Northstowe

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A lake on the Northstowe development site.

Northstowe is the name of a proposed new town in the United Kingdom. It is expected to be "an exemplar of sustainability in the use of renewable energy resources and reducing carbon emissions". ^[1] A planning application for the town was submitted to South Cambridgeshire District Council on 19th December 2007.^[2]

Northstowe is located eight kilometres northwest of the city of Cambridge, between the villages of Oakington and Longstanton and inside the administrative district of South Cambridgeshire.

The site covers Oakington Barracks and the attached World War II airfield, which was used for Short Stirling bomber forces and other assorted units. Prior to, and since, their acquisition in March 2006 by English Partnerships^[3], the barracks have been in use as Oakington Immigration Reception Centre.

Northstowe is to be linked to Cambridge by the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, which is expected to be completed in 2009.^[4]. The Northstowe development is being led by English Partnerships and Gallagher.

1 Low-carbon development
2 Development size
3 See also
4 External links
- 4.1 In the media
5 References

[edit] Low-carbon development

From its inception Northstowe was expected to be a low-carbon development, with the knowledge learnt being applied elsewhere in the region. To further this aim, the Northstowe Sustainable Energy Partnership was created to link the developers, the local authorities, the Energy Saving Trust, Renewables East and other parties.^[5] In the phase one Local Management Study, published in February 2006 it was suggested that a community based energy company might be formed, owning assets such as wind turbines or combined heat and power plants for the benefit of the town, perhaps based on the models of the Vauban district of Freiburg, Germany, and the cooperative energy companies of Denmark and Sweden. Car clubs, cycling and walking were also envisaged.^[6]

Yvette Cooper, Minister for Housing and Planning Department for Communities and Local Government announced in March 2007 that Northstowe would be designed with energy and water efficiency standards up to 50% above conventional buildings.^[7] On 13 May, 2007, Gordon Brown went further, announcing that the housing on the development would be built to zero-carbon building standards if he were elected to succeed Tony Blair as leader of the Labour Party. In response, local Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge, David Howarth, called on the Chancellor to allow local authorities to impose zero-carbon standards on other developments too, and to provide a serious investment in public transport for the new eco-towns.^[8] In January 2008, however, Cooper confirmed in Parliament that Northstowe had not been adopted as an eco-town because the planning application "predate[s] the eco-towns programme". ^[1]

[edit] Development size

In March 2007 planning inspectors recommended that Northstowe should consist of 10,000 homes rather than the 8,000 originally planned, and ruled that a country park need not be incorporated. The news was greeted with concern by many in the area who feared further expansion in the future.^[9]