considered for north east cambridge yeah we have um the only issue with live work units is how you secure the work element of them they tend to be initially work live work units and then over time just become larger live units without the work element so that tends to be an enforcement issue that we've had in the past and it's one where we'd rather tackle home working in a different way and looking at how you can accommodate that within the building itself in terms of ensuring space is adequate to to facilitate home working or looking at the alternative which is having separate drop-down spaces within places where people can come to to do that kind of home working okay all right um what impact on cambridge housing need will this have considering it will not start until 2028 and take 20 years to complete yeah so this is obviously we're working with the local plan to understand exactly how many units we will um be providing towards the local plan housing target over our plan period as well um and we still think we would be delivering somewhere in the region of about uh 250 to 350 units per per annum so it'll make a significant contribution okay about those numbers you've quoted are the sorts of the current numbers that we have from large sites yeah uh do you recognize any prospect of that being improved upon yeah I think we're being relatively conservative for the purposes of the making sure we've got enough housing sites in the local plan and we've got a good good supply of housing uh what we don't want to do is um over eget not have enough supply at the end of the day so it's best to be cautious really okay all right thank you very much for that match um you were grilled quite a bit there um I think our next um presentation is from Fiona Bryant from Cambridge City who will be talking about the core site so over to you Fiona thank you thank you and I hope I hope you can all hear me um hopefully Ryan is very kindly going to put up my slides um just just a quick introduction for anyone who doesn't know me I'm Fiona Bryant I'm the Director of Enterprise and Sustainable Development at Cambridge City Council um I'm the city council lead for the um development of the core site as we call it which you will know from tonight as being the site E on the plan that Matt was showing um last time at this forum um I gave a brief um sort of introduction to some of the work we're doing around um the principles for development that we're looking at obviously the development it is at a very early stage um as you can see the planning framework is progressing and you will hear from um Karen Barclay shortly around um progress on the relocation project for the water treatment plant um so the the subsequent development um obviously still subject to planning frameworks um planning and the water treatment plant moving um is at very early stages um and I gave a brief introduction of the sort of principles we were talking about last time tonight um we're short of time I'm going to focus on three key areas um but um as you can see from this slide just to say that the um the core site does clearly sit right at the heart right in the middle of the of the new district in Cambridge um and um we are looking at um uh you know bringing forward um the site under under some really um key promises around um being engaging with uh the the widest possible number of people to actually help us um look at the design and obviously future construction of it and trying to ensure that we aspire to not only the communities um the residents um and the city's desire to um to address the climate change issue but also Anglian water and Cambridge cities own quite um and South Cams's aspirational targets and certainly for us in Anglian water um who own the site that is um to be uh to target net zero carbon for our performance by 2030 so it is um it is uh quite a an aspirational target from that point of view but a necessary one um next slide please Ron so the first thing I'm just going to remind people of and this is something I said last time um these are the three promises that um have been agreed to um for us to think about and the principles we're going to work to every time we are talking about development of the site um so we are um working to ensure that it's going to support health happiness and well-being of the people who live work and spend time here and I think that last bit is very important um as Matt has said across the AAP there will be a combination of of mixed uses um and allow people to live and work in the same area and hopefully reduce the amount of travel um that they need to do but I think it's really important that we also ensure that it integrates with um the rest of the city and um and and the the closest adjacent areas of South Cams um Greater Cambridge um so obviously it isn't just about people who live and work here it will be about making sure that um it provides opportunities for the people who live close by and that they want to spend time there as well even if they don't live or or work there um we want to make sure that it's an integral new quarter of Cambridge um it obviously needs to be uh rooted in Cambridge take inspiration from the current city um we need to work with citizens to look at their present needs and their future needs um and ensure that it does meet um those future needs and certainly in terms of um sustainable sustainability um we are looking for it to be an exemplar for development um fit for the challenges of the 21st century the current ones and and future ones um and making sure that we make the most of the um uh nature and uh accelerate that transition to a net zero carbon world next slide please Ron um I'm just going to start I'm going to talk about engagement and how we plan to go forward in the minute but I'm just going to start with uh what we call meanwhile use and for those of you who don't know what that is um a meanwhile use is a really important part of um development of the sort of scale that we're talking about um and it's about engaging with business with customers with um the communities in in temporary or longer term uses that we hope will also support the longer term development on that site but also engage people in the interest of of helping start that process um and obviously we've also looked as Matt has talked about looked at the impacts of COVID and what will happen and what has happened and the huge amount of work that the mutual aid groups um and others and counselors um and the community have done in terms of working with the vulnerable and particularly the those who who are isolating during the COVID practice and those who have um suffered the impact of redundancy for example despite um support um and have uh needed to take advantage of of food hubs so um we're looking at three main uses for the meanwhile use the first is working with um organizations that I'm sure many of you will be aware of um to develop a location for a food hub um and a new local food ecosystem um and um that is primarily through distribution and and maybe incubator kitchens and certainly we're looking in the long term plan of um encouraging that ecosystem um that will include things like community gardens uh and space and um and you know workshops and and other things to to help sort of build that whole ecosystem um secondly we are looking to try and engage um interest from um businesses and um and individuals who may be interested in in in working um medium and longer term on the site um and therefore um we will be looking to to provide in the interim um some affordable workspace um and and we do mean that affordable workspace targeted at very micro local startup businesses who maybe can't uh find or um afford the type of space that they would like in the rest of the city um maybe link to sustainable food and also um adapting or or addressing the climate emergency and um thirdly and I'm sure um everyone will be aware of this one of the um key ways of of of helping to ensure that we are also looking at um climate change and the net zero carbon challenge is to um increase the level of um or increase the the the modern methods of construction that will be used on the site to um develop it um and uh that means that um we need to be building those skills um and we need to be building that capacity um as soon as we can and the closer you can do that to site if not on site obviously the better because um it helps reduce those CO2 emissions so we will be looking at um developing a modern method of construction factory teaching some construction skills and um transferring um uh employment um particularly for disadvantaged young people um who we would hope to get interested in in those schemes and obviously um technology changes and um needing the different skills to address that climate challenge will be really important so those are the sorts of uses um that we're looking at to bring forward at an earlier stage called meanwhile use um but but hopefully we will be using them to also help inform us and underpin uh the longer term plans for for what is developed on the site thank you next slide please run thank you um the second part I want to look at is stakeholder engagement as um as I suggested it is very early stages for this um so um we are currently in the process of um of reaching out to um a number of organizations that are based in or around the city um across a number of different themes and at the moment that includes about 45 different organizations um that we are approaching for an initial one one hour stakeholder interview um we are planning um very shortly a soft launch of a website um primarily at this stage um because it is very early stages the website will actually be more about um getting people to register their interest and um so that we can have them on the list for feedback um when we when we do launch the the proper website later in the year um and um and that will obviously the the further launch will obviously include more but we're really keen to engage and get people who are interested so that we know to approach you later on um this is about building relationships with with key stakeholders and key stakeholder groups um we also are looking to establish the mailing list through the website um the engagement that we do this year will very much be um in line with uh the the the principles we've talked about um asking people for what they would like to see on the site um what their needs are how they want to live um working with all demographic groups um all communities um you know all um particularly targeting some of the harder to reach groups or traditionally harder to reach groups um and we we are planning a longer sort of period of engagement um via a festival early in 2022 and we'll be providing some more information on that later in the year so um just to summarize this this period is very much about those early relationships really early engagement um and building those relationships facilitating the sort of um the you know the the inclusive engagement um by by partnering and working particularly with hard to reach groups and and communicating key messages about the project and its vision thank you run final slide i think for me um and the last bit and i know everyone's really interested it is about the sustainability in that and the promise around that um clearly for a site like this it's really critical that we actually do a lot of um research and benchmarking and agree the targets um the metrics we're going to use so that we can not only monitor but feedback and demonstrate um progress against those um partly uh this is around sustainability so at the moment we're looking the the research and benchmarking into those frameworks whether it's doughnut economics whether it's the UN sustainable development goals um looking at UK and global projects um aligning with national and international requirements as well as our own and angling waters um commitments and aspirations um we would hope by later in the year we should be able to get to a point where we can set the overarching targets um and um and then we will be obviously testing approaches and options for achieving those um and uh and developing those into more detailed strategies and targets um just alongside this work on on the sort of broader sustainability we're actually working also with the quality of life foundation um who are developing a framework that that's um that looks at perhaps um some of the um more key uh themes that relate to quality of life and um we're hoping to work with them as a pilot project for including those within um you know in a more detailed way within our metrics and targets um that's where we are at the moment that's just a very brief glimpse into three areas we're looking at or where we're working on at the moment um and obviously as we move forward um we will be able to give more information as soon as we do launch the um the interim site I will make sure that you have the website address um in the uh further chat or further website the community forum website um please do um or rather please don't expect too much information from it when you go on it at the moment but please do register your interest um because we are really keen to work with you thank you right uh thank you very much for that Fiona uh quite interesting to see those three key um meanwhile uses that um are being proposed for this site um quite interesting third one the um and I just asked a very quick question before I go to the um all the questions we have from the attendees uh I think it was just once like we had a festival item early 2022 I'm not sure I heard what that was about if I've missed it apologies um so so really um it will be um well to be fair I think we've got more work to do on it at the moment but um it's basically will be at a still at an early stage and it'll be about um a number of things that will come out of our engagement program this year and we'll start helping to underpin the vision and values for the core site so the it's likely to be over a week um probably primarily over two weekends but likely to be over a week um and it may be um it may be a number of different things whether it's workshops about how you might um for example how you might achieve um a site that is developed um within Donut Economic Framework or or ideas for that ideas for technologies um what people would like to see how they want to live in future um how they might do things differently in future um number of workshops involving schools and young people about um literally um using sort of models and things like that it'll be a range of activities around engaging people um at that sort of really early stage um Francis actually um I don't know whether Francis would like to say anything more about it but it is we haven't got the final dates yet um we will be providing more information when we can but it will be in in the spring of 2022 and it will sort of be informed by the programme of engagement we're doing this year and then uh move that forward into into a range of activities or a link Francis could I ask you just to add anything more if you like? Ah thank you Fiona I wasn't expecting to talk that you'll swap to my um town and core site happen I don't think I'd actually have anything to add it is really going to be focusing on the vision for the core site around the promises and the values and what that looks like in practice and really drawing on what we can learn from other countries uh and about as well as what we learn from engaging with people and organisations within the community and some of those activities will be really practical one particularly one um I'm rooting for is is planting lots of bulbs along the guided busway hopefully it's something that would have a very long-term impact so a whole range of things still being scoped out and um we'll have news at some point to share. Thank you thank you Francis I think I've got a maybe two or three minutes or a couple of questions I understand Chancellor and Abradnam wanted to ask a question would you like to unmute please and ask your question? Thank you yes uh thank you uh my question is in your slide about meanwhile uses uh and you talked about a Cambridge food hub and I'm very glad to see that many of these uses reflect what's currently going on on for example units at Cowley Road which is uh very good and supporting for um employment for adults with you know learning learning difficulties and that sort of thing and that's quite good looking at construction skills and such like but one of the things I wanted to check with you currently that site houses the Cambridge food hub but and you said in your slide new innovative local food ecosystem for the city now currently this the the Cambridge food hub supports South Cams as well and I just wanted to check with you that it's the intention would be to continue to support South Cams as well not just the city. Absolutely um the intention will be to develop what we've got and grow it not to not to suddenly um you know that people don't live on boundary lines or or rather you know they might live on them but um it doesn't work like that so yes we would that that that wasn't intended to mean it was just for the city it was more intended to mean that's what we'd like to do on that site which happens to sit within the city. Okay thanks. Thank you and I will take just one more question and then we'll move on to the next speaker uh Councillor Daunton please. Right okay yes thank you um thanks very much Fiona and I'm just wondering how you're going to engage with organisations that represent older people um clearly a development where one shouldn't need to own a car drive a car would be very attractive to older people who have to give up their car for whatever reason and and how are you going to bring that important voice into the design of the development? Um well I certainly you know the the organisations that we're starting to engage with this year you know we're we're engaging across the demographics if you have any particular suggestions of organisations that are more based perhaps around older people that um we haven't got on that list we're absolutely willing and I think I've written to um to ask for suggestions to be added to that list um so that would be really helpful but certainly we we're starting with the cross section um and yeah it's really important to engage with the needs of of all um you know all the age groups um that may well be living on that side and and you know there will be there will be lots of the same needs and and one of those might might be obviously ease of walking cycling and and accessing um facilities within a reasonably close geographic proximity and particularly where those are planned um to fit around uh whether for you know younger or parents it might be for school drop-off and they can then go on to other things very easily but for older people they may have different needs and may like to see different um you know different developments and and and you know and the same with younger people in terms of how you know how they live and how they will live in the future so we will be engaging with a range of groups but but if anyone's got any particular suggestions then please let us know we're really keen to um to to work with as many people as we possibly can okay thank you thank you thank you for that um Fiona thank you Claire uh right we will now move on to our last presentation which is from Karen Barclay from Anglia and Water over to you Karen Good evening everybody can I just say everybody can hear me and I've also got with me um Council Hawkins Mark Malcolm so it's great to be back at the forum this evening hi Mark I can see you too see yes um thank you welcome Mark thank you both thank you too great thanks so we're planning to update you on the Cambridge Wastewater Treatment Mark Relocation project and I came to the forum last time and covered a lot of the background to the project and and why we're proposing to relocate the treatment plant so tonight's plan is to focus on the current phase of consultation which launched um on the 23rd of June and presents all of our proposals for the new facility which I thought would be of most interest this evening and for those that don't know me I am Karen Barclay leading the public consultation of project and um Mark sorry yes hi Mark Malcolm I'm Anglia Waters program director for the relocation project thanks Mark and Ryan's kindly also offered to control our slides as well so if we can move on to the next slide Ryan that's great thank you so um I thought it was just worth underlining I think this photograph sums up quite nicely where the existing facility is and it's a facility that's been serving the the area of Cambridge and Greater Cambridge for over 100 years now and as Fiona and Matt have described in their presentations this evening we are planning to build a new modern wastewater treatment facility for for Greater Cambridge precisely because this frees up this existing site and enables that vision for the core site and that wider erection plan that Fiona and Matt have outlined this evening so I think that picture sums up the the the location and its proximity to the New Cambridge Regional Station and the surrounding employment areas um quite nicely and then Ryan can we move on the next slide I just thought it was worth orientating everybody exactly where we are in the project and the timeline of consultation so we launched the project in the summer last year and held the first phase of consultation and that really helped us on a number of levels we received some great feedback from the community and other stakeholders and it also helped us to make a final decision on the new site for the new facility and we announced that site in January this year and we've been taking on board all of the feedback that's come back from that earlier phase of consultation and the input from community and technical working groups and I think I've seen a number of members here this evening that have been joining some of our community working groups and that's really helped develop our proposals which are as I say presented in the current phase of consultation and hopefully many of you have been able to access some of those materials and I'll cover at the end where you can access those materials to give us your further feedback so we've also been out in the site and many of you may have seen some of our teams in on the site itself in the surrounding area carrying out environmental and ground investigation surveys and that's been informing our design too and as the next few slides will show in terms of the vision and how we've been taking on board that feedback and very much want further feedback ahead of the final phase of consultation as it said at the end there which will come early 2022. So if we can move on Ryan thank you so as it says there Anglin Waters vision does go beyond just building a new plant we it's not simply about moving the old facility to a new location and it's it's quite an exciting prospect for a water and wastewater treatment company to build a new facility of this size serving a as larger population as Greater Cambridge and we do want it to be a facility of the future we regard wastewater as a valuable resource and we think there's a great deal more that we can do with the opportunity of a new plant in optimizing the recycling of it the use of of of those recovered nutrients to help farmland and also its ability to generate renewable energy also to heat to power the plant itself and and our proposals include how it will be an energy neutral plant and heat homes and but all that before returning with clean water to the river can and obviously the the flows provide a really significant play a significant role in maintaining the flow of the river can as well. A lot of our proposals as well in the feedback that we've taken on board from the first phase of consultation we've thought really hard about how we can use the opportunity to develop the area surrounding the plant itself and creating new habitats for wildlife and also point of feedback that came back really strongly was about the access to the countryside and I think that's been really important during these these pandemic times and our proposals also include some ideas for how we can better connect to some of the existing footpaths and create new access so if we can move to the next slide Ryan I just said it was worth underlining some of the design principles that have been really underpinning and and driving some of the proposals and are presented in in the consultation and will come on and share with you some of those visuals and that is as it says that I'm not top bullet there creating a state of the art low carbon water recycling centre it is absolutely the commitment that we spoke about at the previous forum on occasions in the past that reducing the footprint and the plant itself will be around 22 hectares and that's about half the size of the existing plant odor was obviously a real concern from a community perspective particularly given the experience of the existing facility so we've really looked at the engineering and the design processes to think about how we can incorporate solutions and really minimize odor at source there's lots of more information and more specific information in the consultation material on that visual impact it is an open landscape and really sensitive to where it sits in the landscape so we've come up with quite an innovative design which screens a lot of the plant using the excavated material from the plant itself and the tunneling and that does provide a screen it also provides quite a strong identity for the plant I don't think there's there's many other water treatment or wastewater treatment plants which which look like the design that's come through this process and and obviously as it says there would reduce carbon and traffic impacts in construction as well and delivering that environmental and landscape enhancement that I've already spoken about and responding very much to the needs and aspirations of the local community and that's really come strongly through the access piece to the countryside but also tying into the Wiccan Firmvision area where this site sits in the southern end of and also the recent plans and proposals that have been published around the Cambridge Nature Networks as well and it says on the top right hand side there we've we've continued to have the support and challenge of the design council and that's been really helpful in terms of you know making sure the standards of the design are really really high so the next slide Ryan thank you just gives a bit of a sort of more color as to how we've been inspired by that landscape that approach that I've described and how we hope that our design proposals will support and over time enhance the natural environment and we've we've had some the help of some local architects that know the area and know the the the landscape very well and as I say we've been tying in our proposals and ideas with Cambridge Past, Present and Future, National Trust and Wildlife Trust as well and as you can see we've looked very much at the local furniture character and I've really been inspired and that center kind of ring there shows the early inspiration and the circular theme that came through those early design proposals. How many more slides do you have? We've got about half dozen more, I think you don't have that much time. Great if we go to the next one then Ryan that is the the plant itself and that gives a bird's eye view with A14 just orientate everybody and then the next slide just gives a bit more of a sense as to what that screening in the earthwork bank that I described looks like with a more natural screen on top and there's lots of options in the consultation material that describe that. The next slide Ryan gives more of a sense of a more structured engineered screening and then there's just a couple of others to give people a flavor of some of the other viewpoints brilliant and we're also planning to include a discovery center as well because we take our roles and responsibilities in terms of providing an educational resource and supporting the sustainability curriculum and letting people get up close to wastewater treatment processes which is really really important from a sustainability perspective. I think the next slide Ryan just then brings to life a bit more those details that I just spoke about in terms of providing access so the yellow dots provides a new footpaths and connects up with existing footpaths and that provides around a three and a half kilometer new loop then the pinky purple line there is a new bridal way that we're proposing which again would loop up to the existing bridal way network and create a new nine and a half kilometer loop. There's lots of proposals if we go to the next slide Ryan in the material around the landscape proposals and the 22 hectare plant itself there's about 25 hectares of proposed new woodland and 35 hectares of proposed new grassland and we're seeking to get input from the community as to what they'd like us to see in terms of that development of that wider area and then Mark I think you're going to there's just a couple of slides left just to talk about. I've taken the hint to be quick so that's fine so I guess we just as Karen said we're well aware that odour is is really an important aspect to be mitigated and there's a number of things we're doing there's significantly more covering of process units it's the positioning of process units as well and the key aspect is is sort of the design and the avoiding turbulence basically in the water flows as they go through and then odour scrubbing as well and so we've put a significant effort already into odour modelling and there's quite a bit more information on the publicly available info on on odour as well but I guess our commitment is is that there will be negligible levels only at all receptors around us and then just to flick on to the next if we may just a quick comment on on our carbon and climate commitments so this this plan will will end up being operation in net zero by 2030 once once built from an operational perspective and the main contributors to that is there's a there'll be a gas to grid system whereby we're effectively harvesting the the biogas that comes off the treatment process cleaning it up and then putting it into the the national gas network and there'll be an element of renewable energy through solar as well and then we're looking at water recycling and heat recovery technologies in addition to that and then just a quick comment on the embedded carbon the sort of construction carbon as such through selection of materials technology sort of earthworks and offsite fabrication and such we we expect to to have a significantly reduced carbon footprint in the in the embedded carbon piece and that won't get to zero that piece but the the operational element will will do so both of those really important I guess link very closely to comments that Fiona made earlier as well thank you okay thank you thank you um now we we we can open for questions and I think what we'll do is take questions specifically uh for you Karen and Mark if there are any of those and then we can come to the general Q&A for all other questions sure thank you you wanted to return to the earlier one um council Hawkins the decommissioning one ah yes thank you let's take that first I'll just touch on that briefly so we're in detailed conversations with the environment agency um who who we get the permits from and they're obviously uh important on those regulations so in terms of what's required and I guess essentially what we'll be doing is is to make safe and decontaminate the area as as required there isn't a significant contamination but it's obviously been a waste water treatment plant that sits within the the relocation contract and then going forward in terms of the future development contract with the master developer they would then take the area from from that position of made safe and decontaminated and move it forward and in terms of duration and cost we're working on both of those I guess duration would be a sort of three to nine month type period um and and cost is is being worked on at the moment okay I'm sure you'll get the question come up again so hopefully you will have the answers by then yeah indeed it's a work in progress thanks okay uh cool um I think I spied one for you Karen will you be able to attend some face-to-face meetings now restrictions are being lifted thank you and thanks Margaret for the question um and yes we are actually in touch with all the parish councils um uh even before the the announcement about about the restrictions being lifted we'd offered to um come and host some um kind of pop-up type events in in parish councils or village halls um and display some of the materials on on large format boards but yes we're also happy to come out and attend meetings um as would would be required or um people would like us to so happy to be flexible with that okay and I presume they know how to get hold of you it's they do indeed yeah it's in the consultation paperwork okay um at this point if I might ask our panellists to please all put their videos on and we'll start taking the questions um that have been asked and any more of that to come up I think if I could ask for I don't know who's who might want to answer this um still on the wastewater treatment plant is it sustainable to move the sewage plants to the green belt this development comes with a huge price off-site why are you not acknowledging this I would like to answer shall I I can I can take that one all right yeah so um when we started preparing the AIP back in 2014 we obviously went out with what was issues and options in 2014 that looked at retention of the wastewater treatment site in its current place looking at the option of consolidation as well uh on on the site its existing site and then obviously the option of relocation off-site as well um through the work that we did on those obviously if it stays where it is there's not much development potential anywhere around the site it would only be for sort of light industrial uses um and then with consolidation on site there was long discussions with Anglia and water about the technical feasibility of being able to deliver that and it it's not very easily deliverable on site in particular trying to do a consolidated plant facility while maintaining the existing operational facility which you'd need to do at the same time um and even if it was technically feasible uh it doesn't actually free up much land for development you still have the older issues so it it doesn't actually allow us to to bring forward significant regeneration in that area and there is significant investment in the infrastructure in particular you've got Cambridge North Station you've got the guided busway um and it's an area on on the edge of um Cambridge I think what's probably not included in that question is the alternative would be that all of the housing that's proposed for northeast Cambridge doesn't disappear as well um you've got to consider where the contribution that the housing is making to greater Cambridge's housing needs would then have to be met elsewhere and where that would need to be met and that's has to be factored into that sort of overarching impact assessment and essentially it looks and we are following government policy here around making best use of land in urban areas and trying to meet as much as needs as possible within those areas and yes that means um by that the wastewater treatment plant necessarily needs to be relocated to facilitate that okay and I guess it's a project that's been identified as being important strategically to the region um which is why there's been government funding for it yeah in particular you know the the HIF funding acknowledges that Cambridge has a significant housing need that it needs to to meet and um and that's not an easy it's not an easy solution to meet that that housing requirement and therefore the government has had to step in in this instance to provide funding or other otherwise it's just not a viable option sounds like we're between a rock and a hard place um okay so if I go back to some of the earlier questions we can take that very quickly because we are we've got about 10 minutes before we're due to end but obviously we'll try and answer as many as we can for those vast questions and the ones as I said earlier on the ones that we don't get to we will provide answers written answers on the website after the meeting so uh what specifically were there before teenagers under 18 especially those on low incomes I'm assuming this is around within the open space provision that was suspected it was asked about 6 30 yeah so um we are looking at a range of different uses um ideally we're through the planning process we're setting aside the space to to provide a number of different uses they could be skateboard park or it could be you know um any type of kind of outdoor facilities you're looking at multi-use games areas the kind of basketball court kind of provision that they have in in local parks and things like that so there could be a range of things I think once once the open spaces get established we'll look at what what is needed to um serve the area and meet the needs of of all its residents including those in those in the age group well I presume we are open to suggestions anyway aren't we yeah we will be and ideas you know and things will change as long as we've secured the open space we can you know amend it adapt it as as we see fit to meet needs moving forward and will there be roof gardens as open space yeah definitely roof gardens balconies and private amenity space communal amenity space we're looking at courtyards livable streets none of which through Cambridge own informal space policy actually count towards that open space provision informal open space provision but there will be lots of that and we're looking at growing space on roofs as well for for ensuring that you know you can do growing and and looking at allotments different provision for those as well as how we landscape the area to to make sure that it's a meets biodiversity targets but also um uh growing community growing spaces and everything else yeah okay that's great uh will you make provision for hot desk in office space for people who want to work from home but do not have space yeah I think that's what what when I was talking about drop-down spaces that's what I was talking about that sort of hot desk in space um you know offices and I think Fiona was talking about that as well she's talking about uh incubator space and move on space but as part of that there's a wide range of of different kind of options and yeah managed workspace will be one of those um targeted probably towards uh you know the residential people who you know get bored working working from home I think we're staring out at the same view and it's nice to have a change of scenery uh with great broadband better broadband them hopefully you've got at home so yeah there'll be no software from that aren't we yeah so I think all of us would would like a different change of scenery and and we will necessarily meet those needs because they are crucial needs very important yeah definitely and that's one thing we've learned from the last 15 to 18 months um yes we'll provide the answer on the access the transport one from county council so that's that's done has the assessment of height of buildings and potential light pollution taken account of impact on rural areas to the north such as fengetian and honing sea yeah so we undertook a visual and a visual impact in landscape assessment that consider those elements and in particular it looks at this it identifies the sensitive edge being the the bit that borders the fen landscape if you like and and therefore it proposes uh much lower building heights in those areas yeah and scales up and given the you know you're talking about 180 hectare development site it kind of blends up and therefore you won't see it from those long distances so I suspect this yeah I think there's also yeah and that takes account of light pollution as well um there is already light pollution within the area and but there's ways and means that we manage that better these days through in particular street lighting and stuff but we need to make sure that because we want it to be an accessible cyclable walkable area uh we want it to be safe as well so we're going to need that lighting to work at the local level at least we hope to you know lighting is moved on significantly they can do the focus lighting down so that it doesn't impact that and we've got issues obviously with bat movements from Cambridge Science Park in particular over into the river cam and light is one of the key impacts of that so we'll need to manage that too okay thank you um next question says have you conducted work mobility studies to assess how many people continue to work in an area in which they live recognizing that Cambridge is high tech which encourages job mobility yeah and and certainly in the um evidence base for the transport work we're looking at uh we look at job mobility but primarily we're looking at internalization trying to provide housing as close to the employment as possible to to minimize that as well but yeah I mean we we recognize that job mobility is you know one of the key aspects of working in Cambridge uh is the the opportunity that people have to ready job markets uh for NEC it's about ensuring that we've got sustainable transport connections to get people where they need to be whether that's into the Cambridge and Science Park and the business parks or to other parts of Cambridge in the most I guess this is probably where the question probably arises to county council highways people about how they're going to manage the traffic if we then find that there's a lot more coming out of there than um that we initially envisage consider it's already a very busy um junction and yeah it is um so yeah the essence of the approach and the design is about encouraging internalization and sustainable transport use and that's at the heart of we how we're designing it in um we're setting a trip cap on the development that restricts the amount of vehicles that will be able to leave um and as part of the proposals for the development in the area we'd be securing a network of monitoring and cameras that allows us to understand exactly how the development's coming forward and performing um so that's our approach to the area as a whole we have a transport approach that's designed to minimize those trips monitor those trips and mitigate mitigate those trips and I'm aware of separate questions that we've received about existing um congestion in the area um and highways related challenges uh given the detail of those questions I think it's best if I come back in in writing on those with a word technical response from our highway safety experts because part of that those questions uh concerned uh speeding as well okay um just something just jogged my memory there uh Ryan you didn't have a question similar on this topic earlier on yes uh and David's just alluded to that um it was a question around the traffic along King's Hedges Road and um as he's intimated there I think we'll have to take that away and publish the publisher written response along with the other questions on the website within the next two weeks just okay quickly it's a question that relates to um uh congestion in the peak hour on on that road but also speeding off peak and so a difficult pair of challenges to resolve and that we will respond to um how we can deal with that and some detail about that situation okay all right uh thank you um we've got two minutes left to the end of this session and I don't think we'll be able to take all these uh questions that are left um but perhaps I can direct one to either Karen or Mark it's access to the proposed news site of the water recycling center are you giving consideration to a dedicated um exit directly of the A14 so avoid using either high digital or the B1047 we are um thank you for that question there are three um traffic and access options included in the consultation material and one absolutely is um direct access of the A14 all right okay um just so we can keep to time I will say thank you to everyone who has um uh contributed thank you to our panel and to everyone who's asked questions uh the rest of the questions we will answer them um and provide the answers on the website and um the video of this webinar will and the questions uh we aim for them to be available within 10 working days uh from today so that you can see them um and of course questions feedback and comments you can send uh to the email address that is currently on the screen um and the webpage email is also there and the telephone number um and I remind you please to register for the contact list um the link to the registration form is also on the webpage and a quick reminder I said earlier on at the beginning that there will be a poll come up at the end I still have six questions and we really would love you to uh answer those questions for us and there's a very important one there about the format of this forum um and what if you're moving forward so please please do take the time to complete it the next meeting will be in the autumn um so please go to the webpage uh for more information on when that will be exactly um and at this point all that's left for me to say is thank you everyone uh panel and I think these thank you and good night