PLANNING COMMITTEE DATE: 29 July 2021 Application 16/1134/OUT Agenda Item Number Date Received 16 June 2016 Officer Fiona Bradley Target Date EoT 29 October 2021 Ward Newnham Site Land West of JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0FA Proposal Outline planning permission with all matters reserved is sought for: - Up to 370,000 sq m of academic floor space (Class D1 space), commercial/research institute floor space (Class B1b and sui generis research uses) of which not more than 170,000 sq m will be commercial floor space (Class B1b). - Up to 2,500sqm of nursery floorspace (Class D1). - Up to 4,000sqm of retail/food and drink floorspace (Classes A1-A5). - Up to 4,100sqm and not less than 3,000sqm for assembly and leisure floor space; - Up to 5,700sqm of sui generis uses, including an energy centre and data centre; - Associated infrastructure, including roads (including adaptions to highway junctions on Madingley Road), pedestrian, cycle and vehicle routes, parking, drainage, open spaces, landscaping and earthworks; and demolition of existing buildings and breaking up of hard standing Applicant Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge SUMMARY The development accords with the Development Plan for the following reasons: 1) The principle of development accords with Cambridge Local Plan 2018 Policy 19, in providing a mix of academic and commercial uses within an allocated employment site. 2) The development will make an important contribution to jobs provision in Cambridge 1 and the wider area, with a maximum potential Gross Value Added (GVA) of £864.8 million for the local and regional economy. 3) The necessary mitigation measures, including transport improvements, will be secured through the section 106 agreement and will be triggered as development comes forward on the site. 4) The development will create significant visual effects from longer views to the south, but balanced against wider benefits of the scheme, existing potential development of the site and the package of proposed mitigation, is considered on balance acceptable. 5) In terms of designated heritage assets, the assessment concludes there will be a moderate adverse effect on Schlumberger (Grade II* Listed building); White House (Grade II Listed Building) and the Conduit Head Road and West Cambridge Conservation Areas. There will be some major impacts for non-designated heritage assets. Overall, the scheme benefits outweigh the harm identified. 6) The proposed street interventions to the existing campus will ensure walking and cycling at the new campus will be adequate for the additional level of development. 7) The proposed development will reduce surface water runoff to the greenfield rate, improving the current situation by 10%. Mitigation and management and maintenance of the strategic drainage infrastructure will ensure there is no adverse risk from flooding. 8) The application demonstrates that a net gain in biodiversity can be achieved through the development. RECOMMENDATION APPROVAL subject to planning conditions and completion of a S106 legal agreement. 2 Contents Section Index Page No. A Background 4 1 Site Description / Area Context 6 2 Description of the Proposal 11 3 Site History 21 4 Relevant Planning Policy 23 5 Publicity 26 6 Consultations 28 7 Representations 62 8 Assessment 104 Principal of Development 105 Design and layout 114 Transport 126 Air Quality 145 Environmental Impacts and Residential Amenity 151 Landscape and Visual Impact 158 Impact on Heritage Assets 167 Impact on Trees 174 Ecology 175 Flood Risk and Sustainable Drainage 176 Renewable Energy and Sustainability 180 Utilities 186 Waste Management 187 3 Disabled Access 188 Public Art 188 Third Party Representations 190 Planning Obligations 203 9 Planning Balance and Conclusion 210 10 Recommendation 213 Appendices 1 1999 Masterplan 2 Proposed Illustrative Masterplan 3 Development Control Forum minutes 14 January 2021 4 Map of visual receptors for the LVIA 5 Proposed Parameter Plans 6 Committed developments included within the Transport Assessment (residential and employment) 7 Cambridgeshire Quality Panel minutes 7 July 2017 8 Proposed Design Guidelines A.0 BACKGROUND Pre-existing development and the 1999 Masterplan A.1 Development at the West Cambridge Site has been incremental since the 1950s with a first masterplan for the site developed in 1966. The most significant developments on the site were the school of Veterinary Sciences 1953-55 and the existing Cavendish II Laboratory constructed in the 1970’s. A.2 In 1999 an outline planning application for the site (planning reference 97/0961/OP) was granted permission for University academic departments (73,000 sq m), research institutes (24,000 sq m), commercial research (41,000 sq m), sports centre (10,120 sq m), shared amenities (including shops, food and drink and lecture theatre), 200 residential units, park and cycle facility and associated infrastructure. It was reviewed and updated in 2004. 4 A.3 The extant 1999 masterplan is referred to in the application documents as the ‘1997 masterplan’ however, as it was approved in 1999 it is referred to in this report as the ‘1999 masterplan’. The 1999 masterplan development was built out under Design Guidelines which controlled building heights and plot ratios across the campus. There was an associated S106 Agreement which contained 15 clauses for transport mitigation; the planning use classes of permitted uses at the site and future public access to the sports centre. Triggers for the S106 were based on trip numbers and there was a framework for monitoring. A.4 To date all of the mitigation for motor vehicle capacity along Madingley Road have been implemented. Some of the cycle infrastructure has not been delivered, notably the previously proposed new link to the south of the site, linking Clerk Maxwell Road with Range Road, known as the ‘Rifle Range’ link. Some of the shared space lecture facilities have also not been delivered as originally anticipated. The Winter Gardens and Colonnade feature were also not delivered as originally anticipated. A retail unit was originally intended on the ground floor of Philippa Fawcett Court (south residences) in the south east corner of the site. It remained vacant for several years and is currently used to accommodate the University Chaplaincy. A.5 The extant 1999 masterplan was not comprehensive in that it did not include the Veterinary School in the centre of the site or the existing Cavendish II complex. These sites account for approximately one third of the overall 66 Ha site area. A.6 The extant 1999 masterplan included a phasing plan which set out a broad strategy based on the principle of establishing the perimeter structural landscaping and ecological enhancement in the early stages of the development. In addition, the provision of infrastructure according to need and the implementation of public areas and other infrastructure associated with the development of individual plots. The strategy was not prescriptive as to the sequence of development allowing flexibility for solutions as development proceeded with individual plots. The 1999 masterplan acknowledged and was approved in the context that development would take place over a 25 year period and would be determined by the University’s success in attracting investment funds. A.7 The extant 1999 Design Guidelines contained a number of specific triggers, requiring the perimeter landscaping by 5,000 sq m of development; the laying of east forum (by 2,000 sq m of development); advance landscaping works in the academic core area (by 5,000 sq m of development); colonnade, canal and swale (to be carried out for all plots to the south by 30,000 sq m); West Square (by 5,000 sq m of development), with triggers for delivery of the residential accommodation. A.8 To date, the West Cambridge Site has been partially built out under the framework of the extant masterplan from 1999. Around 100,000 sq m remains to be constructed under the 1999 masterplan, the majority of which is the 5 commercial research element. Most of the western side of the West Cambridge site, the commercial area, comprises vacant plots. A.9 The principal roads through the site have been implemented along with numerous key buildings including Physics of Medicine, the Cavendish Laboratory’s Maxwell Centre, a new academic research building for Materials Science and Metallurgy and new academic research buildings for the University’s Electrical Engineering Division. In addition, the East and West Forums and lake area have been developed, which are the main areas of public realm on the campus. (See Appendix 1 – 1999 masterplan as implemented). A.10 There are currently around 3,800 full time equivalent employees at the West Cambridge Site. This includes both academic and commercial occupiers. A.11 This current outline planning application (OPA) for a new masterplan for the West Cambridge Site was submitted in June 2016. (See Appendix 2 - illustrative masterplan). A single package of amended information in a Supplementary Planning Submission was submitted in October 2017. A final Supplementary Planning Submission was submitted in October 2020. 1.0 SITE DESCRIPTION / AREA CONTEXT Context and adjacent uses 1.1 The existing West Cambridge Site is a major academic and commercial development undertaken by the University of Cambridge. The wider campus covers 66 Hectares situated between Madingley Road to the north and the M11 to the west. The West Cambridge Site is identified as a site of major change for employment within policy 19 of the Cambridge Local Plan 2018. It is an established academic site, part of the natural expansion of academic and college sites that occupy the western City centre. 1.2 At the northern boundary of the site is a substantial tree belt, approximately 5m deep, of mixed species. Beyond this is Madingley Road, one of the main radial routes linking the M11 with Cambridge City centre. On the northern side of Madingley Road are the nearest residential properties including Conduit Head Road and Lansdowne Road.