Cambridge City Council has produced a draft Affordable Housing Supplementary Planning Document (SPD). [PDF, 0.9MB]
The draft Affordable Housing SPD [PDF, 0.9MB] will help all parties involved (such as the council, developers, landowners and registered providers) deliver affordable housing through new development. The draft SPD has been prepared to support Policy No. 45: Affordable housing and dwelling mix as set out in the Cambridge Local Plan 2014: Proposed Submission [PDF, 25MB] (and amended by the Addendum to the Cambridge Local Plan 2014 Proposed Submission Document (July 2013): Schedule of Proposed Changes Following Proposed Submission Consultation (February 2014)). [PDF, 20MB]
The draft SPD was approved for consultation at Development Plan Scrutiny Sub-Committee on 25 March 2014. Consultation ran from 9am on Monday 2 June 2014 to 5pm on Monday 14 July 2014. The Council is assessing responses to the consultation and awaiting the results of the Local Plan Examination before further work on the document can be undertaken.
Consultation on the draft Planning Obligations Strategy SPD also took place at the same time.
Consultation
The consultation on the draft Affordable Housing SPD [PDF, 0.9MB] ran from 9am on Monday 2 June to 5pm on Monday 14 July 2014.
You can view responses to the draft Affordable Housing SPD [PDF, 0.9MB] by visiting our online consultation system.
Documents provided as part of the consultation can be viewed below.
Consultation documents
- Draft Affordable Housing SPD [PDF, 0.9MB]
- Statement of Consultation [PDF, 0.2MB]
- Background document - Considering affordable housing financial contributions [PDF, 0.9MB]
- Public notice [PDF, 82Kb]
- Letter about the consultation [PDF, 0.2MB]
- Equalities Impact Assessment [PDF, 0.2MB]
- Guidance on how to respond to the Consultation [PDF, 0.5MB]
- online consultation system (view responses to the consultation here)
- Link to the Cambridge Local Plan 2014: Proposed Submission page which includes the Sustainability Appraisal and Habitats
- Regulations Assessment
You can purchase the draft SPD and associated documents from our customer service centre.
Further information
In addition to the draft SPD, Dixon Searle Partnership provided the council with recommendations for calculating affordable housing contributions through their paper:
A Sustainability Appraisal and Habitats Regulations Assessment Screening Report has been carried out and consulted upon for the Cambridge Local Plan 2014: Proposed Submission. This consultation took place between 19 July and 30 September 2013. As the draft SPD supports the Cambridge Local Plan, there is no further need to undertake a separate Sustainability Appraisal or Habitats Regulations Assessment for this document.
The current SPD
Our current Affordable Housing Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) (2008) outlines our objectives to deliver affordable housing in Cambridge. Housing must meet housing needs and contribute to the creation and maintenance of sustainable, inclusive and mixed communities. The document provides a framework for the negotiation of planning obligations for the provision of affordable housing in Cambridge. It will ensure that 40% of the buildings in new housing developments over a certain size are classed 'affordable'. The affordable housing SPD provides for both rented housing at affordable rents and for low-cost home ownership. We officially adopted the Affordable Housing Supplementary Planning Document on 14 January 2008 at Environment Scrutiny Committee - you can read our adoption notice [PDF, 28Kb].
Viewing the document
You can download the Affordable Housing Supplementary Planning Document 2008 [PDF, 1.5MB].
Development Plan Steering Group approved annex 2 of the Affordable Housing SPD on 9 September 2008, which sets out the key findings from the strategic housing market assessment and includes a guide on affordable housing and market housing mix in new developments to 2021.
Annex 2: Cambridge sub-region strategic market housing assessment 2008 [PDF, 32Kb]
You can purchase a copy of the adopted SPD and annex 2 at a cost of £15 (not including postage and packing) from our customer service centre.
A consultation statement [PDF, 0.4MB] was prepared, which provides a summary of the representations received during consultation on this document and how these have been addressed in the SPD.
The Sustainability Appraisal and Habitats Regulations Assessment
The Affordable Housing SPD was subject to a sustainability appraisal [PDF, 0.2MB] in order to ensure that the document can be considered in light of its social, environmental and economic impacts.
A habitats regulation assessment [PDF, 0.4MB] was carried out, which assesses the potential effects of the Affordable Housing SPD in combination with other plans and projects on European sites such as special areas of conservation, special protection areas and Ramsar sites. The assessment was carried out by Cambridge City Council and approved by Natural England.
