David Lock Associates are immensely proud to stand, metaphorically at least, alongside Urban&Civic (U&C) as the Government launches the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) from Alconbury Weald today. We led on the initial planning and master planning of this extremely successful new community, having worked with U&C to shape a new model of master development on their trailblazing sites at Alconbury Weald and Houlton in Rugby. Fifteen years later, we are still working tirelessly to deliver both schemes and many more with U&C and others.
This morning, even before the new NPPF is in hand, the airwaves are awash with naysayers and sceptics. We don’t underestimate the challenge of restoring faith in all the many stakeholders that play their part in building the homes, infrastructure, and facilities that our communities so desperately need. But, let’s not declare defeat before we start, we need to galvanise and need to work hard to deliver. So, in high hope, we welcome a Government with clear ambition, and we stand ready to play our part.
While so many talk about how to make ‘no little plans’, we have been working under this banner for more than 35 years, helping to translate expansive plans for whole communities into real places. From a standing start at Alconbury, with no local plan allocation and no planning permission, Alconbury Weald has taken shape and is now home to more than a 1000 households, a new primary school, a new SEND school, a local centre, sports facilities, community buildings, amazing parks and children’s play areas, walking and cycling routes, a resilient drainage system and more than 130,000 square metres of occupied employment floorspace; including the Cambridgeshire County Council headquarters and incubator building. And there is plenty more to come.
Meeting need is an immense but achievable goal. It is entirely possible to put an Alconbury Weald just around the corner from every family in need of an efficient home with a garden, every young person forced to live under their parent’s roof in their 20s and their 30s, and every retiree looking to downsize. Let’s get on with it.