Background studies

The purpose of the Strategic Housing Market Assessment is to enable the understanding of the dynamics of housing markets across Cambridgeshire and to provide the evidence needed to guide investment in housing across all tenures.

The assessment was produced by Cambridgeshire Horizons in May 2008.

Please visit the Cambridge Horizons website for more information about the Strategic Housing Market Assessment, which also includes a section on Outcomes of Strategic Land Availability Assessments (section D, part 24).

In 2007, Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council commissioned consultants to carry out an Employment Land Review for the combined area of both authorities.

Carried out in accordance with government guidance - Employment Land Reviews Guidance Note 2004 - and further guidance produced by East of England Development Agency in March 2008, the review:

• examines existing guidance, policies and requirements
• takes stock of existing employment provision
• assesses future requirements based on an analysis of past trends, future forecasts and discussions with existing employers and stakeholders
• identifies a new portfolio of potential employment sites on land with the most potential for sustainable development
• identifies existing employment sites that could be released for other forms of development

A copy of the report can also be purchased at a cost of £40.00 (not including postage and packing). Please telephone 01223 457200 for more details.

In October 2008 Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council comissioned consultants GVA Grimley to carry out the Cambridge Sub-Region Retail Study.

This was to inform retail planning in accordance with guidance set out in planning policy statement 6 - planning for town centres.

The study forms part of the evidence base for retail policies and allocations for future planning policy documents, allowing each council to make informed choices about the nature and extent of retail growth to be accommodated in the future.

To view the Cambridge sub-region retail study, please select from the links below:

• Cambridge Sub-Region Retail Study
• Cambridge Sub-Region Retail Study: plans
• Appendix 1: competing centres
• Appendix 2: Cambridge city centre health check
• Appendix 3: Cambridge city district and local centres proformas and audits
• Appendix 4: south Cambridgeshire rural centres proformas and audits
• Appendix 5: capacity projections - convenience goods
• Appendix 6: capacity projections - comparison goods
• Appendix 7: household telephone interview survey results
• Appendix 8: Cambridge in-centre survey results
• Appendix 9: GVA Grimley letter to South Cambridgeshire District Council on the Northstowe proposals
• Appendix 10: Northstowe impact assessment

Alternatively, Volume 1 of the retail study can be purchased at a cost of £50 (not including postage and packing), and the appendices can be purchased separately at a cost of £100 (not including postage and packing). Please telephone 01223 457200 for more details.

October 2009 update

Since the study was originally published in October 2008, a number of technical discrepancies have been found and amendments have been made.

These include some changes to the forecast figures for additional retail floorspace in the sub-region, however these do not affect the conclusions of the study.

GVA Grimley have issued a note of changes to explain these amendments.

National planning guidance requires local planning authorities to prepare strategic flood risk assessments for their areas in order to inform future development proposals and policies.

Guidance provided to local authorities by the Environment Agency, explains that the purpose of strategic flood risk assessments is to: "identify the areas within a development plan that are at risk of flooding, to identify and detail those factors that are relevant to current and future flood risk, and to outline policies to be applied to such areas to minimise and manage the risk".

Work on the Cambridge Flood Risk Assessment, which was carried out by Mott MacDonald in consultation with the Environment Agency, focussed on providing an assessment of the risk of flooding to specific growth areas within Cambridge:

• Cambridge east
• the southern fringe
• the northern fringe
• land between Madingley Road and Huntingdon Road
• land between Huntingdon Road and Histon Road
• the station area

The assessment also sets the criteria for the submission of future planning applications with regards to flood risk and for guiding subsequent development control decisions.

We have two versions of the report for you to download.

Full version of the Strategic Flood Risk Assessment Report - this is a very large file (47MB) and will take a long time to download if you do not have a broadband connection.

Reduced version of the Strategic Flood Risk Assessment Report - this is a smaller file, but does not contain many of the report's maps.

The study is also available to purchase on CD at a cost of £10 plus postage and packing. To purchase this please telephone 01223 457200.

The development potential of the Cambridge Northern Fringe East, which includes land around the sewage works, Cowley Road industrial units, the former Cowley Road Park and Ride site and land at Chesterton Sidings, has been extensively reviewed in the past.

In January 2008, Roger Tym and Partners were appointed to carry out a study to review previous reports for the development of the site, identify key issues, define potential development options and assess likely project feasibility.

Work on the study was guided by a steering group comprised of representatives of Cambridge City Council, Cambridgeshire Horizons, Cambridgeshire County Council, South Cambridgesire District Council, Anglian Water and Network Rail. You can download the Cambridge Northern Fringe East - Viability of Planning Options Report.

Details of additional studies will be made available on this page as they become available.