Below is an update on the Northstowe phase 2 planning application written by our District Councillor, Alex Riley.
‘Yesterday I attended the meeting of the South Cambs Planning Committee which looked at the revised proposals for the Northstowe Phase 2 (3500 homes + Town Centre, etc.) The main change to be considered was that instead of 20% affordable housing, the HCA were offering instead 10% “Affordable homes for rent” and 40% “Starter Homes”. This is in line with the statement issued by David Cameron in January (when he was still PM) which decreed that Northstowe should have 40% Starter Homes. The definition of these is not straightforward. They should be sold at a minimum of 20% discount with a maximum price of £250,000. In London this maximum price is £450,000, but everywhere else has an upper limit of £250,000. The regulations governing them have yet to be published. At the prevailing price it is anticipated that most, if not all, will be 1- or 2-bedroom homes.
An issue that I was able successfully to raise concerns a burial ground. Our own burial ground would have been adequate when the village contained 400 homes, as it did 20 years ago. But the addition of the ex-military estates (Rampton Drift, Magdalene Close, Thornhill Place and Thatcher’s Wood) as well as the new Home Farm estate have taken us up to 1200 homes (or so). But all of Northstowe Phase 1 and virtually all of Phase 2 lie within Longstanton Parish. That would be 5,000 homes and would quickly swamp our available space. Yet the current agreements only say that a proposal for the burial ground has to be in place before 1500 homes are completed within Phase 2. The officers were left in no doubt that this needs to be firmed up and improved upon.
The change in the Phase 2 Planning Application was then agreed by the committee.
Regards
Alex’
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