PART 2: THE DESIGN CONTEXT

2.1 Geology, Topography and Historical Context

2.1.1 The Geology of South Nodules of flint, a few centimetres or Cambridgeshire more in diameter, are a feature of Chalk deposits. Flint is very hard The geological deposits that and composed of silica, chemically underlay South Cambridgeshire unrelated to chalk, but with its predominantly date from the origins also in marine organisms, Cretaceous Period of geological albeit ones with delicate skeletons of history (65 to 140 million years ago), silica. The silica forming these which, by geological standards, are skeletons was not particularly stable therefore relatively young. In the and, after the creatures’ death, it north-west of the district are a series was dissolved into the chalk where it of slightly older clay deposits from re-deposited in a more stable form the Upper Jurassic Period. The as nodules of flint. The hard nature geology is divided into a series of of the flint nodules makes them strata that outcrop in bands running difficult to shape for use in walling. roughly north-east to south-west Because of this, the traditional form across the district (see map in Fig of flint walling was to lay rough 2.1). These formations were laid nodules of flint in beds with one side down as successive marine deposits crudely faced, or knapped, and to that have since been raised and use brickwork to frame rectangular tilted to slope south-eastwards by openings for windows and doors, or earth movements in Tertiary times. to turn corners. This careful, selective use of brickwork reflected The south-eastern half of the district the relatively high cost of importing is underlain by Chalk, a soft white bricks from the adjacent clay areas, limestone of great purity and and has created a distinctive composed almost entirely of calcium appearance in the region. carbonate derived from the shells of marine animals deposited in a North-west of the chalk is a band of warm, clear sea. Chalk is a dark blue/grey clay, known as the relatively soft rock that makes a Gault Clay. In the 18th Century this poor building stone, but in this band of clay began to be worked on region a more resistant formation a large scale for brick making, from the Lower Chalk beds was producing at first a ‘white’ brick that sometimes used in traditional weathers grey, then later in the 19th buildings, where it is referred to as Century, the characteristic yellow clunch. The Lower Chalk beds also ‘Cambridge stock’ brick. The same include a Chalk Marl that is beds were worked for plain clay particularly suitable for the peg-tiles for the 15th Century manufacture of cement. In the onwards with clay pan-tiles south-east parishes of the district becoming widespread from the 18th the chalk is overlain by glacial Century. bolder clay, deposited by the retreating glaciers at the end of the Immediately north-west of the Gault last ice age. Clay is a narrow band of sandstone, referred to as the Lower Greensand. This band is relatively insignificant in ‘island’ of Greensand that outcrops the northern parts of the district, but within the fenland. To the west of it produces a slightly raised rib of the district the band of Greensand land above the adjacent clay fens increases in width and around that is the site for a number of Gamlingay it becomes much more settlements, most notably prominent in the landscape. Cottenham and Oakington. Further north the city of Ely is sited on an

Fig 2.1 Map showing the principal geological deposits of South Cambridgeshire 2.1.2 The Topography of South range of low lying hills, which are Cambridgeshire around 100 metres above sea level. The highest ground in the District is While much of South in the south at Great Chishill, where Cambridgeshire is low lying, there the hills reach a height of just under are some significant variations to the 150 metres. In the west of the topography across the district, with a District is a second range of chalk strong correlation to the underlying hills, which correlate to a finger of geology outlined in the previous chalk that projects into the Gault section. Clay, though these hills are not as high and only attain a height of 70 to The fenland lies at, or around, sea 80 metres above sea level. level with the 10-metre contour defining the fen-edge, and along All of the chalklands, along with the which line a number of villages are eastern fens, drain to the River Cam sited. These fens broadly and its associated tributaries, which correspond to the clay deposits that in turn feeds into the River Great lie to the north of Cambridge. As Ouse. The fens that lie to the north one moves onto the chalklands the drain direct to the Great Ouse, land quickly rises into rolling where it also forms the northern downland that is generally between boundary of the District, and 20 and 40 metres above sea level, eventually reaches the sea at the though slightly higher in the east. Wash. Further south and east the chalklands continue to rise into a

Fig 2.2 Map outlining the basic topography of South Cambridgeshire 2.1.3 The Historical Development continued through the Bronze Age of South Cambridgeshire and into the Iron Age, by when farming had become so well The siting and historical developed that huge tracts of land development of settlements within were covered by ditched fields and South Cambridgeshire is closely enclosed homesteads, especially in associated with the communication areas of gravel subsoil. network (particularly at river crossings or road junctions), the Roman avoidance of land liable to flooding The Roman towns of this region, and developments in agriculture. Cambridge, Godmanchester, Sandy The spring-lines between the chalk and Great Chesterford, are all and clay were favoured areas for located just outside the District, but settlement, and so, to an even their markets brought prosperity to greater extent, were the river the adjacent rural areas and the valleys, with their light gravel and network of Roman roads have left a alluvial soils and good lasting legacy. The best preserved communications. The chalk areas Roman settlement is at Bullock’s to the south could only be settled Haste in Cottenham; a site so large where water supplies were that it appears more like a town than available, but the open aspect of this a village, while Romanisation of the countryside made it particularly countryside was established though suitable for trade routes from east to a series of villas that were at the west across the region, using centre of agricultural estates. Those numerous parallel tracks that are excavated at Litlington and Ickleton collectively known as the Icknield were particularly large and Way. magnificent examples, while others are known at Babraham, Bartlow, Prehistoric Comberton, Guilden Morden, In Palaeolithic and Mesolithic times Horningsea, Horseheath, Linton, the area was occupied by hunter- Shepreth, Teversham and Great gatherers, when much of the area Wilbraham. Another important that was later to become fen was feature of the Roman occupation then above sea level, so could also were canals. Car Dyke, visible support the hunter-gatherer today at Cottenham, Landbeach and societies in a forest landscape. It Waterbeach, was used to transport was the rise in sea level that food-stuffs, leather goods and other accompanied the melting ice-cap at products from the agricultural the end of the last ice age that lead regions of southern Cambridgeshire to periodic flooding and the to the army stationed in Northern development of the fenland areas. Britain. It may also have served to In Neolithic times communities drain neighbouring land. became more settled and an agrarian based society started to Anglo-Saxon develop. These early communities Occupation of a number of Roman established themselves on the chalk sites is believed to have continued grasslands around the Icknield Way, on into Saxon times, along with use along the river valleys and fenland of the Roman roads, since many edge, and on the lighter soils Saxon settlements and burial sites associated with the Greensand. The follow these routes. The best- development of these communities known sites from the early Anglo- Saxon period are a series of The process was to be fraught with cemeteries and defensive Dykes, problems as the peat shrank, though more recent excavations leaving much of the land below sea have now revealed evidence of huts, level and windmills (later replaced halls and other signs of human by steam, diesel and electric pumps) occupation at Hinxton, Linton, were then required to lift the water Cottenham, Waterbeach, back up to sea level. However, the Pampisford and Great Wilbraham. rich farmland that was created by The four great Anglo-Saxon dykes in this process was capable of South Cambridgeshire (Miles supporting a large population and Ditches, Bran Ditch, Brent Ditch and the villages along the fen-edge Fleam Dyke), together with the expanded as a result. larger Devil’s Dyke in East Cambridgeshire, all appear to have Until the middle of the eighteenth had the same function, namely to century the majority of parishes protect land in the east by continued to farm in common, as preventing easy access along the they had since Saxon times, with the Icknield Way, and all are built to a huge medieval open fields worked in similar pattern, with wide, flat bases narrow strips. Then, over a period and straight-sided ditches on the of 100 years, these fields were western side. enclosed by successive acts of Parliament as the Enclosure Middle Ages movement brought about major By 1086, when the Domesday Book change to the countryside. At the was written, all the current villages same time many common rights to of South Cambridgeshire existed, grazing and gathering fuel were also with the exception of the modern lost, and most of the countryside communities of Bar Hill and became private property. This Cambourne, though most have radical change in land-ownership undergone a number of changes meant the end of the traditional since their Saxon foundation. peasant class in England and much Medieval society reached its peak in of the population moved to urban the latter years of the thirteenth areas, or emigrated to America or century, before economic decline Australia. Populations fell in all but and a series of disastrously wet cold the commuter settlements summers in the early years of the immediately adjacent to Cambridge, fourteenth century lead to famines, and this pattern continued through followed in 1348 by the Black Death. the first half of the twentieth century, Most villages in the area were not to exacerbated by the impact of the regain the levels of their thirteenth First World War and the depression century populations until the of the inter-war period. It wasn’t nineteenth century and the resulting until after the Second World War labour shortage lead to much of the that the pattern was to change, and land being converted to sheep the villages once again started to pasture. expand to cope with the housing needs of a growing population. Post Medieval In the late seventeenth century work started to drain the fens by cutting a The result of this continuous series of canals that would take occupation of South Cambridgeshire excess water straight to the sea. is an extensive legacy of built and natural heritage. Collectively this arguably, accelerating. The creates a many layered, historic resultant pressures on our inherited landscape of great beauty and landscape have profound diversity that helps establish local implications for the social and identity at the parish level. economic well being of the district, However, the pace of change since far beyond aesthetic and academic 1945 has been intense and is, interests. 2.2 Landscape and Settlement Analysis

2.2.1 Introduction iv. Trees and Hedgerows – plant species common to the This section outlines the importance area. of character and the crucial contribution good design can make Based upon an analysis of the to its conservation and relationship between these enhancement. It aims to ensure that elements, the design implications for very careful consideration is given to new buildings are highlighted in the the way new development relates to form of a ‘bullet point’ list of design its surroundings. An overview of the principles that can be used to guide landscape settlement character of the form and appearances of new South Cambridgeshire is provided. development in the countryside and This is followed by the identification in the villages. of five distinctive landscape character areas: A – South East The Importance of Character and Clay Hills, B – Chalklands, C – Good Design Western Claylands, D – Western Character can be described as a Greensand, and E – Fen Edge (see distinct, recognisable and consistent Figure 2.2.1). The parishes that pattern of elements that make each occur within each area are listed place different and distinctive. It is (note some parishes straddle the influenced by visual, ecological, boundaries these are therefore historical, settlement and building listed under both areas). For each elements, together with less defined area, a brief descriptive intangible aspects such as analysis explains in simple terms the tranquillity and sense of place. The essential design relationship distinctive character of our between: surroundings has a fundamental impact on our quality of life and i. Landscape Character - the therefore identifying, protecting and patterns of the landscape, its enhancing those elements that geology and overall form, contribute to character is a key slope and climate, vegetation aspect of our sustainability. and the setting of buildings and villages within it. The Council is concerned that poorly designed new development will ii. Settlement Character – the erode the established character of shape of settlements, their the landscape and settlements built forms and their through lack of respect for local relationship with the wider diversity and distinctiveness. countryside. Common use of standardised building designs and layouts, and iii. Building Materials – the the suburbanisation of rural nature of the buildings, their settlements though poorly designed massing, materials, scale, village extensions will have colour, texture and particularly significant effects on characteristic detailing. character.

Landscape Character Overview Settlement Character Overview

The South Cambridgeshire Villages are particularly distinctive in landscape as a whole has several the landscape. Small, medium and distinctive and readily identified large villages occupy a variety of characters. Medium to large-scale positions, hilltops, valleysides and arable farmland landscapes along spring lines. They often dominate. Woodland and small exhibit a complex mix of patterns, copses tend to be widely dispersed including linear, dispersed, or absent, and the density of nucleated, agglomerated and hedgerows is relatively low. As a planned. A surprising number have result it is predominantly open, been formed from amalgamation of allowing long views. Contrasting initially separate and ancient patterns of hedgerowed pastures hamlets. Villages that grow up and parkland create variety, and a along important communication links greater degree of enclosure in some are often linear, with an area of parts, for instance associated with green in front of buildings, as at settlements. The landform reflects Comberton, or at each end, as at the broad variations in the Harston. While there are no new underlying geology and continuity of medieval planned villages in South settlement in the area. The geology Cambridgeshire, there are planned ranges from the ‘upland’ undulating elements that survive in villages chalklands and clay hills in the such as Swavesey. Development south, to the low lying flat Fen Edge was also affected by phases in with its scattered fen ‘islands’ north population growth or decline, visible of Cambridge. Rivers and streams at Bassingbourn where there are cut through the higher land creating whole areas of house plots under gentle shallow valleys, whilst grass. Finally, village pattern is straight dykes and ditches are a often affected by the location and feature of the drained fen edge. extent of open space, particularly Both winding and straight narrow greens and common land with roads link the settlements. settlements. Typically the villages Surviving features from different have developed from historic cores eras are part of the rich historic that exhibit a varied mix of character of the landscape, vernacular building materials, including visible archaeological including brick, rendered plaster, features such as the Fleam Dyke weatherboarding, plain tiles, and the Bartlow Hills, as well as pantiles, and thatch. Some villages, many moated sites, windmills, particularly those closer to historic parklands, farmsteads, and Cambridge, have experienced groups of cottages. significant growth with modern estates visible at their edges. Nonetheless, most villages make a very positive contribution to local landscape character. Features such as attractive groupings of historic buildings, village greens, common land, mature trees and church towers are all important to this.

Figure 2.2.1 Map of South Cambridgeshire Landscape Character Assessment

2.2.2 THE SOUTH-EAST gardens also help to soften village CLAYLANDS edges. Generally they include a mix of more substantial farmhouses Parishes – Balsham (eastern arranged in a loose knit pattern, sector), Carlton (western sector), interspersed with open frontages, Castle Camps, Horseheath, Linton The slightly larger village of West (north-east sector), Shudy Camps, Wratting includes some continuous West Wickham, West Wratting frontages that historically provided (eastern sector), Weston Colville enclosure to the streets. Any areas (eastern sector). of modern infill are generally limited, Small village greens of irregular Landscape Character shape, including narrow ‘strip’ This is an undulating area reaching greens, are a feature in a few 100 – 120 meters in height on the villages such as West Wratting and hilltops. A scattering of farmsteads West Wickham. and small settlements interspersed with farm woodlands, contribute to Key Characteristics: landscape character. The field sizes • Mostly small villages and are mostly large, but are united by hamlets (locally known as the gently rolling landform and ‘Ends’) are sited on woodland. An historic irregular field valleysides or on ridgetops, pattern remains, Earthbanks are a often having a linear form. distinctive feature along with some • Buildings are arranged in a roadsides, reflecting ancient hedge low density, loose knit pattern and bank field boundaries; a few still along narrow winding or retain their hedges. Long open gently curving lanes. views extend to wooded skylines, • Mature trees and hedgerow and sometimes village rooftops and are important features, mainly church towers. The area has a in private cartilages, giving a surprisingly remote, rural character. strongly rural character to settlements. Key Characteristics: • Village edges are often • An undulating boulder clay softened by; woodlands, landform, dissected by small copses, small fields paddocks stream valleys. and long back gardens. • Predominantly arable • A few isolated farmsteads are farmland with a wooded located along lanes or at appearance. track ends. • Trees and woodlands appear to join together to create a Building and Materials wooded skyline, with some • Buildings are generally one bare ridgelines. and a half or two storeys, and predominantly detached or Settlement Character semi-detached, with spans of Villages and small hamlets in this between four and six metres. area typically have strong linear • The vernacular detailing of forms, often with a wooded setting walls is mainly of plastered and mature hedgerows and trees timber frame construction, that contribute to rural character. often with distinctive Small paddocks and long back decorative pargetting in a variety of patterns. A few flint • Maintain the distinctive, and weatherboarded dispersed settlement pattern buildings occur. Gault brick of small villages and hamlets occurs in some later and isolated farmsteads, buildings. within the context of their • Roofs are typically of wooded landscape setting. longstraw thatch and plain • Ensure any small extensions clay tiles. to villages on hilltops are • Details of timber-framed located along ridgelines, and buildings include steep roof extensions to villages on pitches, four or five planked valleysides are located doors, casement and sash parallel to the contours of the windows, and chimneys hillside. located laterally on the roof • Maintain the strong linear ridge, or at gable ends. form of villages and hamlets by limiting backland and cul- Trees and Hedgerows de-sac developments. • Mixed Woodland • Ensure density and pattern of Dominant trees: oak, ash. new developments reflect Less common: wild cherry. that of existing villages and Glades and near edges: field hamlets. Houses should maple. normally be set back from the • Hedgerows, Woodland Edges street with front gardens, and Scrub except where enclosure of Hawthorn, hazel, blackthorn, the street frontage is dog rose, crab apple, field important to the historic maple and, occasional, character. dogwood. • Use a framework boundary of • Trees in Hedgerows native woodland, tree and Dominant: Oak. Sub- thick hedge planting that dominant: ash, field maple. reflect the local mixes, to • Avenues integrate new developments. Oak, lime, horse chestnut. • Ensure new developments • Stream Sides reflect the form, scale and Dominant: alder. Sub- proportions of the existing dominant white willow, crack vernacular buildings of the willow, goat willow. area and pick up on the Occasional: Guelder rose, traditional building styles, dogwood. Occasional where materials, colours and not waterlogged: hazel, ash, textures of the locality. oak. • Enclose boundaries facing roads by hedgerow or low flint and brick walls. Design Principles • Avoid unnecessary widening Based on the above analysis of or straightening of narrow landscape settlement and built hedgebanked lanes. character, the following key design • Ensure large barns are sited principles are set out: and designed to minimise their bulk and impact on the wider landscape, normally relating them to existing Some historic parkland within these groupings of farm buildings. valleys also adds to their distinctive Prominent ridgeline sites character. should be avoided. • Avoid the use of standardised Key Characteristics: and intrusive urban materials, • A distinctive landform of street furniture, lighting and smooth rolling chalk hills and signage as part of traffic gently undulating chalk claming measures plateau. • A mostly large-scale arable landscape of arable fields, low hedges and few trees, 2.2.3 THE CHALKLANDS giving it an open, spacious quality. Parishes – Abington Piggotts, • Remnant of chalk grassland Balsham (western sector), occurs on road verges and Babraham, Barrington, Bartlow, along tracks. Bassingbourn cum Kneesworth, • Small beech copses on the Carlton (eastern sector), Duxford, brows of hills, and occasional Fen Ditton, Fowlmere, Foxton, shelterbelts, are important Fulbourn, Great Abington, Great and features. Little Chishill, Great Shelford, Great • A wealth of historic and Wilbraham, Guilden Morden, archaeological features, Harston, Hauxton, Heydon, including; ancient trackways, Hildersham, Hinxton, Ickleton, earthworks and small chalk Linton (west and south-east pits. sectors), Litlington, Little Abington, • Shallow valleys of the River Little Shelford, Little Wilbraham, Ganta and River Rhee have a Melbourn, Meldreth, Newton, rich mosaic of grazing Pampisford, Sawston, Shepreth, meadows and parkland. Stapleford, Steeple Morden, Stow • Lanes are often straight, cum Quy, Teversham, Thriplow, occasionally ‘dog-legging’. West Wratting (western sector), • Mostly strong rural character, Weston Colville (western sector), though this is disrupted Whaddon, Whittlesford. immediately adjacent to major roads such as the Landscape Character A505 and the M11. This character area is a broad scale landscape of large fields, low Settlement Character trimmed hedgerows and few trees. Both small and large villages Certain high points have small generally have a strong historic, beech copses which from strong linear form, though extensive focal points, and there are modern estate developments that occasional shelterbelts around have occurred in some villages settlements, By way of contrast, the close to Cambridge. Others, such eastern part of the area is cut as Bassingbourn, are the result of through by the valleys of the rivers amalgamation of older hamlets. Granta and Rhee, which have an These linear villages widen out in intimate character of small grazing places to include village greens, meadow and wet woodlands, with such as the large, oval green at lines of willows along the rivers. Barrington and the smaller, • Many mature trees, both in triangular one at Heydon. A few front gardens and on the villages, such as Little Shelford, grass verges, together with have a rectangular form of looser streams and ponds, add to structure with a number of important the rural character. open spaces included. The village • A few isolated farm buildings edges are varied, typically abutted are sited at track ends, often by a mix of open fields, woodland, or hidden by groups of mature smaller fields. Long back gardens trees or shelterbelts. also help to form a transition to the surrounding countryside. Building and Materials • Buildings are traditionally tow Key Characteristics: storey, simple and small in • Small villages, such as scale. A few, large, two and Thriplow and Littlington, are a half, or three storey C 18th located on gentle slopes and C 19th houses occur in along spring lines, or on some villages. hilltops, such as Great • A wide variety of materials Chishill. are used in walls, including; • Other villages, such as plastered timber-frame Hildersham and Little constructions Shelford, are located within (weatherboarded or rough- the river valleys on lower cast render on laths) clunch, valleyside slopes, sometimes clay batt, knapped flint, plain related to crossing points and gault brick, red and yellow fords. galut bick. Farm buildings • Mostly a well treed character are typically black tarred to villages, which are often weatherboarding. Colours of not visible in the wider buildings are generally light landscape, despite adjoining and warm, often pale cream, open arable fields. Avenue but some are painted pale trees on wide road verges are pink or yellow and, characteristic of some occasionally, earthy red. approaches, such as • Roofs of vernacular buildings Fowlmere. are typically of longstraw • Enclosed meadows and thatch and plain clay tiles and parkland are important pan-tiles, with some more features of village setting in recent use of Welsh slate and the river valleys. reed thatch. • Village greens are common, • Plastered timber-framed both small and large. building details include; high • Mostly linear form to the pitched roofs, drip-boards set settlements. in the gable ends and over • Buildings are either arranged windows, four or six panelled as continuous frontages or planked doors, and with facing streets, or have a chimneys set laterally on the much looser pattern with ridge to roofs. open land interspersed. • Eighteenth and nineteenth • Deep, narrow rear gardens. century house details include; low pitched roofs, vertical sliding sash windows set in • Maintain the distinctive, deep reveals over shallow settlement pattern of the area stone sills, with gauged or and its local context. segmental brick arched lintels • Ensure any extensions to and chimney stacks springline villages are located incorporated within the along the bottom of steeper building at the gables. slopes and along lanes. • Both low and high flint • Ensure any extensions to boundary walls are common, river valley villages are some with red brick detailing. located along the line of the Clipped hedges and simple river, or at right angles to it, picket fences also provide depending o the direction of boundary features. the main transport route. Occasionally simple iron • Maintain the linear, or railings are associated with rectilinear form of the larger houses. settlements. th • Many of the C 20 estates do • Ensure density and pattern of not respond to the local new developments reflect vernacular. that of existing villages and hamlets. Avoid backland and Trees and Hedgerows cul-de-sac developments. • Beech Hangers • Ensure buildings are Beech, with occasional arranged in continuous additional species from frontages within village cores ‘Mixed Woodland’ below. and are arranged in loose • Mixed Woodland knoit patterns facing the Dominant trees: beech, ash. street on more peripheral Less common: small-leaved sites. lime, hornbeam, wild cherry, • Ensure new developments yew. Glades and near are integrated with sufficient edges: field maple. space for garden and street • Hedgerows, Woodland Edges tree planting where and Scrub applicable. Hawthorn, hazel, blackthorn, • Enhance village gateways field maple, dog rose, and, and, where appropriate, occasional, wild privet and consider provision of avenue wayfaring tree. planting on village • Trees in Hedgerows approaches. Dominant: ash. Sub- • Take opportunities to create dominant: beech, field maple. new village greens and/or • Avenues wildlife areas within new Predominately Beech or ash. developments. • Ensure new developments Design Principles reflect the form, scale and Based on the above analysis of proportions of the existing landscape settlement and built vernacular buildings of the character, the following key design area and pick up on the principles are set out: traditional building styles, materials, colours and textures of the locality. • Enclose boundaries facing feature and church towers and the street in village cores by spires are key landmarks. Despite low, or high, flint walls with the presence of some major roads, brick detailing, simple much of the area has a relatively decorative railings, or picket tranquil, rural character. fencing. • Enclose boundaries facing Key Characteristics: the street on village • The gently undulating peripheries with hedge and topography is divided by tree planting. broad, shallow valleys. • Avoid the use of standardised • It is a predominantly open and intrusive urban materials, and intensive arable street furniture, lighting and landscape. Fields are either signage as part of traffic bounded by open ditches, or claming measures. closely trimmed hedgerows, • Ensure new agricultural both with a variable number buildings, such as large of hedgerow trees. storage sheds, are sited and • Woodlands are scattered. designed to reduce their Large, ancient woodlands are apparent mass, minimising particularly concentrated in their impact on the wider the north and west of the landscape by the appropriate area. use of texture, colour and • Occasional parklands and planting. orchards add interest and variety in the landscape. • Each village is identified by a 2.2.4 THE WESTERN CLAYLANDS church spire, or tower, which enliven the skyline. Parishes – Arrington, Bar Hill, Barton, Bourn, Boxworth, Caldecote, Settlement Character Caxton, Childerley, Comberton, The mostly small, scattered villages Conington, Coton, Croxton, of this area often have well defined Croydon, Dry Drayton, Elsworth, edges provided by mature trees, Eltisley, Grantchester, Graveley, thick hedgerows, copses or Great Eversden, Hardwick, Harlton, parkland. Small fields and Haslingfield, Hatley, Kingston, paddocks also contribute to their Knapwell, Little Eversden, Little landscape setting, providing a Gransden, Lolworth, Longstowe, transition to the surrounding Madingley, Orwell, Papworth countryside. Generally the villages Everard, Papworth St Agnes, have a strong, linear form with rows Shingay cum Wendy, Tadlow, Toft, of cottages and a few, larger Wimpole. farmsteads facing roads and paths. Highfields in Caldecote, which has a Landscape Character planned rectilinear street pattern, This character area comprises and Bar Hill, which is a C 20th new gently undulating arable farmland community, are not typical of the with, mostly, large fields and low area. trimmed hedgerows. Occasional medium to large sized ancient Key Characteristics: woodlands provide a distinctive • Villages are either located on cooasional yellow brick. the sides of small valleys Farm buildings are typically of (such as Bourn and Little brick, weatherboarding and Gransden), along spring lines flint. (such as Haslingfield) or on • Roof materials include plain slightly elevated ground clay tiles, pantiles longstraw within broad valleys (such as thatch and Welsh slate. Comberton and • Details which characterise Grantchester). timber-frame buildings • Woodlands, copses, include; high pitched roofs, paddocks and, occasionally, casement windows or parklands contribute to the horizontal sliding sashes distinctive landscape setting (Yorkshire sashes) set flush of villages, creating a wooded with the outside face of the character and providing a link wall, drip boards set in the to the surrounding gable ends and over countryside. windows, four or six panelled • The historic villages are or planked doors and mostly linear in form, despite chimneys set laterally on the modern infilling in some roof ridge. villages. • Eighteenth century houses, • Buildings are typically which occur in a few villages arranged in loose knit such as Grantchester, have patterns, sited close to roads details that include four and or paths. Frontages include six panelled front doors, open spaces which allow gauged brick arches over visual unity with surrounding windows and distinctive fields and woodlands. cornices. • Mature trees, hedges, picket • Nineteenth century houses, fences and walls contribute to which occur in a few villages the informal rural character. such as Grantchester and • Small irregularly shaped Comberton, have details village greens are sometimes which may include; sawtooth a feature, such as at dentil courses under the Madingley. eaves, four or twelve pane • Outside the village core areas vertical sliding sash windows, there are often scattered four panelled doors, isolated farms, with some contrasting brick dressing or intrusive modern farm decorative polychromatic buildings. brick banding and chimneys sited at the gables flush with Building and Materials the gable walls. • Buildings are generally one • Many modern estates in the and a half or two storeys in larger villages, such as height and domestic in scale. Comberton, do not respond • A variety of wall materials are to the local vernacular. used, including; plastered timber-frame construction Trees and Hedgerows (mostly cream in colour), • Mixed Woodland warm red brickwork and Dominant trees: oak, ash. integrated with tree planting Less common: wild cherry. and hedgerows of local Glades and near edges: field mixes. maple. • Ensure new developments • Hedgerows, Woodland Edges reflect the form, scale and and Scrub proportions of the existing Hawthorn, hazel, blackthorn, vernacular buildings in the dog rose, crab apple, field area, picking up on the maple and, occasional, traditional building styles, dogwood. materials colours and • Trees in Hedgerows textures of the localilty. Dominant: Oak. Sub- • Mark street boundaries by the dominant: ash, field maple. use of simple picket or trellis • Avenues (all one species, not fencing, hedges, or low brick mixed) walls. Oak, lime, horse chestnut. • Avoid unnecessary • Stream Sides straightening and widening of Dominant: alder. Sub- narrow country lanes and the dominant (not in mixes) white use of standardised and willow, crack willow, goat intrusive urban materials, willow. Occasional: Guelder street furniture, lighting and rose, dogwood. Occasional signage as part of traffic where not waterlogged: claming measures. hazel, ash, oak. • Ensure new, large agricultural buildings, such as barns, are Design Principles sited and designed to reduce Based on the above analysis of their apparent mass, and landscape settlement and built minimise their impact on the character, the following key design wider landscape by the principles are set out: appropriate use of texture, colour and planting. • Maintain the distinctive settlement pattern of mostly small scattered villages and 2.2.5 THE WESTERN isolated farmsteads. GREENSAND • Ensure any extensions to valleyside villages are located Parishes – Gamlingay parallel to contours or at right angles to them along lanes Landscape Character reflecting the historic This is a very small character area settlement form. associated with the undulating dip • Ensure the linear or slope of the Lower Greensand ridge. rectilinear form of settlements It is drained by small streams ant is maintained, avoiding there are some locally steep slopes. backland and cul-de-sac The fairly wooded landscape is development. interspersed with medium sized • Ensure buildings are arable fields, small areas of pasture arranged in a loose knit form, and market gardening. There are facing and close to the also small areas or remnant streets. Ensure they are well parkland and heath. Despite the presence of some worked out gravel • Narrow, gently curving pits, the area retains a streets, with houses generally predominantly rural character. sited on the back edge of the pavement. Key Characteristics: • Open fields, hedgerowed • Undulating dip slope of the paddocks, woodland and Lower Greensand ridge, stream valleys contribute to drained by small streams the distinctive landscape creating a relatively small setting, despite a harsh urban scale, varied landform. edge in parts. • The area has a mixed land use pattern of arable Building and Materials farmland, pasture and market • Buildings are generally one gardening, and deciduous and a half or two storeys, with and coniferous woodland. spans of between four and • Remnant patches of six metres. heathland and parkland • The range of building styles treebelts add interest and within the village includes variety. small vernacular cottages, medieval farmhouses and Settlement Character buildings, C 18th, C 19th and Within the area there is a dispersed early C 20th villas together pattern of farmsteads and cottages with many C 19th terraces. along lanes and one large village of • Walls are constructed of Gamlingay, This has radiated out timber-frame with plastered from a crossroads along five routes, finish (coloured cream, yellow The eastern half of the village is and pale pink) carstone dominated by the historic core, (sandstone) and red and which is of a linear development yellow brick. Farm buildings along Church Street, and the are of weatherboarding and openness created by the village brick. college playing fields, In the • Vernacular roofs are of plain western half modern residential and clay tiles, pantiles longstraw industrial infill has occurred. The thatch and Welsh slate. historic core comprises a wide range • Timber-framed building of buildings, many fronting directly details include; high pitched onto the street, creating a sense of roofs, casement sash narrowness and enclosure. windows set flush with the outside face of the walls, drip Key Characteristics: boards set in the gable ends • Farmsteads, cottages and and over windows and small detached houses chimneys sited laterally on associated with smallholdings the roof ridges. are dispersed along lanes. • Historic core of Gamlingay Trees and Hedgerows retains a strong linear form • Mixed Woodland with mostly continuous Dominant trees: oak, ash. frontages radiation out along Less common: wild cherry. roads. Glades and near edges: field maple. • Hedgerows, Woodland Edges frontages, with only and Scrub occasional gaps. Hawthorn, hazel, blackthorn, • Ensure new developments dog rose, crab apple, field reflect the form, scale and maple and, occasional, proportions of the existing dogwood. vernacular buildings of the • Trees in Hedgerows area and pick up on the Dominant: Oak. Sub- traditional building styles, dominant: ash, field maple. materials, colours and • Avenues textures of the locality. Oak, lime, horse chestnut. • Enclose boundaries facing • Stream Sides onto roads by brick walls. Dominant: alder. Sub- • Avoid the use of standardised dominant (not in mixes) white and intrusive urban materials, willow, crack willow, goat street furniture, lighting and willow. Occasional: Guelder signage as part of traffic rose, dogwood. Occasional claming measures. where not waterlogged: • Ensure large barns are sited hazel, ash, oak. and designed to minimise their bulk and impact on the Design Principles wider landscape, normally Based on the above analysis of relating them to existing landscape settlement and built groupings of farm buildings. character, the following key design principles are set out: 2.2.5 THE FEN EDGE

• Maintain the distinctive, Parishes – Cottenham, Fen Drayton, dispersed settlement pattern Girton, Histon, Horningsea, of farmsteads, cottages and Impington, Landbeach, Longstanton, small detached houses along Milton, Oakington, Over, Willingham, lanes, seeking to avoid infill. Rampton, Swavesey, Waterbeach, • Maintain the distinctive Westwick. settlement setting of Gamlingay, including; small Landscape Character stream valleys, woodlands, This character area has a mostly mature hedgerows and trees. flat, low-lying landscape with open Ensure new developments views. However, scatterings of improve any existing harsh clumps of trees, poplar shelterbelts edges with a framework of and occasional hedgerows new hedges, trees and sometimes merge together to give woodland planting relating to the sense of a more densely treed local mixes. horizon. Straight running ‘lodes’, • Maintain the traditional linear drains and north-south droves are form of Gamlingay by limiting distinctive features. The Great backland and cul-de-sac Ouse river and the ‘lodes’ are developments. enclosed by raised banks, which • Ensure buildings normally sometimes provide valuable face the back edge of the grassland habitats, or are marked by pavements and are arranged lines of willows. Low sand and to form mostly continuous gravel fen ‘islands’ rise above the flat landscape and have provided an continuous street frontages are historic focus for settlements. typical, but on village edges Smallholdings for market gardens, buildings are more often setback flower growing nurseries and with low walls and hedges fronting orchards introduce additional local the streets. Long back gardens are variety and interest in the also a common feature. landscape. Key Characteristics: Key Characteristics: • Historic cores of villages are • A low-lying, flat open located on the fen islands, landscape with extensive although some modern vistas. development has spread onto • Large skies create drama. low-lying land. • A hierarchy of steams, • Settlements sit low in the ‘lodes’, drains and ditches landscape, often screened by dissect the landscape. thick hedgerows to paddocks, • The rich and varied intensive copses, groups of mature agricultural land use includes trees and orchards. a wide range of arable and • Strong linear from and street horticultural crops and pattern. livestock. • Narrow lanes with continuous • Orchards are a distinctive street frontages create an feature. intimate character. • Slightly elevated fen ‘islands’ • More loose knit arrangement have a higher proportion of of building facing the roads grassland cover, trees and on some village approaches, hedgerows. with open areas and mature • Small scale, irregular hedges interspersed. medieval field pattern are • Occasional central medieval common around the edge of village greens formed from settlements. infilled historic docks and • Church towers and spires wharves. create landmarks. • Clusters of glasshouses, farms, cottages and some Settlement Character modern detached houses are The villages on the low fen islands located along lanes. are characterised by their strong linear form, often having developed Building and Materials outwards from crossroads along • Vernacular buildings are approach roads. The historic linear typically small scale, one and form is retained despite the modern a half or two storeys in estate developments that have height. A few larger villas occurred in many of the villages. occur in some village core Some village edges, such as at areas. Cottenham, have a well wooded • Wall materials vary; yellow character, with hedgerows and Gault clay brickwork mature trees concealing buildings, predominates, but plastered while others, such as Fen Drayton, timber-frame, dark stained have more open edges. Within the weatherboarding and red historic cores narrow lanes with brick are also present. • Roofs are historically of thatch and plain clay tiles, • Ensure any village extensions with pantiles and Welsh slate are located on the high being later introductions. ground of the Fen Islands, • Timber-frame building details avoiding incremental include; steeply pitched roofs, development on the flat, low- side hung timber casements lying fen. set flush to the outside face • Ensure new developments on of the wall, drip boards set on the edges of villages are gable ends and over the integrated by thick windows, with four or six hedgerows, copses and panelled or planked doors. shelterbelt planting reflecting • C 18th and C 19th house the local mixes. Ensure a details include; vertically transition between Fen and sliding sash windows set in Fen Island by retention and reveals over shallow stone creation of small hedgerowed cills and with gauged or paddocks. segmental arched brick lintels • Conserve and enhance over, four or six panelled existing orchard and doors in simple classical door hedgerowed paddocks. cases incorporating fan lights • Maintain linear or rectilinear and chimneys incorporated form of the settlements and within the buildings or at avoid closes and cul-de-sacs. gable ends. • Ensure buildings are mostly • Some brick buildings in the set on the back edge village cores have Dutch pavements, or face the street gables, reflecting the C 18th with small front gardens. and C 19th links with the Low • Ensure new developments Countries. reflect the form, scale and proportions of the existing Trees and Hedgerows vernacular buildings of the • Peat and Silt Fenland area and pick up on the Ash, white willow, oak, field traditional building styles, maple, birch, white poplar, materials, colours and hybrid black poplar, goat textures of the locality. willow, grey willow, hawthorn, • Enclose boundaries facing guelder rose, dogwood, horse onto roads by low brick walls chestnut, sycamore. and/or simple iron railings or • Fen Islands timber picket fences. Ash, oak, field maple, crab • Integrate water features, such apple, wild cherry, white as ditches dykes and ponds, willow, goat willow, hawthorn, into new developments as hazel, dogwood, blackthorn, part of open spaces. wild privet. • Avoid the use of standardised and intrusive urban materials, Design Principles street furniture, lighting and Based on the above analysis of signage as part of traffic landscape settlement and built claming measures. character, the following key design principles are set out: 2.3 Outline of Traditional Building Forms and Elements of the Area

The vernacular architecture of a laths nailed to the outside face of region is heavily influenced by the the studs. The render finish could building materials available in that be plain, decorated with a white or area, which in turn are related to the colour wash, or moulded into one of geology. The geology of South a number of patterns, known as Cambridgeshire is outlined in pargetting. Decorative pargetting Section 2.1.1, and basically first appeared at the end of the 16th comprises chalk in the southern Century, though the technique parts of the District with clay further reached its height of popularity in north. the latter half of the 17th Century and eventually fell out of favour in by the 2.3.1 Walling materials middle of the 18th Century.

Timber Frame On lesser structures, such as In South Cambridgeshire there is a cottages and agricultural buildings, distinct lack of good building stone timber weatherboarding provided an and, therefore, the majority of early alternative cladding material to lime traditional buildings were plaster. Weatherboarding is known constructed of timber-frame; the to have been in use from around area once boasted a plentiful supply 1600, when oak or elm boards were of good timber. The timber-frame pegged to the timber-frame. The construction in Eastern England was use of deal boards nailed to the generally box framed in oak, with studs dates from the latter part of the timber studs set at close centres the 18th Century. Oak and elm to produce vertical panels, as could be left un-painted and Tar was opposed to the square panels found commonly used to protect softwood in the Midlands. There was no boarding from the elements, tradition of cruck frames within this especially on agricultural buildings, area. but on mills and cottages it could also be painted. Where the oak frame was exposed externally, the intervening panels Brickwork were infilled using wattle and daub. The Romans first introduced the art This involved wattles of hazel being of brick making into Britain, but this woven, basket fashion, around light knowledge was lost in the Dark oak staves fitted between the Ages. Following the re-introduction frames. The whole was then of the techniques of brick making daubed on both sides with a mixture from the continent, the local Gault of clay, dung and chopped straw, clay began to be used for the and protected from the weather by a manufacture of bricks and from the coat of limewash. 18th Century onwards there is an increasing use of brickwork in the An unbroken weather protective region. The early bricks were a cladding had several potential ‘white’ brick that weathered grey advantages over wattle and daub then later, in the 19th Century, infill, and this lead to the widespread manufacture of the characteristic use of lime plaster on riven wooden yellow ‘Cambridge stock’ brick commenced. Traditional brick walls clunch. The qualities of the stone were constructed using Flemish made it possible for the chalk to be bond, English bond or, sometimes, cut into squared, ashlar blocks, and English Garden Wall bond (all of it was widely used for internal walls, which incorporate headers into the arcades and capitals in churches, visible pattern). The use of stretcher but equally, if carefully detailed, it bond only developed in the 20th could be used externally. Century, in parallel with the development of the cavity wall. The flints which occur naturally within the chalk are much more The glacial boulder clay that overlies durable, but are extremely difficult to the chalk in the south-east area of work. The rounded nodules of flint the District was used right up to the are also difficult to bond and to early nineteenth century to produce terminate at window and door a form of unfired brickwork used in openings. Therefore, when flint is walling, known as clay-batt or clay used for walling, the nodules of flint lump. The process involved digging are often set in thick mortar beds out the clay, removing the flints and and combined with brickwork or other large stones, mixing it with ashlar stonework to frame chopped straw, then compressing rectangular openings for windows the mixture into wooden moulds and doorways, and to turn corners. before leaving it for several weeks to Where a truer face is required to the dry out. The ‘bricks’ were much wall, one side of the flint nodule may larger than a fired brick, at around be crudely faced or knapped. In 450mm long, by between 125 and South Cambridgeshire flint is 225mm high and 150mm thick. The frequently used in the construction external face of a clay-batt wall of churches, but is not so widely needed protection from the used for secular buildings as in elements; on agricultural buildings other chalk areas, and is more this was often by a coat of tar. Tar generally confined to boundary walls could also used on cottages, in and the occasional cottage. which case it was generally sanded and colour-washed, but it was The outcrop of Greensand hardly equally as common for cottages to makes an impression on South be rendered in a lime plaster. Cambridgeshire and it is only significant in the west of the District Stone around the village of Gamlingay. The chalk that underlies much of the Here the parish church is built of district does not make a particularly Greensand, but otherwise it is not good, or durable walling material. used as a building stone. Chalk is a form of particularly pure limestone, it is very soft, which means it is easy to work, but is 2.3.2 Roofing materials vulnerable to rapid weathering, especially in a polluted atmosphere. Thatch Within the lower Chalk beds of Thatch has been widely used Cambridgeshire the chalk is more throughout South Cambridgeshire. compacted than that found Long straw is the traditional material elsewhere in south-east England used throughout most of the District, and this has enabled it to be used although some water reed has as a building stone, known as always been used on the fen-edge. In more recent times there has been (peg tile), which are relatively small an increase in the use of reed over and are laid with double lap on long straw, due to the greater moderately steep pitches (40 to 50 longevity and availability of reed. It degrees), and pan-tiles, which are is important that the long straw larger and are laid with a single lap traditions is maintained within the at shallower pitches (35 to 45 District since it has a distinctive degrees). Production of roofing tiles character and produces a roof that from the Gault Clay of the District is visually different to one covered in dates back to the 15th Century for reed. One very obvious difference peg-tiles, with clay pan-tiles between the two materials is in the becoming widespread from the 18th detailing of the ridge. Reed is stiff Century. and brittle, and cannot be bent over a ridge. Therefore, on a reed thatch Slate roof the ridge is formed with an The continued use of thatch additional layer of thatch along the perpetuated the risk from fire, ridge, using sedge, tough grass or especially within the densely built up straw (that may incorporate village centres, and there remained decorative embellishments to its a need for a readily available source lower edge). A true long straw of cheap, durable and non- thatch roof on the other hand has a flammable roofing material. After simple, unadorned ridge. All thatch the introduction of the railways in the roofs are steeply pitched, at 50 middle of the 19th Century, Welsh degrees and over. slate was able to fulfil this need and became widely used throughout the Tile District (where it is laid at pitches as Roofing tiles used within the region low as 25 degrees). are produced in two forms; Plain tile

Diagram illustrating different roof pitches for different materials here.

2.3.3 Details was too expensive for use in all but the grandest of houses, and Windows windows in smaller houses were The design of windows is closely frequently left un-glazed and fitted associated with developments in the with wooden shutters until the latter techniques of glass making. Up half of the 17th Century. Early glass until the end of 16th Century glass could only be produced in very small panes and early windows were generally formed from timber, generally made up of pieces of glass though on brick structures a simple, in lead cames set in wrought iron segmental (‘curved’) brick arch was frames. As the use of glass became also frequently used externally, in more common, leaded lights were combination with a timber internal frequently retrofitted into older lintel. On grander brick buildings buildings. From the early 18th rubbed bricks (specially shaped soft Century onwards, square openings bricks with very fined joints) were in vernacular buildings were sometimes used to form flat arches generally fitted with either side-hung over the window heads. or horizontal sliding (Yorkshire) Alternatively, imported dressed casements, with wooden glazing stone could be used for both the bars used to subdivide each lintels and cills. casement. Vertical sliding sash windows were first introduced in the Doors latter part of the 17th Century and All buildings need an entrance. This these earliest sash windows entrance could, in troublesome generally had their top casement times, be the spot most vulnerable fixed, in combination with relatively to attack. In more settled times it large sections to the glazing bars was the ‘showpiece’ of the house, that retained the panes of glass. the point at which visitors arrived. The section of the glazing bars Doors, therefore, evolved with these became more refined over time, two functions in mind; defence - though throughout the 18th Century whether it be against human the pattern of sash windows invaders or the wind and rain, and generally remained that of 6 panes display - emphasising the house to each sash (6 over 6). Around the owner's position in the world. middle of the 19th Century advances Because doors have been, to some in glass production enabled the extent, a symbol of prestige, they pane size to be increased and the have also been influenced by the subdivision of sash windows prevailing fashion of the time. simplified; initially to 3 over 3, then later to 2 over 2 and, finally, to a Early doors were often defensive in single, large pane in each sash. character, constructed of heavy oak These larger panes were of thicker planks, smoothed with an adze, and glass, and therefore heavier. In fastened onto horizontal boards. order to carry this additional weight The two faces were secured with the frames needed to be wooden pegs or ion studs and the strengthened, and this lead to the doors were hung on strap hinges, use of horns on the sashes from the with iron pins seated directly in the middle of the 19th Century onwards. timber surround to the door and no Early window frames made of oak or intervening doorframe. Security was elm were often left untreated, but achieved through the use of an later casement and sash windows internal draw-bar, with no handle or were almost always painted, or, knob on the outside. In the 17th sometimes, grained. Century the basic construction did not change, but the number of The detailing of the lintels and cills is vertical planks to each door an integral part of the window increased as the planks themselves design. On the more humble became narrower and defence gave vernacular buildings lintels were way to decoration. External fastenings were introduced, significance of the door. Door normally a heavy iron ring-pull. ‘furniture’ became more elaborate There was still not postal service of with knockers, door knobs and course, so no letterboxes. Whilst in eventually letter-boxes, all normally some buildings there was still no made of brass. Boot scrapers separate doorframe, in others the outside the door protected the door closed flush against a heavy polished floors and rugs inside. In timer frame. Towards the end of the the 19th Century the number of 17th Century, these boarded doors panels gradually diminished until evolved into the ledged and braced four-panelled doors became the door that remained in widespread most usual type. One large raised use right up to the middle of the 20th and fielded panel at the bottom was Century, especially for rural and less not, however, uncommon, fashionable buildings. Instead of a particularly in the latter part of the double layer of timber, the vertical century. Overall the effect was boards were supported by three chunkier and more ‘solid’ than the horizontal ledges on the internal elegance of the 18th Century. face, with diagonal braces providing Fanlights too became simpler, with additional strength and rigidity. plain rectangles or arches replacing Simple strap hinges connected the the delicate tracery of the earlier flush face to a rebated timber doors. A greater variety of door doorframe with metal ‘Suffolk’ type furniture was used, with iron and, on latches as the most common type of occasion, glass or porcelain, added fastening. Strap hinge details varied to the familiar brass. The door was over the centuries and their position hung from butt hinges, familiar to moved from outside to the inside of those still used today. the door. Likewise the planks were originally butt-jointed, but gradually Dormers and Rooflights evolved to tongue and groove. A number of traditional buildings in the District are either 1½ or 2½ In the eighteenth century the revival storeys, with gable end windows of interest in the architecture of and a limited number of dormer Greece and Rome resulted in a windows used to light the rooms that sophisticated and elegant extend into the roof space. Most architectural style within which the dormers are relatively narrow (ie two panelled doors became the norm. casements wide) and have gabled Details of the panels varied widely, roofs, though on steeply pitched but the six-panelled version became roofs (and particularly on the fen the most common. Some panels margins) catslide dormers are also were flush with the stiles and rails not uncommon. On grander houses others were raised and fielded. the dormers may have flat, or gently Hinges had to be unobtrusive, so as arched, roofs covered in lead, which not to spoil the effect, and often H or on later ‘Arts and Crafts’ houses L type hinges were used. Internally, could also have a significant the door no longer opened into a horizontal emphasis. Dormers main room but into a smaller hallway introduced into thatched roofs are and fanlights over the door allowed generally ‘eyebrow’ type, though light to reach this internal space. sometimes they may be gabled and The classical door case, with roofed in plain tile or slate. pilaster and pediment (triangular or segmental), emphasised the social Rooflights were generally not used with more elaborate profiles and to light habitable rooms, but could decorative features. be used to light roof spaces used for storage. These rooflights are Chimneystacks were generally relatively small, made of wrought located on gable ends or centrally iron or cast iron, with a central on the ridge, especially on more vertical iron glazing bar, and are modest dwellings. Where stacks unobtrusively located on the rear were located on gables, it was slopes, or behind parapets. normal for them to again be placed centrally, such that the flue Eaves and Verges terminated inline with the ridge, and Traditionally, eaves and verges in with the stack flush to the outside South Cambridgeshire are kept very face of the gable. simple and are cut back tight to the building without fascias, soffits or Rainwater Goods bargeboards. Where the eaves Rainwater goods include; gutters, extend beyond the line of the wall downpipes, rainwater heads, spouts, (more commonly found on timber- and gulleys. They not only protect framed structures), this is normally walls from water penetration, but detailed with exposed sprockets to also contribute to a building’s the rafter feet. Brick buildings often design, giving vertical emphasis, incorporate decorative dentil horizontal definition and decoration. courses under the eaves and, The earliest surviving examples of sometimes, ‘tumbled’ brickwork to rainwater goods are stone gargoyles the verges or chimneystacks. Later and spouts found on medieval Victorian structures may also buildings, especially churches. incorporate verges that project Gutters and downpipes were not beyond the line of the wall below generally applied to secular and these often these include buildings until the mid 18th Century. decoratively shaped bargeboards. Before then, wide overhanging eaves of thatched and clay tile roofs Chimneys provided protection by shedding The introduction of chimneys date water away from walls. During the form the medieval period, when 18th Century it became fashionable flues and chimneystacks were first to incorporate gutters either in used to funnel smoke from fires. classical cornices, or concealed They only became widely used behind a parapet wall. These during the 17th Century when the gutters were then connected to lead stack was often surmounted by downpipes via lead rainwater heads, freestanding shafts, frequently set which were often elaborately diagonally. During the 18th and 19th decorated with mouldings, heraldic Centuries, the number of rooms with devices, initials and dates. fireplaces increased resulting in more and larger stacks; classical Early guttering was generally made details such as cornices, from wood, of simple, square, or stringcourses and plinths were also ogee box section with minimal widely used. Chimney pots were decoration and attached to walls introduced on top of the stack in the beneath the eaves, supported by 18th Century. These early pots were either wrought iron or steel brackets, plain and of modest proportions. In or set on brick or stone corbels, or the 19th Century pots became taller, occasionally partly recessed into the wall. Cast iron became available from about 1750, from when cast South Cambridgeshire has been iron rainwater heads similar to noted as a corn growing area since decorative lead goods bearing dates medieval times and this has resulted and initials, can be found. The in a range of associated agricultural mass production of cast iron gutters buildings including threshing barns, and downpipes dates from the early granaries and mills. years of 19th Century and it became the most common material for Threshing Barns rainwater goods from the mid The process of hand threshing with 19th Century until the 1950s. flails was universal until the mid 19th Century and required the sheaves of un-threshed corn to be stacked on 2.3.4 Plan Form one side of a central threshing floor and cartway (traditionally termed a The traditional plan form of the area midstrey), while the threshed straw was for wide frontage cottages of was stacked on the other side. The shallow depth (i.e. single room deep process was slow and labour and a maximum of 6 metres). Many intensive and governed the basic cottages follow a ‘baffle entry’ form, design and layout for barns. in which there is central stack (usually with two fireplaces back to Most of the older barns within the back) and the main entry door sited District date from the 17th and 18th on the side of the stack, creating a Centuries, though some earlier 15th lobby between the two rooms. and 16th Century examples also Access to first floor was generally survive. These barns are generally via a staircase sited on the opposite constructed of timber-frame and side of the stack, but the stairs could weather-boarding, and sometimes also be in contained within an include a brick plinth. Roofs were outshut to the rear. generally of thatch and frequently had half-hipped gables, though in Larger houses from the 18th Century many cases the thatch has now onwards frequently made use of the been replaced by corrugated iron or ‘double pile’ plan form, in which four asbestos cement sheeting. Smaller rooms are provided on each floor, barns were generally 3 bays long, together with a centrally placed front while larger barns were 5 or 6 bays, door and a staircase located and could extend up to 8 bays long. between the two rooms on the rear Many barns had an aisle down one elevation. This house type was later side to provide additional storage, to be used as the model for the with the large double cart doors narrow fronted, Victorian terraced located on the opposite side. Some cottages that are also two rooms had aisles on both sides, in which deep but only one room wide, with case the doors were contained further accommodation contained in under a projecting hipped or gabled outshuts to the rear. Examples of roof. these are generally to be found within the larger villages, especially Barns can also be built of clay bat, those that experienced rapid growth clunch, flint and brick, the later being during the 19th Century. particularly common for 19th Century barns, while pan-tiles and Welsh 2.3.5 Agricultural Buildings slate are alternatively roofing materials. Combinations of example of this type of mill has materials are also not uncommon, survived in South Cambridgeshire at especially where a barn has been Whaddon; built in the late 17th extended or adapted over time. century it comprised a brick tunnel with sluices that controlled the water Granaries supply to wheel that was about four Once threshed, the grain was stored feet in diameter and mounted in granaries while waiting to be horizontally in a brick casing, though milled. The common form for none of the mechanism remains smaller granaries comprised a today. Vertically mounted water timber frame and weather-boarded wheels were known to the Romans structure, with a square plan and and were in common use in England simple pyramid roof that could be at the time of the Domesday Survey either thatched or tiled. To help when over 5,000 were recorded. overcome the problem of vermin and damp, these granaries were Most of the watermills in the District frequently raised on mushroom were comparatively small, and shaped ‘staddle stones’. Internally usually comprised a timber framed the grain could be stored in bins on structure four bays long, clad in either side of a central gangway, or weatherboarding and set on a in heaps placed directly on the floor. substantial brick plinth. The Granaries could also be built as part structural walls carrying the mill of barns or other farm buildings, and machinery were also built of were sometimes placed at first floor brickwork and the mill buildings over stables, or raised on brick piers were sited astride the mill. On all to create a cartshed below. but the smallest mills the wheel was housed within the mill. In the 19th Possible illustration: Century several mills were re-built Granary at Wraggs Farm, Ermine as multi-storied brick structures Way Arrington C18 timber framed (such as Harston, Hauxton and plain tiled pyramidal roof on staddle Linton) and waterpower was stones. Grade II augmented by steam and, later, diesel.

Mills Windmills – The earliest record of a Milling in the area was powered by windmill in South Cambridgeshire is either water or wind and the oldest from the 13th Century, though the surviving mills in the district date earliest surviving mill is at Bourn, from the 17th Century, though the which dates from 1636. There are majority of the mills were built, or three main types of windmill; post rebuilt, in the late 18th and early 19th mills, smock mills and tower mills. Centuries and some post windmills The earliest of these was the open were re-sited during this period as a trestle post mill (such as that at result of the Parliamentary Bourn) and illustrations appearing in Enclosure Acts. medieval manuscripts show that their design scarcely changed from Watermills – The earliest recorded the 13th to the 19th Centuries. The watermills were in Asia Minor and whole structure was mounted on a had horizontal wheels with vertical massive central oak post that, in shafts that drove a pair of grinding turn, was mounted on an exposed stones without any gears. A rare timber trestle. The entire mill could then be rotated about its central post pigeons and many dovecotes were to enable the sails to face into the converted to agricultural workers wind. Later post mills had the trestle dwellings, or adapted as granaries, covered by a brick roundhouse, in but some continued in use until the order to provide additional working Second World War. A survey in accommodation. 1986 identified 51 dovecotes surviving in South Cambridgeshire, Tower and smock mills were first of which 44 are listed buildings. introduced during the medieval period, but remained fairly rare until Dovecotes were generally built as the late 17th or early 18th centuries. independent structures within a A tower mill had a circular brick or farmyard. The earliest recorded stone tower with the sails set on a plan form was circular, but by far the rotating timber cap mounted on the most common is the square plan top of the tower. Smock mills were form with a central doorway in one similar to tower mills in their method side. In South Cambridgeshire the of working, but were constructed of early dovecotes were constructed of timber on a masonry base, and were timber frame with wattle and daub unusually octagonal with tapering infill or clad in weatherboarding. sides. Examples of all three From the late 17th Century brickwork principal types of windmill can be became the common material, found within the District. though there are records of clunch, clay lump and flint also being used Dovecotes in the construction of dovecotes. Dovecotes were introduced into Roofs were generally of thatch or Britain by the Normans and their plain tiles and the roof form varied main purpose was to provide fresh from the conical on the round- meat through the winter after the planned to hipped on the square November slaughter of cattle and planned. These could then be fitted sheep. At first only the lord of a with a lantern, louvres, or gablets manor or a monastery could have with flight holes, to allow the pigeons one, but, following the removal of to enter and leave, and with a timber restrictions in the early 17th Century, alighting platform fitted within the an uncontrolled boom resulted in the roof space. The ‘L’ shaped nesting construction of an estimated 26,000 boxes were arranged around the dovecotes, of which approximately walls in tiers, and many dovecotes 2,000 remain today. The 19th could house as many as 1,500 Century improvements in agriculture birds. lead to a decline in the breeding of

2.4 Sustainability

“We have to find a new way forward. We need greater prosperity with less environmental damage. We need to improve the efficiency with which we use resources. We need thriving cities, towns and villages based on strong economies, good access to services and attractive and safe surroundings.” (Source: Better Quality of Life)

2.4.1 Introduction to to achieving Policy 1/3 in the Sustainability Cambridgeshire Structure Plan.” Moreover, the toolkit “… defines the The principles of sustainable benchmark against which all development are becoming an developments will be judged, and essential component of the nation’s challenges developers to create planning policy at all levels; national, innovative solutions to achieve long- regional and local. This is occurring term sustainability objectives.” It will through the Government’s periodic also require development revision and updating of the National applications “to address all three Planning Policy Guidance Notes dimensions of sustainability” and (PPGs), with PPG1 incorporating take account of “potential future sustainable development and changes in technology and design, while PPG3 is concerned standard. housing and PPG13 refers to transport. 2.4.2 Defining The Term Sustainable Development A similar process is underway at the regional level. East Anglia’s Definitions of Sustainable Regional Planning Guidance Development include: describes the need to protect and enhance the region’s resources, “Development which meets the natural environment and biodiversity needs of the present without while RPG 14 (due September compromising the ability of future 2004) promotes the use and on-site generations to meet their own generation of renewable energy. At needs1” and “improving the quality a county level, the Cambridge and of life while living within the earth’s Peterborough Joint Structure Plan carrying capacities.2” emphasises the need for new developments to be built to a high Put simply, sustainable development standard of sustainability in terms of is about minimising the impact of their design, construction and human activity upon the natural subsequent use. environment whilst maintaining a resource-efficient, socially inclusive, The principles for Sustainability set buoyant economy with high levels of out in this Design Guide are to be used in conjunction with the Cambridge Sub-Region 1 “Our Common Future”, Report of the 1987 Infrastructure Partnership’s World Commission on Environment and Development, Oxford University Press. Sustainable Communities Design 2 World Conservation Union, the UN Toolkit, which is “essentially a guide Environment Programme and the WWF, 1991 employment. When applied within • offering new opportunities for the context of new developments in habitat protection and South Cambridgeshire, sustainable development should be premised enhancement. upon:

A further, and increasingly • being energy and resource important, consideration is the efficient throughout the notion of ‘future proofing’ new developments both in terms of the lifetime of the development likely future impact of climate • becoming increasingly self change and their ongoing energy consumption. Climate change is sufficient in terms of waste likely to result in the onset of minimisation and recycling prolonged, hotter, drier summers together with warmer, wetter winters • using locally sourced labour and will increase the risk of water and materials that originate shortages, subsidence and flooding across much of Eastern England, from verifiably sustainable including South Cambridgeshire sources where much of the district comprises low-lying land with clay-based soils. • minimising noise and New developments will, therefore, pollution need to be designed and constructed to take account of this • promoting sustainable forms likely climate change and the of travel and commuting accompanying anticipated extremes of weather, and will need to include • promoting the use and on- provision for rainwater harvesting site generation of renewable and grey-water systems, along with water efficient appliances. energy • meeting the needs of In an effort to mitigate the future impact of climate change, a national existing and future strategy has been devised to reduce generations the UK’s carbon dioxide (CO2) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, • providing affordable housing while at the same time, reduce the and promoting socially nation’s dependence upon non- renewable fossil fuel. One of the inclusiveness drivers for this is that the UK will soon be a net importer of energy (by • offering local training and 2006 for gas and 2010 for oil). The employment opportunities cross-sectoral strategy requires a 12.5% emission reduction on 1990 • providing local shops and levels by 2012 (to meet the Kyoto services target), a 20% reduction by 2020 • and a 60% reduction by 2050. promoting high levels of These targets will be largely community engagement achieved through improved levels of energy efficiency, increased capital grant provision for renewable • Achieving increased levels of energy, adapting electricity energy and resource distribution networks so they can efficiency during the incorporate renewable energy construction phase. sources and by bringing • Improved relationships “consideration of the use of between the developer and renewables and energy efficiency the local community who more within the scope of the tend to be most receptive planning system3.” towards those developers with sound environmental Upholding each of the above credentials. criteria will require imagination, • Finally, there are also long- vision and effective partnership term benefits that are not working between those actively always fully appreciated by involved in the planning and developers, for example, development process; namely house prices and land values developers, consultants, architects in developments considered together with officers from various to be desirable, provide a Council Departments including safe and attractive Planning, Building Control and environment and have low Environmental Health. These maintenance/energy costs guidelines are intended to provide are likely to outstrip prices guidance and information to all found elsewhere. those engaged in the process and thereby ensure a collective 2.4.3 Key Sustainability response towards determining the Principles sustainability of new developments. The following principles are The benefits associated with using deemed essential prerequisites in these guidelines and achieving high terms of building robust, dynamic levels of sustainability in new sustainable communities that will developments are potentially far- evolve and strengthen over time. reaching for developers. These For this to be achieved in South include: Cambridgeshire it is important all • A smoother planning process new developments, both large and whereby, because the small, adhere to the following over- development proposals fulfil arching and closely inter-connected the requirements of the sustainability principles: Council’s Local Plan, they are more likely to be Principle 1: approved and in a shorter Maximise the reuse of brownfield timeframe. land. • Increased demand for the properties being built, which Principle 2: in turn enhances Integration of developments with development values. transport networks.

Principle 3: Conservation & preservation of 3 ‘Managing The Transition From A High natural resources. Carbon To A Low Carbon Economy’, Government White Paper, March 2003. Principle 4: Enhancement & preservation of South Cambridgeshire contains local distinctiveness. some high quality agricultural land, which is important for the production Principle 5: of cereal crops. In addition to Creation of semi-natural areas for avoiding developments on multi-use purposes. Greenfield land, it is also important that this rich agricultural land is Principle 6: productively retained wherever Encouragement of diverse & possible. inclusive communities. PRINCIPLE 2: INTERGRATION OF Principle 7: DEVELOPMENTS WITH Ensure settlements are fit for TRANSPORT NETWORKS purpose and adaptable in terms of design and use. Being a primarily rural district, existing transport networks in South Principle 8: Cambridgeshire tend to be ‘car- Ensure developments are of a high centric’. Dependency upon the quality of design & construction. private car as the main mode of transportation has resulted in Principle 9: increasing levels of traffic Promote community involvement in congestion and pollution, both of design, development & which have had an adverse effect management. upon health and quality of life issues across the district. Increased traffic PRINCIPLE 1: MAXIMISE THE volumes also tend to deter REUSE OF BROWNFIELD LAND pedestrians and cyclists and cause damage to the built environment, Central Government has set a target most especially to historic buildings. of 60% for the reuse of brownfield sites (www.odpm.gov,uk), many of The District Council is therefore which may have been avoided in the keen to ensure new developments past by developers due to problems include movement strategies in their associated with reclamation of planning applications. Given PPG3 contaminated land, and the stresses the need for “more appropriate clean-up of these areas sustainable patterns of development will bring about a positive by building in ways which exploit environmental change. However, and deliver accessibility by public whilst it remains preferable to transport [and] …..reduce car redevelop brownfield sites in favour dependence by facilitating more of greenfield ones, specialist walking and cycling4”, movement conditions found at some brownfield strategies should specify measures sites often provide suitable habitats that prioritise walking and cycling for certain rare flora or fauna. within the new development as well Brownfield sites may also provide an as providing frequent, direct and important link to our industrial convenient connections to existing heritage - features which, when routes close to and beyond the conserved, can help establish ‘a development itself. Good access is sense of place’ within new developments. 4 also essential for service and • partnership working with emergency vehicles. However, other businesses in close access routes should be designed to have a minimal environmental proximity impact and ensure distinct routes • are provided for each transport the use of public transport mode, for example, designated • cycling and walking cycle paths. • home/tele working Other measures required for • flexible working adoption include those designed to reduce car usage and promote more sustainable forms of transportation The Travel for Work Plan should through a careful assessment of also include measures that: existing local shops and services, schools, recreational areas and • restrict car parking connections to public transport. • provide safe and secure These should also incorporate the ‘home zone’ concept that seeks to facilities for cycle storage provide attractive ‘streetscapes’ • provide changing and shower where local inhabitants can meet informally and socialise. facilities for cyclists and

pedestrians Car parking provision in new developments should also be • specify year-on-year targets properly considered. Providing car- for reducing single car use free developments in some parts of the district may well prove a • ensure the active monitoring challenging but worthwhile objective. Where good access to public and annual review of the transport is available, residential car plan. parking should be restricted.

South Cambridgeshire District Council is a member of the Steering PRINCIPLE 3: CONSERVATION & Group for Cambridgeshire’s Travel PRESERVATION OF NATURAL for Work Partnership, which is RESOURCES actively seeking to promote sustainable travel and commuting. South Cambridge comprises an The District Council therefore attractive, diverse, high quality requires commercial premises to landscape that people cherish and prepare Travel for Work Plans. value. The district provides an These plans should include site- integral part of peoples’ everyday specific measures to reduce single lives and its protection is important car use via a variety of actions, to its residents. It is therefore including those that promote: crucial that all new developments respect and, wherever possible, actively enhance the district’s • car-sharing schemes environmental distinctiveness. New developments should therefore work within and compliment South developments being the ultimate Cambridgeshire’s natural features. goal.

Climate change is also likely to With regard to renewable energy result in changing and more extreme systems (RES), PPG 22 identifies weather patterns for the district. the need to reduce carbon dioxide This will increase the risk of and greenhouse gas emissions by flooding, subsidence and water ensuring regional planning guidance shortages. New developments and development plans “…contain should take account of the changing policies designed to promote and climate and incorporate measures encourage rather than restrict, the that will minimise the risk of flooding development of renewable energy and subsidence together with the sources.” At a regional level RPG14 installation of water efficient (published September 2004) is appliances and the use of greywater intended to help the Eastern Region and rainwater harversting systems. move towards an adopted 14% target for renewable energy by Buildings can often be made more stating “policies will presume in sustainable by the use of locally favour of, and emphasise the wider sourced materials and finishes, or sustainable development benefits by recycling aggregates on-site. associated with, energy efficiency Care should therefore be taken to and renewable energy.” It will also minimise the use of non-renewable require energy consumption materials and ensure, wherever statements for development possible, the use of locally sourced proposals above a threshold of and/or recycled materials. In 1,000 sq metres or 50 dwellings and addition, local labour should be used actively encourage the development where feasible. This will support the of community-based schemes. local economy and help the development of local skills (e.g. Renewable Energy Systems (RES) plumbers, electricians, bricklayers may include: etc.). • the installation of solar hot New developments should water systems on individual endeavour to set high standards in terms of energy efficiency, both properties during construction and the ongoing • energy consumption during the the installation of large-scale building’s life. This should include a photovoltaic arrays consideration into the use and on- • site generation of renewable energy. the installation of necessary The standards should be ‘built in’ infrastructure (e.g. piping and from the outset and, while compliance with Part L of The ‘private wiring’) to facilitate Building Regulations sets a the installation and use of minimum standard, the intention is that all new developments in South combined heat and power Cambridgeshire should exceed this schemes in relation to specified levels of insulation, with carbon neutral • community-based RES New developments will be expected to contribute towards the creation of schemes a network of open space and • the installation of localised promote accessibility from residential and commercial areas to small and/or large-scale wind green space. This will require the turbines submission of relevant strategies that should address the long-term

maintenance of proposed open PRINCIPLE 4: ENHANCEMENT & space and landscape, together with PERSERVATION OF LOCAL short-term measures to safeguard DISTINCTIVENESS features of landscape and nature

conservation interest during the Natural Area profiles provide a construction phase. strategic framework for setting natural conservation objectives Green space proposals should be across England. Natural Areas are used to achieve other design not land-use designations as such, objectives such as biodiversity, but rather are areas of countryside resource minimisation and identified by a unique combination of community safety. physical attributes such as geology, flora and fauna, land-use and PRINCIPLE 6: ENOURAGEMENT culture. These attributes contribute OF DIVERSE & INCLUSIVE to an area’s sense of place and its COMMUNITIES distinctive biodiversity. (See Section

2.5 and also the landscape “We shape our buildings, character assessment contained in thereafter they shape Section 2.2) us.” (Winston Churchill)

PRINCIPLE 5: COREATION OF PPG3 stresses the importance of SEMI-NTURAL AREAS FOR establishing mixed and inclusive MULTI-USE PURPOSES communities that provide residents

with a choice of housing and The value of open space, landscape lifestyle. New developments and biodiversity should be therefore need to be established recognised within development that promote vitality, community proposals. New developments will safety and reduce the need to travel. be expected to respond to site- Further, the adopted local plan sets specific characteristics and context, out the requirement for a proportion and this will include protecting of all new dwellings to comprise sensitive sites and minimising the affordable housing. impact of development. Proposals should therefore identify appropriate New developments need to mitigation measures to address the incorporate and promote a sense of impact of a development and to place and belonging. People do not compensate for lost habitats and just live in their homes – they also landscape features; opportunities live in, and need to become part of, should also be taken to enhance the their local community. Moreover, existing and planned environment. most new developments will

invariably be situated within, or alongside, existing communities to fall out of use sooner and the return which they will need to respond. on their embodied energy will not be as great as that of an equivalent It is imperative that new building that can remain in use for developments create a ‘sense of longer. place’. Successful new developments quickly establish a Toxic materials should be avoided local civic pride whereby local wherever possible, since recent residents value their new experience would suggest that the surroundings, which they resolve to use of such materials in building protect and improve. New construction might result in that developments that fail to achieve building being taken out of use this vital objective will often become earlier. ‘ghettoised’ and cause its inhabitants to sell up and move on. PRINCIPLE 8: ENSURE Developers will be expected to set DEVELOPMENTS ARE OF A HIGH out in their planning applications QUALITY OF DESIGN & how they intend to address this CONSTRUCTION issue. "Architecture presents a New developments also need to unique challenge in the provide a wide range of local shops field of sustainability. Construction projects and services, including education, typically consume large training and employment amounts of materials, opportunities. Failure to do so will produce tons of waste, and result in residents needing to travel often involve weighing the outside their community, creating an preservation of buildings unsustainable ‘dormitory belt’ that is that have historical largely empty and void of life during significance against the weekdays. desire for the development of newer, more modern PRINCIPLE 7: ENSURE designs." SETTLEMENTS ARE FIT FOR -- The Earth Pledge PURPOSE AND ADAPTABLE IN (www.earthpledge.org)

TERMS OF DESIGN AND USE The Building Regulations set

standards for construction, but these Buildings consume energy in use, should be regarded as a minimum but they also have a significant and not the target standard. High amount of embodied energy quality design and construction will invested in them during their often exceed the basic requirements construction. Sustainability, of the Building Regulations, and in therefore, is equally concerned with particular in relation to the ensuring the return on this requirements for energy efficiency embodied energy is maximised and sustainability. through the building having a long life. This will require the building to The Building Research be ‘fit for purpose’ and, since that Establishment has produced “A purpose might change over time, to sustainability checklist for be capable of being adapted. Rigid, developments” (see www.bre.co.uk). inflexible buildings that are difficult This guide enables developers, or expansive to adapt are likely to planning authorities and their advisors to specify/assess the Sustainable building solutions sustainability attributes of a should also consider the entire life particular development. It contains a cycle of the building in terms of its series of straightforward steps that environmental quality, function, its can be followed to incorporate ongoing and possible future uses sustainability into new and eventual demolition. Additional developments. It also reflects the investment in the initial capital cost latest guidance on sustainability and of a building may result in very utilises the BRE’s Environmental significant revenue savings over the Assessment Method (BREEAM) and life of the building that can also EcoHomes (BREEAM for houses) to make that building environmentally assess performance. Performance more sustainable. A recent study is rated ‘pass’ ‘good’, ‘very good’ revealed that for every £1 spent on and ‘excellent’. Briefs for new construction of a conventional developments should include targets house, £200 is subsequently spent for BREEAM ratings, though is on energy and maintenance costs should be noted that a rating of over its lifetime. (SHAPE, 2004). ‘excellent’ is only approximately This means that a conventional 35% improvement on the Building house built today at a cost of Regulations standards and that the £100,000 will incur total ongoing ultimate goal must be to produce costs of £2m over its life! carbon neutral developments. PRINCIPLE 9: PROMOTE Sustainable buildings are COMMUNITY INVOLVEMNT IN specifically designed to: DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT & MANAGEMENT (i) reduce exposure to noxious materials; In order to promote a ‘sense of place’, as outlined in Principle 6 (ii) conserve non-renewable above, it is important that the energy and scarce materials; community takes ‘ownership’ of any new development. To aid this (iii) minimise the life-cycle process it is crucial that planners ecological impact of energy and developers consult and liase closely with local residents and materials used; (stakeholders), since local people (iv) use renewable energy and often possess valuable information and experience about the area materials; which needs to be considered when (v) protect and restore local air, deciding how, where and on what scale new development should water, soils, flora and fauna; occur. It is equally important that (vi) provide facilities for this consultation process is fully inclusive and transparent, and that pedestrians, bicycles, mass the outcomes are seen to influence transit and other alternatives the resulting development proposals. to fossil-fuelled vehicles. 2.5 Biodiversity Biodiversity is the word used to Species listed include white-clawed describe all flora and fauna and it is crayfish and serotine bat. important that any development proposal considers the impact it will The lists of habitats and species have upon wildlife or biodiversity. In contained within each Natural Area recent years much effort has been profile should be used as a guide to placed upon the production of biodiversity features of at least local Biodiversity Action Plans to guide value within specific Natural Areas. this conservation effort. Together Natural Area profiles and Biodiversity Action Plans provide South Cambridgeshire consists of a guidance on the range of habitats variety of landscape types that in and species important for the turn have produced a multitude of protection, conservation and further differing land uses. These factors enhancement across the South have in turn influenced the Cambridgeshire District. biodiversity present across the district. The landscapes and land The UK Biodiversity Action Plan use have given rise to “Natural (BAP) is the means by which the Areas” as identified by English Government sets out to fulfil its Nature, 1999. As already mentioned international biodiversity obligations. in Section 2.4.3, a Natural Area The UK BAP encompasses nearly profile is not a designation, but an 400 species and 45 habitats that are area of the countryside identified by considered to be rare, declining or in a unique combination of physical need of some protection to ensure attributes which contribute to that their long-term survival area’s sense of place and also its (www.ukbap.org.uk). The distinctive biodiversity. Cambridgeshire local BAP consists of a total of 45 plans; with 26 Habitat Within South Cambridgeshire there Action Plans and 19 Species Action are five different Natural Area Plans. Five broad habitat themes profiles, namely: encapsulate the specific species and habitat action plans. The habitat • The East Anglian Chalk themes are: • The East Anglian Plain • The West Anglian Plain • Rivers and Wetlands • The Bedfordshire Greensand • Trees and Woodlands Ridge • Farmland • The Fens • Cities, Towns and Villages • Dry Grasslands Within each of these Natural Area profiles the biodiversity resource is A full set of plans can be viewed at identified in general terms of its www.camcnty.gov.uk/sub/cntryside/ habitats and species. For example, biodiv within the East Anglian Chalk Development should contribute to Natural Area unimproved calcareous the protection and further grassland and spring-fed calcareous enhancement of the national and flowing and standing water are listed local Biodiversity Action Plans whilst amongst six other habitat types. Protected Species should be fully conserved. Biodiversity and sustainable present themselves for habitat development sit side-by-side. enhancement or creation. See also Sustainable developments should the advice contained in Bodiversity aim to have a minimal impact upon by Design, a guide for sustainable the environment. Where change is communities, published by the Town unavoidable new opportunities may and Country Planning Association.

Statutory Classification Key Legislation Protection Examples and Guidance Sites It is a requirement to Special Areas of Council Directive consult with English Conservation (SAC) (92/42/EEC) on the Nature before (Eversden and Wimpole conservation of natural undertaking any Woods) habitats and of wild operation potentially fauna and flora (Habitats leading to damage of a Special Protection Areas Directive), 1992. protected site. (SPA) (Cam Washes) Wildlife and Countryside Site of Special Scientific Act, 1981 (as amended) Interest (SSSI) (37 sites) Countryside and Rights Species It is a requirement for Specially protected species of Way Act, 2000. developers to avoid or are listed in the Schedules mitigate adverse effects appended to the Wildlife Planning Policy upon protected species. and Countryside Act, in the Guidance 9: Nature Habitats Regulations, or in Conservation, 1994. their own legislation. The Schedules are reviewed every five years. Non-statutory Classification Key Guidance Protection Example Sites Wildlife Trust and Local County Wildlife Sites UK Biodiversity Action Authority may identify (CWS) Plan, 1994. sites according to agreed criteria. Sites Local Nature Reserves Cambridgeshire and are then included upon (LNR) Peterborough Proposals Maps within Biodiversity Action Plans, Local Plans. Protected Roadside Verges 2000. (PRV) Species Species and habitats UK: 391 priority species Cambridgeshire’s given priority in a BAP and 45 priority habitats Biodiversity – A (National or Local) Framework for Action, Cambridgeshire: 19 species 1997. and 26 habitat action plans. South Cambs Local Plan, 2004

Biodiversity Checklist for Land Use Planners, CCC, 2001.

Our Environment, Our Future – The Regional Environment Strategy for the East of England, EEDA, 2003

South Cambridgeshire Biodiversity Action Plan Table 2.5.1 – Guidance on levels of protection for species and sites

Protected Species and the Habitats Where They May Occur

Species Key Habitats Optimal Survey Time/Survey Guidelines Bats (all British Buildings, cellars, To enter and survey a known roost requires a species) bridges, tunnels, caves, licence. Surveys of summer roosts and feeding mines, culverts and areas are best April-September. trees. Great Ponds and moats, Aquatic habitats best surveyed February –end Crested Newt mineral extraction sites, of June dependent on method used. ox-bow lakes for their Terrestrial habitats best surveyed March – breeding and aquatic October stages of life cycle English Nature advocates that the survey Rough grassland, methods detailed in the Great Crested Newt brownfield site, scrub, Mitigation Guidelines (2001) are utilised. woodland and hedgerows for their Surveys are recommended when: terrestrial stages of life • there are historical records for GCNs on cycle site, or in the general area • there is a pond on or near the site (within around 500m), even if only holds water seasonally. • there are refuges (piles of logs or rubble), grassland, scrub, woodland or hedgerows within 500m of a pond.

All surveyors should be appropriately licensed. Otter All waterbodies within Search for signs at any time of year (eg. open access to the spraints, footprints, potential resting and countryside. breeding places). Particularly the rivers Best results avoid periods of heavy rain or when Cam, Granta, Rhee and dense vegetation may hide field signs. Shep, Hoffer, Guilden Inspection of known resting and breeding sites and Bourn brooks may disturb otters, thus may require a license. together with associated ponds lakes and woodland. All wild species All terrestrial and Breeding birds: mainly in spring through bird call of birds aquatic habitats recognition or observation of nesting habits. (Protected by the including built For counts of wintering wetland birds, survey Section 1 (1) structures October to March. Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended)) Birds included All terrestrial and Breeding birds: mainly in spring through bird call on Schedule 1 of aquatic habitats recognition or observation of nesting habits. the Wildlife and including built For counts of wintering wetland birds, survey Countryside Act structures October to March. 1981 (as (eg. agricultural amended) buildings, barns, bridges or eroding riverbanks depending on whether species concerned is hobby, barn owl, kingfisher etc.) Water Vole Rivers, streams, Best surveyed when voles are active and ditches, canals and still holding territories between March and October. waterbodies. Grass Snake Waterbodies and Throughout the summer, but best results are wetlands, particularly achieved in April, May, June and September. those near to muck heaps. Common Lizard Railways, Throughout the summer, but best results are embankments, derelict achieved in April, May, June and September. land, dry grasslands, hedgerows and woodland edges. White-Clawed Rivers, streams and Survey with appropriate license by trapping or Crayfish other water bodies. hand searching. Best results often attained in late summer to early autumn when most active. Plants included All terrestrial and Spring to autumn when species are in flower on Schedule 8 of aquatic habitats the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) Badger Badger setts are Survey may be needed at different times of the increasing in numbers year to determine badger activity throughout the are occurring nearer to year and status of a sett. dwellings than previously experienced. Setts normally located in woodland, scrub, hedgerows, grass embankments.

Table 2.5.2 – Species that may be encountered by development projects in South Cambridgeshire