A group of residents and parish councillors are working together to produce a Neighbourhood Plan on behalf of our area.
Why are we working together?
- The boundary between us is indistinct in many places
- We share many services and sit within a common landscape
- We face the same external development pressures due to our proximity to Cambridge, Addenbrooke’s and the Biomedical Campus
- It’s more time and cost efficient to work together
Does that mean there are plans to merge the two villages?
Absolutely not.
Our villages have their own distinct personalities and character and it’s important to acknowledge that.
But it does make sense to share the work. Neighbourhood Plans take a lot of effort to produce and require lots of consultation and engagement with the local community.
The Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group has parish councillors and residents from both villages.
Landscape Character Assessment
Parishioners contributing to our neighbourhood plan, or considering the implications of planning applications or the current/emerging local plan on our immediate area, may be interested in looking at our Landscape Character Assessment (LCA). As part of early work done on Stapleford and Great Shelford’s neighbourhood plan, an LCA was undertaken by a planning consultant and published in October 2019.
LCA documents identify and explain the unique combination of elements and features that make landscapes distinctive by mapping and describing character types and areas. They also show how the landscape is perceived, experienced and valued by people. A robust, auditable and transparent baseline LCA assists in informing judgements and decisions concerning the management of change – and hence has applications in planning decisions – helping us to protect and enhance the special qualities and distinctive characteristics of our area.
Our LCA is available to read here. It is intended to have broad applicability and to benefit the wider community.
Design Guide
As part of the Neighbourhood Plan process, a Design Guide has been produced to set out guidelines and codes to provide a detailed framework which should be followed out by any future design proposals within the villages of Stapleford and Great Shelford. It is intended that future development would meet consistent, high quality design and contribute in a positive manner to the unique character of the two villages.
The Design Guidance and Codes can be found here.
