Illustrative image of the proposed Fanshawe Road redevelopment. (Image: Mole Architects/Cambridge Investment Partnership) Sign up to our free email newsletter to receive the latest
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We have more newsletters Show Me No thanks, close See our Privacy Notice Three blocks of flats are due to be demolished along Fanshawe Road in Cambridge in order to over double the amount of housing. Cambridge City Council has approved plans to demolish the existing 32 flats and to then build 84 new homes in their place. The redevelopment project is being headed up by the Cambridge Investment Partnership, a joint venture between the city council and Hill developers. The proposals had been met with backlash from some in the area who criticised the fact that not all of the new homes would be council housing, and accused the city council of “immoral gentrification”. The representatives of the developer said the project offered “much needed new homes”, over half of which they said would be let at below the market rent. The plans proposed to make 45 of the new homes available as affordable housing, and for the other 39 to be sold as private homes. Of the affordable homes, 75 per cent are proposed to have the rent capped at 60 per cent of the market rent and the other 25 per cent to have a rent cap of 80 per cent of market rent. Read more: Cambridge visitors could have to pay new ‘tourist tax’ from 2025 Read more: Observation wheel returns to Cambridge - how long will it be here for? However, at a planning committee meeting this week (March 27) a representative of the Fanshawe Road and Davy Road neighbours group criticised the lack of social rented properties planned and accused the city council of “immoral gentrification”. They said their group also opposed the loss of the existing open area outside the flat blocks, which they said had been recognised by the city council as protected open space. They added: “84 extra homes is too many for this area if it means building on the aforementioned green space. Building five-storey buildings is out of keeping with our neighbourhood of terraced and semi detached houses and will totally transform the views and right to light of the households currently living at number 10 and number eight. We object to the approach of cram them in, stack them high and price them high.” A representative of the developer said the protected area of open space would be re-provided with a new larger area that would “form the heart” of the redevelopment. They said the new open area would also be opened up so that it was accessible to all people in the area. The representative said the new homes would be “highly efficient and sustainable” and that the plans had “extensive and far reaching” benefits. They said: “In terms of the height and scale of the buildings, while taller than the buildings which immediately surround the site, the proposed apartment blocks sit comfortably within their landscape setting and respect the amenities of neighbours. “A series of view points were assessed to consider the wider townscape impacts, based on the extensive work undertaken we agree with the committee report that what is proposed meets the local plan requirements and will deliver a high quality and respectful development. “This development delivers 84 much needed new homes, 54 per cent of which are affordable homes, significantly exceeding the policy requirement of 40 per cent. The new homes will be highly efficient, comfortable, resilient to climate change and accessible to all, including those in wheelchairs. The significant uplift in the quantity and quality of housing being provided is a significant benefit of the development.” Councillor Martin Smart said he thought the plans were “impressive”, adding that the proposals to make the homes more energy efficient would help save people money on their utility bills. Councillor Dave Baigent said he did not like that the city council had been accused of “gentrification” by the objector. He said: “We are building homes for people in this city, people who cannot afford their own houses, I think gentrification slur is badly used and regrettable.” Some councillors said while there were things they liked about the proposals, there were also parts they were not so happy with. Councillor Robert Dryden said he welcomed the new homes to help meet the demands of the city council’s housing waiting list. However, he said it was a “shame” not all of the new housing would be council homes. Councillor Katie Porrer said: “There are some really positive things about this site, I do understand what people are saying about the biodiversity, but the category A trees are being preserved and we are seeing replacement planting, [and] personally I like the idea of opening up that area.” However, Cllr Porrer raised concerns that some of the affordable homes were due to be single aspect, meaning they would only have one wall with windows exposed to the outside. She also said the design of the buildings was “quite blocky” and said she found the view of the proposed buildings to be “challenging”. Councillor David Levien said there was “a lot to commend” about the new development, but said he was “disappointed” that the affordable housing was proposed to be concentrated between two buildings rather than being more distributed across the site. Officers said the developer was proposing mitigation measures to prevent overheating in the single aspect flats. They recognised there was some clustering of the affordable housing, but said the ‘over policy provision’ of affordable housing at the development meant it was considered on balance to be acceptable. Cllr Porrer said she still had concerns and asked whether a decision on the plans could be deferred in order to ask the developer to look again and try to address some of the concerns raised The proposal to defer making a decision did not receive enough support from the committee. When a decision on the application was put to a vote, the majority of councillors voted in favour of approving the plans. For more planning notices in your area visit publicnoticeportal.uk . Story Saved You can find this story in My Bookmarks. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Follow CambridgeLive
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