Policy S/WNT: Land north of Waterbeach

Vision and identity

1.    Waterbeach new town will be a vibrant community of a high quality and distinctive design, celebrating excellence in sustainable development and healthy living. It will be a well-connected place, benefitting from the relocation of Waterbeach station to the edge of the site. It will be easy to move around in a safe environment where active travel and public transport are the norm.

2.    A new town centre will create a basis for social interaction and provide new employment, with a range of facilities and amenities including retail, community, leisure and sports uses, a hotel, primary and secondary schools, sixth form centre and public open spaces. It will have its own special character and identity, respecting its location on the Fen edge, its historic landscape and features, and close proximity to Cambridge.

3.    A Strategic Enhancement Area (S/SEA/WNT) will be integrated into the development to ensure sufficient separation between neighbouring settlements, maintaining a soft, green landscape to protect and enhance the town’s rural setting.
 
Uses

4.    Waterbeach is allocated for mixed-use development, comprising:
  a.    Up to 11,000 homes in a wide range of dwelling types and tenures, including:
    i.    Affordable, key worker, extra care and older people’s housing, community led homes, and self/custom build;
    ii.    A total of 24 permanent Gypsy and Traveller pitches (within two sites of 12 pitches, each on approximately 1 hectare of land); and
    iii.    Approximately 1,050 units of specialist accommodation (Class C2), particularly for older people or those with disabilities.
  b.    Employment floorspace up to 39,800 square metres (GIA) across the total site including offices (E(g)(i)), research and development (E(g)(ii)), light industrial (E(g)(iii))and storage or distribution (Class B8). This must be:
    i.    focused on the new town centre, station district and at two local centres;
    ii.    delivered at phased timescales, providing space to facilitate home working and flexibility for start-ups and for businesses to grow.
  c.    Retail provision up to 25,500 square metres (GIA) across the total site, and a range of services, assembly, leisure and other town and local centre uses, which must be provided in the new town centre, railway station district and at two local centres;
  d.    Social and leisure facilities to meet the needs of the development;
  e.    Education including for early years, primary, secondary, sixth form and special educational needs;
  f.    Recreational spaces including allotments and community orchards;
  g.    Cultural facilities including faith space, library, burial land and public art;
  h.    Healthcare facilities to meet the needs generated by the development;
  i.    A relocated Waterbeach railway station;
  j.    Enhanced Park and Ride facilities;
  k.    Outdoor sports and play spaces, which must be quantified and phased in accordance with a strategy to be submitted and indoor sporting facilities; and
  l.    Green infrastructure, including for biodiversity and sustainable drainage.

5.    Temporary facilities and meanwhile uses must be provided in the early stages of development to provide services for new residents and workers, reduce the need for them to travel, create a sense of identity for the new town and foster a sense of community.
 
The development of Waterbeach New Town must do the following:

Context

6.    Embed exemplar principles of landscape, townscape and heritage protection into the design of all phases of development, by:
  a.    Providing screening from Denny Abbey to conserve and enhance the setting of the Grade I listed building including beyond the Major

This refers to development in its widest sense, including buildings, and streets, spaces and places. It also refers to both redevelopment, including refurbishment, as well as new development.

Site, and protecting key views from and to the Abbey;
  b.    Retaining and where possible, enhancing, the Military Heritage Museum within the development;
  c.    Retaining, enhancing and incorporating of other key historical features, specifically:
    i.    Soldiers Hill earthworks;
    ii.    The grid structure of the Barracks;
    iii.    Waterbeach Barracks Watertower (subject to structural survey);
    iv.    Waterbeach Barracks control tower
    v.    Memorial Garden;
    vi.    Winfold Greenway;
    vii.    Runway Park;
    viii.    Car Dyke; and
    ix.    Bannold Drove.
  d.    Retaining and enhancing topographical features, hedgerows, tree belts and woodlands, species rich grasslands, watercourses, ponds, lakes, droves and wetlands;
  e.    Incorporating key views out of the development to Ely Cathedral, Denny Abbey, Landbeach Parish Church, the East Anglian Heights towards the east, and the fens from Long Drove
  f.    Providing strategic landscaping within and beyond the Site Allocation into the Strategic Enhancement Area (S/SEA/WNT), to maintain the village character of Waterbeach; and
  g.    Maintaining historical links from the Waterbeach village through the site to Denny Abbey, achieved by re-establishing footpaths, in particular the Causeway.

7.    Avoid vulnerable development on land to the east of the Bannold Drove, which could be at risk of flooding if a breach of the existing flood defences on the River Cam were to occur.
 
Built form

8.    Ensure built form of the new town is in accordance with the Spatial Framework Diagram, whose layout accords with the Waterbeach New Town Supplementary Planning Document and reflects the parameter plans approved in the two outline planning permissions for the site (S/0559/17/OL and S/2075/18/OL).

9.    Deliver a form of development which includes:
  a.    Recognisable streets and other spaces to promote legibility, safety and accessibility;
  b.    Memorable features, groups of buildings and spaces that create a sense of place;
  c.    Long view corridors retained from Long Drove to the open landscape to the east and to the north, bringing these fen views into the development;
  d.    Higher densities and heights in the town centre and station area and the lowest heights and densities in areas closest to Denny Abbey and the town edges, in conformity with the approved parameter plans for the site;
  e.    A density and scale of development at the interface of the existing village that reflects the density, scale of the village in that area, specifically in the following areas:
    i.    The Barracks entrance;
    ii.    Denny End Road;
    iii.    Cody Road;
    iv.    Capper Road; and
    v.    Abbey Place.

10.    Deliver a network of new centres for the town, specifically:
  a.    A town centre, which will be the main location for commercial, retail, leisure, entertainment, health and community uses. It will have civic spaces, a secondary school, a clearly identified high street and include residential uses on upper floors;
  b.    A station district, which will be commercial centre and a sixth form college close to the relocated Waterbeach railway station;
  c.    Two other Local Centres, one of which will serve the northeastern residential area and include primary and secondary schools to meet the needs of the development.

11.    Provide appropriate noise mitigation for homes that would be affected by the A10, railway station/line and Waterbeach Waste Management Park, in response to acoustic surveys which must be prepared and submitted by the applicant.

Public space

12.    Incorporate formal and informal open spaces as an integral part of the spatial planning of the new town of Waterbeach, maximising opportunities to promote wellbeing. Specifically, the new town must include:
  a.    Strategic open space to enhance the setting to Denny Abbey;
  b.    Multi-use games areas (MUGAs) and play spaces, designed based on best practice including appropriate provision for all children and teenagers;
  c.    Civic spaces within the commercial town centre and within the railway station quarter; and
  d.    A generous quantum of open space, to establish the identity of the new town as a fenland edge settlement.

Nature

13.    Integrate natural features into the development to contribute towards the quality of place and people’s quality of life, including making provision for a significant network of green infrastructure. Measures must include:
  a.    Retaining, and where needed, enhancing existing woodland and water bodies;
  b.    Providing ecological mitigation measures and ecological corridors;
  c.    Creating multifunctional spaces for amenity, landscape, biodiversity, recreation and drainage; and
  d.    Developing a comprehensive blue network within and beyond the site.

14.    The Strategic Enhancement Area (S/SEA/WNT) must create a clearly defined green buffer to the neighbouring settlements, which preserves identified viewpoints from the northern boundary of the town.

15.    Promote cycling, walking and horse riding as the preferred mode of transport from the outset of the development, by:
  a.    Creating a movement network, including footway and cycleways, to connect the key locations of the town centre, schools, employment areas and relocated railway station site, and provide attractive, direct and safe routes that link homes to public transport and key areas of activity;
  b.    Providing direct, segregated high quality pedestrian and cycle links to north Cambridge, surrounding villages and nearby existing facilities such as the Cambridge Research Park;
  c.    Delivering a Smarter Choices package including residential, school and workplace travel planning.

16.    Deliver significant improvements in public transport, including:
  a.    Provision of a relocated Waterbeach railway station with appropriate access arrangements by all modes to serve the village and the new town (there is an outstanding planning approval for the relocated railway station S/0791/18/FL); and
  b.    A multi modal transport hub.

17.    Highways improvements must include:
  a.    Primary road access from the A10 via two access points, providing a loop around the new town, to access the relocated railway station and town centre:
    i.    The Northern Access has been constructed from the Cambridge Research Park roundabout, under an existing planning permission;
    ii.    The Southern Access nearer Denny End Road must include junction improvements, with a design which discourages vehicles from routing into Waterbeach village and via Horningsea;
  b.    Additional capacity to meet the forecast road traffic generation of the new town, particularly on the A10 and at the junction with the A14;
  c.    Measures to mitigate the traffic impact of the new town on surrounding villages including Waterbeach, Landbeach, Horningsea, Fen Ditton and Milton; and
  d.    A review of the access arrangements to Denny Abbey and the Farmland Museum.

18.    The development must provide:
  a.    Planning obligations towards measures identified within the Ely to Cambridge Transport Study to mitigate impacts of the development on existing roads; and
  b.    A

A comprehensive and systematic process that sets out transport issues relating to a proposed development. It identifies measures required to improve accessibility and safety for all modes of travel, particularly for alternatives to the car such as walking, cycling and public transport, and measures that will be needed deal with the anticipated transport impacts of the development.

for each Phase, to manage and monitor transport impacts and ensure that transport impacts are mitigated as each phase of development is built.

Resources

19.    All applications for development, including reserved matters applications, must include a Sustainability Statement.

20.    To maximise its sustainability, the development must:
  a.    Achieve efficient re-use and recycling of the existing building materials of the Barracks buildings where feasible; and
  b.    Provide opportunities for food production.

Lifespan

21.    The delivery of Waterbeach must be in accordance with design codes, prepared and submitted by the applicant as part of reserved matters applications for all phases of development.

22.    Planning applications must establish a mechanism for the long-term stewardship of Waterbeach New Town. This must enable a sense of ownership for its residents and provide for well-managed and maintained spaces and facilities. In particular, management and maintenance plans will be required for:
  a.    Landscape and open spaces;
  b.    Community buildings;
  c.    Indoor and outdoor sports facilities;
  d.    Unadopted roads; and
  e.    Parking enforcement for unadopted roads.

A policy for the continued allocation of this site for a new settlement is required to ensure that development opportunities and challenges are identified and responded to in a comprehensive manner.

Since the allocation of Waterbeach New Town as a strategic site in the 2018 South Cambridgeshire

A plan for the future development of a local area, drawn up by the local planning authority in consultation with the community. In law this is described as the development plan documents adopted under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. A local plan can consist of either strategic or non-strategic policies, or a combination of the two.

, two outline planning permissions have been granted that together cover the allocation. In addition to this, several detailed permissions have been approved, and some construction of the development has been carried out. The site is anticipated to be developed beyond the Plan period of the South Cambridgeshire

A plan for the future development of a local area, drawn up by the local planning authority in consultation with the community. In law this is described as the development plan documents adopted under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. A local plan can consist of either strategic or non-strategic policies, or a combination of the two.

and therefore is carried forward into this

The combined areas of Cambridge District and South Cambridgeshire District Councils.

A plan for the future development of a local area, drawn up by the local planning authority in consultation with the community. In law this is described as the development plan documents adopted under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. A local plan can consist of either strategic or non-strategic policies, or a combination of the two.

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The Council maintains high aspirations for the new town, ensuring that it delivers exceptional standards of sustainability, high quality design, a strong sense of community and respect for its historic setting. The Waterbeach New Town Supplementary Planning Document supplements local plan policy and sets standards of design. It continues to be a material planning consideration.

Waterbeach New Town will be a town set within a network of open spaces, building on the existing mature trees and vegetation found across the site. This Fen inspired landscape network will establish the character of the new town and make it distinctive from other settlements in

The combined areas of Cambridge District and South Cambridgeshire District Councils.

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Denny Abbey is a Grade I

Structure considered by the Secretary of State (for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) to be 'of special architectural or historic interest' and included in a list of such buildings. The list is maintained by Historic England and is available on-line through the National Heritage List for England.

and Scheduled Monument in an extensive landscape setting. The building and its setting should be conserved and enhanced. The reinstatement of the historic causeway connecting Denny Abbey with Waterbeach village, which pre-dates the barracks, would support this. There is a network of other old paths across the allocated site which should be retained and reinstated wherever possible. The retention of other historic features and important views would also support the context and identity of the new town.

The existing Military Heritage Building, which relates to the historic use of the site, should be either retained or relocated within the development site to celebrate the individual identity of the new town and its military history.

The development strategy for

The combined areas of Cambridge District and South Cambridgeshire District Councils.

is to direct any new homes, which includes specialist accommodation and Gypsy and Traveller pitches, to strategic sites on the edge of Cambridge and new settlements. The adopted South Cambridgeshire

A plan for the future development of a local area, drawn up by the local planning authority in consultation with the community. In law this is described as the development plan documents adopted under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. A local plan can consist of either strategic or non-strategic policies, or a combination of the two.

includes Policy H/21 which states that if need is identified opportunities to deliver Gypsy and Traveller sites will be sought as part of large scale new communities and significant major development sites. The need and opportunities should be kept under review through the planning of future phases of such developments as they come forward during life of the

A plan for the future development of a local area, drawn up by the local planning authority in consultation with the community. In law this is described as the development plan documents adopted under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. A local plan can consist of either strategic or non-strategic policies, or a combination of the two.

. It is therefore important that the policies for these allocations include specific requirements for specialist accommodation and Gypsy and Traveller pitches, as well as the overall number of homes to be provided. Waterbeach New Town as a whole is required to provide 24 Gypsy and Traveller pitches and 1,050 units as specialist accommodation (Use Class C2).
 
Convenient services and facilities are required to support the new community. Many of these are to be provided under S106 Agreements relating to the two outline planning permissions. The triggers for most of these have not yet been met and to ensure that any future proposals include them they are imbedded into this updated policy.

It is an aspiration to ensure that walking and cycling are more attractive than driving to access services and facilities within the new town and beyond, which will support community health and wellbeing. The new town is close to Cambridge and good quality transport links are vital, particularly for public transport. To support this, the existing Waterbeach railway station will be relocated to within the new town site to enable a multi modal transport hub to be created for seamless travel. A new park and ride facility with segregated busway will provide rapid public transport to Cambridge to access further employment and facilities.

A range of highway and transport mitigation measures will be necessary to manage the additional traffic and movement associated with the development and these are the subject of S106 agreements relating to the two outline planning permissions. These measures will go beyond the site boundary and will include work to the A10 and junction with the A14 interchange.

A range of densities and building heights are required to provide the amount of development envisaged and to respect the existing context. Higher densities and buildings should be concentrated mostly at the town centre and the railway district, where the services and facilities will be focused and within easy walking distance of new homes. Lower heights and densities are needed at the settlement edges to reduce the impact of development on the existing village, historic Denny Abby and surrounding Fens.

Whilst most of the site lies within Flood Risk Zone 1 and at low risk of flooding, the impact of flooding needs to be mitigated. It had been demonstrated through the South Cambridgeshire

A plan for the future development of a local area, drawn up by the local planning authority in consultation with the community. In law this is described as the development plan documents adopted under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. A local plan can consist of either strategic or non-strategic policies, or a combination of the two.

2018 process that parts of the site are at risk of flooding in the event of a breach of the existing flood defences on the River Cam and therefore appropriate measures need to be introduced to mitigate this risk. These measures were identified and agreed with the Environment Agency through a detailed Flood Risk Assessment that accompanied the planning application for the eastern part of the town.

For the new town to be successful long term, provisions for the management and maintenance of infrastructure, services and facilities are necessary and are to be agreed with the Local Planning Authority.

The combined areas of Cambridge District and South Cambridgeshire District Councils.

A plan for the future development of a local area, drawn up by the local planning authority in consultation with the community. In law this is described as the development plan documents adopted under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. A local plan can consist of either strategic or non-strategic policies, or a combination of the two.

 Sites Topic Paper

We will consider all comments while developing the next version of the

A plan for the future development of a local area, drawn up by the local planning authority in consultation with the community. In law this is described as the development plan documents adopted under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. A local plan can consist of either strategic or non-strategic policies, or a combination of the two.

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All comments must be received by 30 January 2026 at 5pm.