An Update on Proposed Retirement Village off High Street, Bottisham. 

Long read so apologies but rather provide you with as much detail as we can. 

So ... As you know landowners and their associated developers (Applicants), earlier in February of this year. re-submitted an application to build a retirement village in Bottisham. This was simply a re-submission of the previous application with very little or substantial changes.  

The original planning application was refused by East Cambridgeshire District Council (ECDC), and was again refused on a subsequent appeal. This appeal and court proceedings took place In February 2022 whereby the Planning Inspector decided it was not a valid application for various reasons including not permissible for building on Green Belt land. 

All previous planning documents and court hearings can be found on (ECDC) website. Both ECDC and Bottisham Parish Council and the Medical Practice are maintaining their position in strongly opposing this development.

However ... an update for you. 

1) Objections and/or support can still be lodged with ECDC. Currently we have no deadline date for these. Once you have lodged this objection/support it will be uploaded to the ECDC planning website associated to that relevant planning proposal. 

To post:  

Mr Andrew Phillips, Planning Team Leader 
Planning Department
East Cambridgeshire District Council
The Grange
Nutholt Lane
Ely,
Cambridgeshire,
CB7 4EE

To email: andrew.phillips@eastcambs.gov.uk

https://www.eastcambs.gov.uk

Reference: 23/00205/OUM, Retirement Village Bottisham

https://tinyurl.com/mv8vyj9p Retirement Village Planning Application

2) The applicants have been notified by ECDC Planning Lead that they have to make a more robust argument to support their application. All parties are awaiting a response on this. The applicants don’t have to submit any changes but are likely aware that this will potentially negatively impact on the decision. 

3) The objection of this planning proposal has the full support and weight of our local MP Lucy Frazer. This supporting letter can also be found on the ECDC website. 

4) Unfortunately, we were advised that this would go to ECDC Planning Committee in July. However, due to local elections and other commitments this has been delayed. We are advised now (as of 22nd May) that this is likely to be August-September.We have requested that we be updated regularly on this Planning Committee timeframe so that residents can either attend in person to object / support and present their case and ask questions or alternatively can listen via live YouTube link. We will keep you abreast as we hear further. 

To remind you of Bottisham Parish Council objections these are as follows:

• There is still a substantial encroachment into the Green Belt
• The building height planned to be reduced from 15m to 10m
• The Affordable house provision is reduced from 51 to 32 - however the new Bell Road development has 100% affordable houses therefore the village’s requirement has already been covered for several years ahead
• The entrance and exit are still from the High Street with poor width and visibility splays
• C2 and C3 care provision has not changed – we already have 3 care facilities with spare capacity and a shortage of staff
• Bottisham Medical Practice will still be overwhelmed providing primary care service for the new extra elderly population and objected in 2022
• Carbon footprint will be severely impacted with several hundred additional vehicles