Outline Planning Application Fenland Experience August 2019 2 CONTENTS 01 INTRODUCTION 04 02 SITE AND CONTEXT 06 03 WICKEN FEN NATURE RESERVE 10 04 GETTING TO WICKEN FEN AND CAM WASHES 14 05 FENLAND EXPERIENCE AT WATERBEACH NEW TOWN EAST 16 06 WALKING AND CYCLING AT WATERBEACH NEW TOWN EAST 26 07 A SUITABLE FENLAND EXPERIENCE 30 This document has been prepared and checked in accordance with ISO 9001:2008 Version 1.2 3 01 Introduction Waterbeach New Town is a proposed new settlement 6 km to the north of Cambridge. It leisure and sports uses; a hotel; new primary and secondary schools; green open spaces is a key part of the vision and spatial plan for growth for both the city and the surrounding including parks, ecological areas and woodlands and principal new accesses from the A10 district. The site is entirely within the South Cambridgeshire District Council administrative (Planning Application reference S-0559-17-OL). boundary and is allocated in the Local Plan. The Waterbeach New Town SPD is being prepared by South Cambridgeshire District The site is positioned between the A10, which defines the western boundary of the New Council and will provide detailed guidance about how the new settlement should be Town, and the Cambridge to Ely railway line, which marks its extent to the east. It lies designed, developed and delivered in accordance with modified Local Plan policy SS/5, immediately to the north of the existing village of Waterbeach, and in turn, immediately with an emphasis on ensuring comprehensive development across the site as a whole. beyond the outer edge of the Green Belt that surrounds the City of Cambridge. The River It will set out key fixes, principles and mechanisms to guide the development to ensure Cam lies beyond the railway line approximately 500m to the east of the site. creation of a successful place. The SPD is currently out to consultation. There are two distinct parts to the site which broadly correspond with former uses, within This Fenland Experience document has been prepared as supporting material for the this report they are referred to as Waterbeach New Town West and Waterbeach New outline planning application at Waterbeach New Town East in response to comments from Town East. Natural England, the National Trust and the Wildlife Trust. Waterbeach New Town East sits between the former RAF Barracks and Airfield and the Purpose of the document Fenline Railway. An outline planning application (with all matters reserved) was submitted The purpose of this document is to set out the biodiversity strategy for Waterbeach New in May 2018 on behalf of RLW Estates for development of up to 4,500 dwellings, business, Town East and demonstrate the ecological value that will be created through the Fenland retail, community, leisure and sports uses; new primary and secondary schools and sixth Park. The biodiversity strategy is a fundamental element of our vision for the site and form centre; public open spaces including parks and ecological areas; points of access, forms a key element of our approach to place making which will complement the locally associated drainage and other infrastructure, groundworks, landscaping and highway designated sites. Our strategy will create a new landscape and ecological resource for works. (Planning Application reference S/2075/18/OL). A separate, full planning application the benefit of the existing and future residents at Waterbeach as an attractive and more for a relocated train station was submitted in March 2018 as part of the proposals for accessible alternative to Wicken Fen and the Cam Washes. Waterbeach New Town East. (Planning Application reference S/0791/18/FL). Watebeach New Town West comprises the former RAF Barracks and Airfield. It was subject to an outline planning application in February 2017. That application is for up to 6,500 dwellings (including up to 600 residential institutional units), business, retail, community, 4 Plan: Site Location D Legend A Denny Abbey B Existing Waterbeach railway station J A C River Cam K CROWN© COPYRIGHT AND DATABASE RIGHTS ORDNANCE2015 SURVEY0100031673 I D Wicken Fen Cottenham Waterbeach E Former RAF base (Waterbeach New New Town Town West) E F Bottisham Locks C H G Denny End Road Industrial Park G Waterbeach F H Cambridge Innovation Park L Landbeach B I Cambridge Research Park A10 J Waste Management Park K ‘Fenline’ Railway line Histon L Waterbeach village centre Milton N Horningsea Lode A14 5 CAMBRIDGE 02 Site and Context Site Description similar in character to the Site itself. Within this area, located to the north-west of the The site comprises 231 ha of land between the ‘Fen Line’ railway that links Cambridge Site boundary is the complex of medieval monastic buildings, earthworks and deposits at and King’s Lynn, and the Waterbeach Airfield and Barracks to the west. It lies at the edge Denny Abbey. of what was a vast area of peat fen and is now primarily comprised of arable agricultural land drained by a network of open channels and ditches along field boundaries. Fields are The landscape character of the land to the east of the site and the Fen Line railway is bordered by limited and intermittent vegetation in the form of hedgerows, individual trees largely characterised by a series of arable fields within a geometric field pattern formed and tree belts. by a sequence of regimented drainage ditches and vegetated field boundaries. Combined with vegetation found along local roads, Public Rights of Way, and surrounding local The site is predominantly flat with a peninsula of slightly higher ground running between dwellings; vegetation in the wider landscape merges together to produce a perceptibly the village and Denny Abbey with the lower land to the east. Long range views to the north more densely tree-covered horizon. Immediately to the east of the site boundary and and east are possible from within the site including views to Ely Cathedral. either side of the railway line there is a small group of lakes within woodland planting which are accessible via Long Drove. Bannold Drove is an agricultural access track and ‘Byway Open to All Traffic’ which crosses the Site south to north prior to turning east onto Cross Drove to the northeast of the Site. The wider area includes a number of notable green infrastructure assets including Denny This is a significant landscape and cultural feature of the site which is lined with sporadic Abbey, The Cam corridor, Wicken Fen, Anglesey Abbey and Milton Country Park. The tree planning and drainage ditches including the Waterbeach Level Internal Drainage Wicken Fen Vision area is an ambitious project being led by the National Trust to expand Board (IDB) watercourse. the existing nature reserve south. Surrounding Context Denny Abbey is a complex of medieval monastic buildings, earthworks and deposits. The A10, extending north-eastwards from Cambridge to Ely, King’s Lynn and the wider The core buildings are Listed and the pasture fields surrounding the abbey, including rural hinterland, lies approximately 1.5km to the west of the Site. Adjoining the southern the surviving historic earthworks, are protected as a Scheduled Monument. The Abbey site boundary is an existing area of housing, formerly associated with the barracks is located at the northern end of the New Town within the site allocation. The site is but since converted for the open market and now forms part of Waterbeach Village. currently used by the Farmland Museum which is accessible to the public partially via the Waterbeach Village is a relatively large village with a Parish population of approximately A10. Extending out of the southern boundaries of the Abbey are the partial remains of two 5,000 people according to the 2011 Census. The origins of the village can be traced back raised causeways which historically would have formed routes between Denny Abbey and to the Romans, with the settlement positioned on the strategic Car Dyke waterway Waterbeach Village and onto Cambridge through the fenland landscape. Land outside the boundary of the Site to the north is comprised of arable farmland, 6 Plan: Application Site Boundary - Aerial A10 Denny Abbey Cambridge Research Park Bannold Drove Bannold Former RAF Barracks and Airfield Railway Line A10 Bannold Road Legend Waterbeach Site Boundary Landbeach N River Cam 7 In addition to the Byway Open to All Traffic on Bannold Drove which extends north provides a key wildlife corridor through the site. connecting to Cross Drove, there are a number of publically accessible routes within reach of the site. The Fen Rivers Way runs along both sides of the River Cam to the east of the There are numerous designated sites within close proximity to the site. The closest site. This is accessible from the southern part of the site via Bannold Road at Bottisham designated statutory site to the Application Site is the Cam Washes Site of Special Scientific Lock and can also be accessed from the north of the site by using Cross Drove and Long Interest (SSSI) located 2 km north-east of the Site. This SSSI is important for the number Drove. It provides long distance routes including links to Wicken Fen. National Cycle Route and diversity of overwintering and breeding waterfowl and waders. Wicken Fen SSSI, 11 links Cambridge with Ely via Waterbeach along the River Cam corridor past Horningsea, National Nature Reserve (NNR) and Ramsar Site is located 2.9 km to the north-east of the Milton Country Park and Fen Ditton. The route is traffic-free and attracts both commuters Site. Wicken Fen forms part of the ‘Fenland’ Special Area of Conservation (SAC). Stow- and recreational cyclists. Although shared by pedestrians and cyclists, conflicts are limited cum-Quy Fen SSSI is located 2.7 km to the south-east of the Site and is notified for areas due to the tidal travel patterns of commuters.