Green Infrastructure & Movement NetworksDick Longdin: Randall Thorp

CAMBOURNE

Lessons to be learnt

Green Infrastructure & Movement NetworksDick Longdin

CAMBOURNE9 miles west of Cambridge

405 ha

3300 residential units approved

Additional 950 applied for

Projected population 10,500 +

Open space: 243 ha

New Woodlands: 45 ha

New grassland: 23 ha

New lakes: 6 ha

Country Park: 28 ha

Eco Park: 9 ha

Entrance Park: 7.5 ha

Nature areas: 58 ha

Trees and shrubs: 200,000

New hedgerows: 10 miles

New footpaths, cycleways bridleways: 12 miles

Cambourne A ‘Best Practice’ New Development

“we can build to the of Cambourne… or the standard of Slough”

Jon Rouse, Chief Executive CABE. The Times 2004

quantityquality

“Cambourne has successfully built in biodiversity as an integral part of the Masterplan”

English Nature, Memorandum to the ODPM, 2004

“This good practice example shows how the existing biodiversity was protected and how new wildlife interest can be created”

Planning for Biodiversity & Geological Conservation:A Good Practice Guide to Accompany PPS9: 2006

Cambourne Masterplan

Masterplan drawn up in 1995 by multidisciplinary team led by Terry Farrell

Vision included the following aims (amongst others):• Protect & enhance features of landscape value• Protect & enhance features of ecological value• Enhance biodiversity through habitat creation• Facilitate & encourage movement by foot, cycle & other non-

vehicular forms

• Together these enable the creation of the Landscape Structure Plan (Green Infrastructure for Cambourne).

Cambourne Masterplan

Cambourne site 1994

Cambourne Masterplan 1995Cambourne Masterplan 2000Cambourne Masterplan 2007Cambourne site 2007.

Cambourne’s Green Infrastructure

Open spaces designed to be multifunctional:

Ecological enhancement

Engineering requirements

Waste disposal

Education

Screening

Shelter

Informal recreation

Formal recreation

Food production

Sense of place / local character

Aesthetic delight

Movement

Range of linked habitats and public realm that provide benefits that far exceed the sum of the individual parts

Cambourne’s Green InfrastructureRange of Green Infrastructure assets at a variety of scales

Inter-relationship of GI with the movement network

• Primary roads and Green Infrastructure• Green Infrastructure and movement• Non vehicular routes and Green

Infrastructure

The Oaks WoodThe Oaks Wood

Primary Roads & Green Infrastructure

•Vision:

•Protect and enhance existing features of landscape or ecological value

Primary Roads & Green Infrastructure

•Vision:

•Protect and enhance existing features of landscape or ecological value

Green Infrastructure adds value to the highway design by

• Adding aesthetic delight• Adding wildlife interest/value• Creating natural gateway

features• Creating traffic calming features• Providing highway drainage

Designing the highways and GI together adds value to the development

• Maximises the value of existing features

• Enhances the sense of place• Improves navigability• Improves marketability• Reduces build costs

GI enhances the movement network

Monkfield Wood

Monkfield WoodMonkfield Wood

•Vision:

•Protect and enhance existing features of landscape or ecological value

Monkfield Wood

•Vision:

•Protect and enhance existing features of landscape or ecological value

Problem:

Existing woodland in centre of development

•Potential to be lost, unloved, uncared for and

a burden on the development

Solution:Maximised it’s exposure•Get people to know its there•Get it overlooked•Get people to see it and use it on a daily basis

Result: Highway and pedestrian network have had a positive effect on the value of this piece of GI

•Well used•Well loved•Well managed•Adds to sense of place•Improves permeability•Improves navigability

The movement network enhances GI

Non vehicular routes•Vision:

•Movement by foot, bicycle and other non-vehicular forms will be facilitated and encouraged

System of safe non-vehicular routes;

•footpaths, cycle ways and bridleways

•Link centres of villages with each other

•Link centre of villages with

schools, shops and business park

•Link centre of villages with

surrounding open spaces

•Use existing landscape features

as basis for greenways

•Incorporate new landscape features

•Incorporate new ecological features

•link the places where people live

with the places people want to and need to visit

•Creates attractive, multi-functional routes

•Maximises value of open space and routes

Increases biodiversity, enhances community – decreases carbon use…

Non vehicular transport

Decreasing car dependency

12 % OF RESIDENTS WORK IN CAMBOURNE89 % OF RESIDENTS SHOP IN CAMBOURNE51 % OF RESIDENTS LEISURE TRIPS ARE WITHIN CAMBOURNE

% of leisure journeys by non-vehicular modesNATIONAL 26 %CAMBOURNE 53 %

% of journeys to school by non-vehicular modesNATIONAL 47 %CAMBOURNE 68 %

Lessons to be learnt

Masterplan Lessons

•Create a strong vision

•Ensure client understanding and support for the vision

•Assemble a good design team who understand the vision and support each other

•Create a strong and flexible landscape structure

Green Infrastructure and Movement

•GI can enhance highways

•Highways can enhance GI

•The movement network should be inexorably linked to the GI network

The Value of Green Infrastructure

GI can reduce build costs

GI can improve marketability (residents favourite thing about Cambourne is ‘the environment’)

GI can increase monetary values (premium on property next to open space is 0.44 – 19.97 %)

GI and movement networks can enhance sustainability

Lessons can be summed up by The Cambridgeshire Wildlife Trust…

Natural World MagazineBrain Eversham, Director: Wildlife Trust for Cambridgeshire

“We hope that developers elsewhere will learn lessons from Cambourne and realize that places that are good for wildlife are places people want to live”

Green Infrastructure & Movement NetworksDick Longdin: Randall Thorp

CAMBOURNE