Dear Mr Carter

Thank you for inviting The Petersfield Area Community Trust (PACT) to put into writing our views about planning gain re. the Unicam site.

PACT was established in response to the contentious decision of Cambs County Council to lease the Howard Mallett Centre to Dawe Media for 14 years, at the same time ceasing to allow it to provide most of its existing community and youth activities. Petersfield residents do not want to forfeit these activities.

Following the County decision, a planning decision was made by Cambridge City Council, in favour of Dawe Media’s proposed change of use of the Centre. It is now a year since that decision was made and it has become clear to our group that planning obligations secured at the time of that decision have done little to compensate residents for the loss of a much valued community asset. It is apparent, that the decision was made contrary to the Local Plan policies CS1 and RL10.

There is a moral obligation on the part of Cambridge City Council to invoke Local Plan Policy CS1 (b) (Development proposals leading to the loss of community facilities will be refused unless: the facility is relocated to other appropriate premises with equal accessibility) retrospectively, utilising planning gain.

PACT, after consultation with local residents, have concluded that what is needed is a new focal point for the Petersfield Community, one that is non-commercial and non-denominational, situated in the New Street, Abbey Walk Area . This focal point can best be described simply, as a community centre type facility that can serve a multitude of functions (listed below), with adjacent open air facilities. This is an essential requirement if there is to remain a balanced and cohesive community in an area of intense social and commercial pressure. It is therefore our contention that any planning gain secured from future commercial or residential development, in the area, should be prioritised towards this end (Local Plan Policies CS2, CS3, RL3).

We intend to carry out a detailed and extensive survey of community needs in the near future, however, preliminary consultation with local residents has revealed a wish for a community centre, comprising both indoor and outdoor facilities:

A building on the Unicam site with a hall, kitchen, toilets, and disabled access. Some of the proposed activities are: Drop-in Centre, Youth Club, Trampolining, Carpet Bowls, Fencing, Table Tennis, Basketball, Indoor Football, Dancing, Martial Arts, Yoga, Tai Chi, Aerobics, Drama, Slimming Club, Roller Skating.

An outside area, either on the Unicam site, or next to the Howard Mallett building (where the CRC portakabins used to be). This area would be for formal and informal sports (eg. kicking a football around), and a meeting area for young people. It would have a hard or outdoor-sports type surface, landscaping, a wall, and benches. Some of the specific activities for this area would be: Cricket Nets, Basketball, Football, Roller Skating

There are two distinctly different ways we could use funds deriving from planning gain:

1) To purchase a low-energy, low-maintenance building and outdoor area. We would then look to other sources for revenue funding, which would be low, and make use of volunteers for most activities.

2) To accept long-term revenue funding via planning gain and obtain one-off capital funding from another source (eg. Cambs County Council) to get the building.

We have recently become aware that there may be a new planning proposal for the whole of the Beehive site which, as you know, adjoins the Unicam site. Please consider the above views to apply to that and any other relevant local planning applications.

I hope this information is useful to you. Please contact me for any clarification, or further details and please keep us in touch with developments. I will send you a copy of this e-mail in letter format.

Yours sincerely

John Collins, for and on behalf of PACT