Northstowe
Encyclopedia
New town
A new town is a specific type of a planned community, or planned city, that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are uncommon in new...
of 9,500 houses in Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
, UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It is expected to be "an exemplar of sustainability in the use of renewable energy resources and reducing carbon emissions". The Northstowe site is located eight kilometres northwest of the city of Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, between the villages of Oakington
Oakington
Oakington is a small village 4 miles north-west of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire in England, and belongs to the administrative district of South Cambridgeshire. The village falls into the parish of Oakington and Westwick.-History:...
and Longstanton
Longstanton
Longstanton is a village in South Cambridgeshire, England, 6 miles northwest of Cambridge city centre.-History:For most of its history Longstanton was split into two parishes: the larger Long Stanton All Saints to the north and the smaller Long Stanton St. Michael to the south...
and inside the administrative district of South Cambridgeshire
South Cambridgeshire
South Cambridgeshire is a mostly rural local government district of Cambridgeshire, England. It was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Chesterton Rural District and South Cambridgeshire Rural District. It surrounds the city of Cambridge, which is administered separately from the district by...
. The Northstowe development is being led by the Homes and Communities Agency
Homes and Communities Agency
The Homes and Communities Agency is the non-departmental public body that funds new affordable housing in England. It was established by the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 as one of the successor bodies to the Housing Corporation, and became operational on 1 December 2008.-Background:On 17...
and the developers Gallagher Estates.
From its inception Northstowe was expected to be a low-carbon development
Low-carbon building
Low-carbon buildings are buildings designed and constructed to release very little or no carbon at all during their lifetime.-Buildings and Climate Change:Buildings alone are responsible for 38% of all human GHG emissions...
, with the knowledge gained 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
Energy Saving Trust
Energy Saving Trust is a non-profit organisation jointly funded by the British Government and the private sector in order to help fight climate change by promoting the sustainable use of energy, energy conservation and to cut carbon dioxide emissions in the United Kingdom.-Background:The Energy...
, Renewables East and other parties.
Northstowe will be linked to Cambridge and St Ives
St Ives, Cambridgeshire
St Ives is a market town in Cambridgeshire, England, around north-west of the city of Cambridge and north of London. It lies within the historic county boundaries of Huntingdonshire.-History:...
by the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway
Cambridgeshire Guided Busway
The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway , branded the busway , is a public transport scheme connecting the population centres of Cambridge, Huntingdon and St Ives in the English county of Cambridgeshire...
which is expected to be in operation during 2011.
History
RAF Oakington
RAF Oakington was an RAF base situated in Cambridgeshire, England.Construction was started in 1939, but was affected by the outbreak of war, the original plan called for Type C hangars two type J were erected instead. It was used by No. 2 Group in July 1940 for No. 218 Squadron which had recently...
, a World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
airfield which was used for Short Stirling
Short Stirling
The Short Stirling was the first four-engined British heavy bomber of the Second World War. The Stirling was designed and built by Short Brothers to an Air Ministry specification from 1936, and entered service in 1941...
bomber forces and other assorted units. It was used for flight training until the 1970s.
From 2000 to 2010 the barracks were used as Oakington Immigration Reception Centre
Oakington Immigration Reception Centre
Oakington Immigration Reception Centre was a UK Home Office immigration detention centre located in Cambridgeshire, England.Originally a World War II airfield, RAF Oakington, during the war it was used for Short Stirling bomber forces, as well as other assorted units...
.
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
Cogeneration
Cogeneration is the use of a heat engine or a power station to simultaneously generate both electricity and useful heat....
plants for the benefit of the town, perhaps based on the models of the Vauban district of Freiburg
Vauban, Freiburg
Vauban is a new neighborhood of 5,000 inhabitants and 600 jobs 4 km to the south of the town center in Freiburg, Germany. It was built as "a sustainable model district" on the site of a former French military base, and is named after Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, the 17th century French...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and the cooperative
Cooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
energy companies of Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. Car clubs
Carsharing
Car sharing or Carsharing is a model of car rental where people rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour. They are attractive to customers who make only occasional use of a vehicle, as well as others who would like occasional access to a vehicle of a different type than they use...
, cycling and walking were also envisaged. In March 2006 the site was acquired by English Partnerships
English Partnerships
English Partnerships was the national regeneration agency for England, performing a similar role on a national level to that fulfilled by Regional Development Agencies on a regional level...
.
In March 2007 planning inspectors
Planning permission
Planning permission or planning consent is the permission required in the United Kingdom in order to be allowed to build on land, or change the use of land or buildings. Within the UK the occupier of any land or building will need title to that land or building , but will also need "planning...
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.
In the same month Yvette Cooper
Yvette Cooper
Yvette Cooper is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford since 2010, having previously been MP for Pontefract and Castleford since 1997. She served in the Cabinet between 2008 and 2010. She is the Shadow Home Secretary...
, Minister for Housing and Planning Department for Communities and Local Government
Department for Communities and Local Government
The Department for Communities and Local Government is the UK Government department for communities and local government in England. It was established in May 2006 and is the successor to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, established in 2001...
, announced that Northstowe would be designed with energy and water efficiency standards up to 50% above conventional buildings. On 13 May 2007, Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
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
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
as leader of the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
. In response, local Liberal Democrat MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Cambridge
Cambridge (UK Parliament constituency)
Cambridge is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post voting system....
, David Howarth
David Howarth
David Ross Howarth is a British Liberal Democrat politician who was Member of Parliament for Cambridge from 2005 to 2010.- Education and academic career :...
, 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.
A planning application for the new town was submitted to South Cambridgeshire District Council
South Cambridgeshire District Council
South Cambridgeshire District Council is the local authority for the district of South Cambridgeshire in Cambridgeshire, England. Based in Cambourne, it forms the lower part of the two tier system of local government in the district, below Cambridgeshire County Council...
on 19 December 2007. Plans included the construction of around 9,500 homes, a town centre area, schools and employment areas.
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". and because it would not be zero-carbon.
In June 2009 the scheme was not included in the first round of schemes to be given the go-ahead because it did not score highly enough for sustainability; only one scheme, Rackheath eco-town
Rackheath Eco-town
The Rackheath Eco-town is a proposal for just over 5000 houses to be built in the Rackheath area, in Norfolk, within a mile of The Broads National Park...
, received an 'A' and was approved.
In November 2008 it was announced that the scheme would be delayed by at least a year due to the Financial crisis of 2007–2010.
In December 2009 it was announced that the scheme was 'back on the government's eco-town list' because elements had been redesigned to meet even higher sustainability standards.
See also
- Code for Sustainable HomesCode for Sustainable HomesThe Code for Sustainable Homes is an environmental impact rating system for housing in England and Wales, setting new standards for energy efficiency and sustainability which are not mandatory under current building regulations but represent important developments towards limiting the...
- Sustainable Communities PlanSustainable Communities PlanThe Sustainable Communities Plan was launched in 2003 and is a key policy of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in guiding its regeneration and departmental objectives. It led to the a range of policies and plans which are in effect a spatial plan for the whole of England...
- Millennium Communities ProgrammeMillennium Communities ProgrammeThe Millennium Communities Programme , is an English Partnerships initiative to construct 7 new 'villages' that are intended to 'set the standard for 21st Century living, and to serve as a model for the creation of new communities' in England.This is to be achieved by promoting innovative building...
- New towns in the United KingdomNew towns in the United KingdomBelow is a list of some of the new towns in the United Kingdom created under the various New Town Acts of the 20th century. Some earlier towns were developed as Garden Cities or overspill estates early in the twentieth century. The New Towns proper were planned to disperse population following the...
- Energy efficiency in British housingEnergy efficiency in British housingDomestic housing in the United Kingdom presents a possible opportunity for achieving the 20% overall cut in UK carbon dioxide emissions targeted by the Government for 2010...
- Low-energy building
- Ecocities
External links
In the media
- June 26, 2008, Cambridge Evening News: Students unveil their vision for Northstowe
- April 16, 2008, The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, Clash over Cambridgeshire green town plans - May 13, 2007, BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
: Brown outlines 'eco towns' plan - March 7, 2007, Government News Network: New Eco-Towns could help tackle climate change
- July 14, 2005, BBC: Plan for new town moves forward