Chris RandThis page is designed to help residents respond to the The Greater Cambridge Local Plan’s ‘First Proposals’ as quickly and easily as possible.
The printed version of the “First Proposals” document is 372 pages long! Our view is that this is far too much for most people to cope with, so we want to show you how to comment on an issue you have something to say about. This could be a place, such as the fields south of Queen Edith’s, or an issue, such as ecological impact or the effects on wildlife.
This way, you should be able to respond in a few minutes.
Introduction to the Local Plan
To respond constructively, we think it’s a good idea to familiarise yourself with the whole idea of the Local Plan and its ‘First Proposals’.
- One way would be to read the article What’s The Plan, in the Winter 2021/22 edition of Queen Edith’s magazine. We have reproduced it on this website, here.
- The website of the Greater Cambridge Local Plan itself also gives a decent introduction, on the home page.
- If you’re really keen, there’s an hour’s introductory video from the Local Plan team here.
How you will be responding
There are two ways of responding to the “First Proposals”.
- One is an online questionnaire, which can be completed in a few minutes. The questions are fairly general, but there are places where you can make comments about individual sites, if one of those is what particularly interests you. It’s anonymous.
- The second method is the full “Tell Us What You Think” online feedback system. Although this is a large system, in order to allow people to comment on almost any aspect of the ‘First Proposals’, you can make a beeline for the issue that you want to comment on. So again, it shouldn’t take up too much time.
You’ll probably want to do both.
All comments must be received by Monday 13 December 2021 at 5pm.
The Issues
We are writing guides on how to respond to different issues, and others have done likewise. As these appear, we will link to them below. You may or may not agree with the views of the authors, but the pages should give you a good background and the information you need to respond with your own comments.
- A background to making general comments about Queen Edith’s
- Questioning the assumptions about ‘growth’ in general
- Ecological concerns about the fields south of Queen Edith’s
- Do we wish to surround Ninewells estate with the Campus?
- Biodiversity and Green Spaces concerns
- Help defend the Zero Carbon New Homes policy (external site, by Carbon Neutral Cambridge)
- Impact and restraints related to local water supply
