- Client
- This Land
- Sector
- Planning & Development
- Location
- East Cambridgeshire
- How we helped
- Planning consultancy
Carter Jonas’ Eastern Region Planning and Development Team secured resolution to grant outline planning permission for This Land Ltd., at East Cambridgeshire District Council’s planning committee, for a 22ha greenfield site on the eastern edge of Soham in Cambridgeshire.
Soham Eastern Gateway will support the revitalised town centre of Soham, one of the largest and fastest growing market towns in the area, and will deliver significant economic, social and environmental benefits.
It will comprise of 540 new homes (incl. 108 affordable and 27 self-build), a mixed-use neighbourhood hub for a new medical centre, pharmacy, children’s nursery, local convenience shop, and other potential uses such as office workspace.
It will provide 6.3 hectares of public open space, linking two protected commons, biodiversity net gain, and will enable improved surfacing to existing public rights of way and create new footpaths, cycleways and bridleways in and around the town.
Development will support an estimated 130 construction jobs and 87 new full-time jobs, £337k on local road improvements, and multi-million pound contributions to fund local infrastructure and facilities. Residents of the new homes are expected to generate £1.7m/annum spend for the local economy.
Our P&D Team was originally involved in securing the allocation of the land in the East Cambridgeshire Local Plan 2015 on behalf of a separate landowner, before embarking on the preparation and submission of the planning application in 2019.
The outcome is testament to the perseverance and tenacity of This Land who have throughout a long and challenging process, worked with local stakeholders to understand concerns and negotiate solutions. In particular, the relationship built with the local medical centre to respond to the chronic shortage of suitable accommodation on their existing premises, by providing a site for a new and enlarged purpose-built facility that will benefit the town and the surrounding villages within its catchment. A parallel detailed planning application for this was approved at the same committee.
Carter Jonas led the planning and EIA process throughout the course of the application, working alongside This Land and technical project team.