A428 Development Cluster - Bourn Airfield

Aims

• To provide residents and stakeholders with regular updates regarding major strategic development sites.
• To provide an opportunity for residents and stakeholders to share their interests / concerns with relevant council officers, including those from the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service (‘Planning’) and Sustainable Communities and Wellbeing (‘Communities’) teams, Elected Members, developers and other key stakeholders such as Cambridgeshire County Council and Greater Cambridge Partnership.
• A range of methods will be used to deliver the forum. The most appropriate format will be chosen for the meeting in consultation with attendees and in accordance with the circumstances and government guidance available at the time, that is to say in person forums (which will include drop-ins), virtual meetings or a hybrid of these. For virtual meetings Zoom Webinar will be used.
• The forum will follow a Shared Planning Meeting concerning planning issues relevant to the surrounding area of the development concerned, for example transport and education provision.
  
  

Scope and purpose

• The development covered is Bourn Airfield and other minor strategic sites as decided by the Chair in consultation with Officers, Parish Councils, the Community Advisor/s and attendees.
• To provide regular, accurate and timely information to residents regarding the above developments.
• To offer an opportunity for residents to raise issues of interest or concern for existing and new communities with a view to enhancing the quality of community life and the environment in the Bourn Airfield areas.
• For council officers to share issues raised by residents with relevant parties and report back responses and / or that appropriate action has been taken.
• To provide information and signposting on planning and growth matters.
• To provide an opportunity for developer/s, residents, community groups, elected members and council officers to engage with each other.
• From time to time, to provide opportunities for residents to be consulted and involved in the planning, co-design and management of associated facilities and services.
• The forum does not have decision-making powers and cannot be held accountable for growth and related issues.
• Minor developments may be covered by this forum from time to time, but the developments listed above will take priority.
  
  

Structure, management and format

• The forum will be chaired by Cllr Tumi Hawkins, South Cambridgeshire District Council’s (SCDC) Lead Cabinet Member for Planning and Vice Chair Cllr Bill Handley, SCDC Lead Cabinet Member for Community Resilience, Health and Wellbeing as needed.
• There will be a maximum of 3 ‘open to all’ formal meetings a year, where appropriate, and other forms of engagement where necessary.
• Venues, where appropriate, will be spread around the different catchment area/s for the new development(s) to ensure all residents have an opportunity to attend.
• Stakeholders and people attending a forum will be asked for input into agenda items for future meetings at the previous meeting and via the forum webpage and distribution list.
• SCDC Planning and Communities officers in consultation with the Chair and the Community Advisor/s will agree the final agenda based on the progress of each specific development and the views expressed by stakeholders and people attending the forum.
• Meeting dates will be set, wherever possible, on a rolling basis a year in advance.
  
  

Communication and publicity

• A range of measures will be used to communicate to residents about the forums, including local advertising via flyers, a dedicated web page, existing parish publications, email via the distribution list and social media.
• Where possible and practicable, officers will upload content to SCDC’s website within 10 days of a meeting being held.
• A rolling agenda will be posted online, so residents are aware of proposed future topics for discussion.
• Questions will be posted online so that attendees can see the issues that have been raised and addressed at past meetings.
• Presentations, notes and recordings of the meetings will be published online.
• A distribution list will be developed and maintained based on registered forum attendees and any others wishing to be kept informed. A registration form will be available on the relevant forum’s web page/s.
• Surveys and feedback mechanisms will be employed from time to time to ensure forums are meeting residents’ needs and to facilitate continuous improvement. The Forum will be reviewed after the first three meetings.
• Agendas will be published no later than 7 days prior to the meeting.  

Valuing diversity

All delegates attending Forum events must undertake to:

• Treat all people with respect and act in a way which does not discriminate against or exclude anyone
• Act in a fair and responsible way to all

Collective responsibility 

All people coming to Forum events agree by their presence that they will:

• Observe the authority of the Chair or facilitator at all times
• Listen quietly to and respect the views and experiences of other people contributing
• Agree to and follow the standard of behaviour expected at each event, according to what is happening at that event (e.g. no interrupting or shouting)
• Allow others to have equal opportunity and time to share their opinions
• Not use inflammatory language or behaviour of any kind

If the above values are not met during a meeting or event, the Chair, facilitator or nominated officer may take one or more of the following steps with the objective of restoring order.

Any person making offensive, insulting, threatening, provocative, slanderous or obscene remarks, or who becomes boisterous, or who threatens or harasses any person or property while at a Forum event, will cause the event to be suspended for the shortest period needed to allow order to be restored.

Any person or people causing an event to be interrupted by reason of behaviours identified above, who does so more than once, can be asked to leave the event by the Chair or staff at the event. This can be for a specific length of time to allow the person or people to cool off or for the rest of the meeting or event, depending on the judgement of the Chair or staff present.

Where the Chair believes that:

• The event has become unmanageable, unnecessarily interrupted, harassed or hindered more than once by the same person or people
• There has been behaviour which threatens the safety of him or herself or others present, the Chair may opt to suspend the meeting or event until order is restored or to end the meeting, or event, if they feel that it is appropriate
• Any person or persons causing through their behaviour, any other individual or individuals present at a Forum event to fear for their personal safety may be subject to immediate removal from the event and/or the event premises

Where: This forum was held virtually over Zoom.

Note: For those with accessibility needs, YouTube has a "captions" feature that can be enabled when the embedded videos are watched on their platform.

Please see below timestamps for the above video, which you can use to navigate agenda items.

0:00 - Welcome and introduction, Gareth Bell

05:25 - Planning Update, Stephen Kelly

13:00 - Cambourne West Update, James Truett

18:00 - Q&A session

23:50 - SCIP Planning Application Update, Aaron Coe

30:03 - Q&A session

33:17 - Bourn Quarter, Chris Mills and Harry Aitchison

40:06 - Forum review, Louise Lord

46:20 - Discussion/Q&A

50:37 - Meeting close

Where: This forum was held virtually over Zoom.

Note: For those with accessibility needs, YouTube has a "captions" feature that can be enabled when the embedded videos are watched on their platform.

Please see below time stamps for the above video, which you can use to navigate agenda items:

0:00 - Welcome

03:40 - Planning Round Up

10:26 - Local Plan Update

19:06 - Transport Round Up

24:20 - Q&A

45:50 - Update Cambourne West

50:27 - Update Cambourne Village College

54:40 Update SCIP

1:02:05 - Q&A

1:22:22 - Update Bourn Quarter

1:36:33 - Q&A

1:40:13 - Presentation Bourn Parish Council

1:43:48 - Q&A

1:52:00 - Meeting close

Please find follow up responses to queries arising from the November 2022 Forums including links to GP registration process for new Cambourne West residents. [PDF, 0.1MB]

A428 Development Cluster Community Forums: General Update

1. Please find link to current Greater Cambridge Planning Teams: update in progress to be provided as soon as possible. Please see contact details for planning officers for each site below.

2. Please find link to Planning Compliance section of Greater Cambridge Planning website including complaints form.

A428 Development Cluster Community Forums: Cambourne

3. Plan of access routes (vehicular/ pedestrian/ cycle) as referred to by Stephen Kelly – please email south.west@scambs.gov.uk and request this document is sent to you as we are unable to share on our website.

4. Request for information on GP registration for new residents.

5. Planning Officer: James Truett - James.Truett@greatercambridgeplanning.org, Ganesh Gnanamorthy - ganesh.gnanamoorthy@greatercambridgeplanning.org

A428 Development Cluster Community Forums: Bourn

6. Please find written update regarding Bourn Airfield New Village: there is nothing significant to update on at the moment. The S106 Agreement is still being progressed, so the decision notice has not yet been issued. We expect to provide further information at the next Forum.

7. Planning Officer: Kate Poyser - kate.poyser@greatercambridgeplanning.org

Where: Virtual Meeting - Zoom

Note: For those with accessibility needs, YouTube has a "captions" feature that can be enabled when the embedded videos are watched on their platform.

This forum was held back to back with A428 Development Cluster - Bourn Airfield Forum as follows: Session 1. A428 Development Cluster - Cambourne Forum, Session 2. Travel and Transport Sessions 3. A428 Development Cluster - Bourn Airfield Forum Forum. Session 2 and 3 are available below. For Session 1 and 2 see this link here.

Cllr Dr Tumi Hawkins - Transport Introduction

Jez Tuttle - Transport Overview

Emma Wood - Highways update

Jo Baker - Update on Cambridge to Cambourne 

Gail Buckland - East West Rail Update

Transport Q&A Session and Meeting Close

Cllr Dr Tumi Hawkins - Bourn Introduction

Kate Poyser - Bourn Update

Q&A Session and Meeting Close

Unanswered Questions:

With the bus service along the top of Bourn airfield adjacent to the a428 bridging in the opposite direction to the east west rail alignment, how will this work?

GCP liaises regularly with East West Rail but at present there is no preferred alignment for East West Rail and no certainty that this will be the final alignment. The intention is to submit a Transport and Works Act application for C2C within the next 6 months. It is likely that the timescale for East West Rail, should a northern alignment proceed, will be much longer, and East West Rail will then need to develop an alignment which crosses not just C2C but also the A428.

Are there plans to ensure the road network meets the recent changes to the Highway Code and the Road User Hierarchy - in particular avoiding the danger of cyclists undertaking equestrians? Why are the road crossings and paths restricted to pedestrians and cyclists - why not full non-motorised user routes?  I would be pleased to discuss this outside this forum.

Where C2C meets highways the junctions will need to be designed to meet the requirement of road safety audits. Other matters have been discussed with the British Horse Society at programme level.

What provision is planned for NHS dentists, there is a serious lack in the area!

NHS England – East of England is aware and understand the difficulty people are having trying to see an NHS dentist for routine and urgent care. There is a lot of work being undertaken to improve this, which includes training and recruiting more dentists. 

Primary care dental services are returning to usual contractual arrangements from 1 July 2022.  This will enable more routine patients to be seen.     

Due to the nature of certain clinical dental procedures there is still a national requirement for enhanced infection protection control measures in dental surgeries despite the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions in general society. Many dental procedures generate an aerosol (a water vapour) when drills are used for commonly performed treatments such as scaling, fillings, root fillings and crowns and so enhanced infection protection is needed after these procedures are carried out in dental surgeries. These additional measures result in fewer patients being able to be seen and so dental practices need to manage their surgery time differently to operate safety. 

This, combined with a lack of dentists, has led to increased waiting lists to access NHS dentists and with the COVID-19 related requirements to dental practices has resulted in reduced access for non-urgent NHS dental care.  

NHS England is working closely with dental practices to reduce waiting times for patients. Most helpfully, the number of patients that an NHS dentist is allowed to see and treat each day is now increasing as infection control requirements change to reflect the latest COVID-19 infection and transmission rates.  

Patients can approach any NHS dental practice and request care; however, it is important to note that many NHS dental practices now have a waiting list of patients who require dental care. 

Dental practices are independent providers who hold a contract to provide NHS dental services.  Dental providers manage their own practice including capacity and determine whether they are able to accept additional/new patients and therefore their lists can open and close on a frequent basis. 

If a patient believes that their condition is deteriorating into an urgent problem or changing, they should contact NHS 111, who will be able to direct them to a dentist who does have capacity to see patients who need urgent care. 

NHS dental practices have been asked to maintain a short notice cancellation list and contact patients if capacity becomes available within their appointment books and so maintaining regular contact with local NHS dental practices will facilitate those practices to utilise their surgery capacity to the maximum. In addition, NHS dental practices have been asked to regularly update their NHS UK website profiles to ensure that it accurately reflects their capacity to see patients. 

Automatic registration with an NHS dentist has not existed since 2006. Many practices have maintained a list of NHS patients they offer to recall but no registration or maintaining an NHS patient list is an actual requirement of an NHS dentist.