In my last article I said I would keep you up-to-date with the debate over where to place homes and associated developments in the Cambridge area over the first decades of the next century.

CAMBRIDGE FUTURES, presented an important report to the County on 7th July which sums up that group's Ideas under seven different options. Before briefly describing these options it is worth mentioning that a Government appointed panel reckons the County will need to build say 66.000 homes over the next 20 years over and above the nearby 39.000 homes already planned (35.000 have planning permission).

The County's political parties strongly dispute this massive total and suggest a more moderate figure of 35 - 50.000 homes. Whatever present guesses are there is no disputing the economic fact that growth within the Cambridge area will continue. More jobs mean homes needed to house the people taking them.

So what are the choices presented by Cambridge Futures in their efforts to make us face up to some radical actions that will never be fully acceptable to all of us but may be acceptable to a majority.

(1) Minimum growth. Do nothing much in Cambridge but allow new housing in market towns and beyond. That means Ely and Newmarket to us.

(2) Densification. Squash in more housing within the city boundary, using old industrial sites (so-called brownfield) and under-used back gardens and scraps of under-used land such as allotments. This would protect the rest of the area from a lot of change.

(3) Necklace. Building only allowed in a necklace of villages beyond the Green Belt. Remember, Bottisham is already surrounded by a tight “corset" Green Belt (GB). Lode and Swaffham Bulbeck have the C.B. butting up on their village edges. Swaffham Prior, Reach and Burwell lie outside the G.B. Meanwhile, some building would be allowed in the market towns, as above.

(4) Green Swap. Provide development on the open land nearest the City. Also there would be some building permitted on a few sites with the G.B. Land taken from G.B. would be replaced outside the G.B. or possibly poor inaccessible areas within the G.B. would be upgraded into e.g. parks.

(5) Transport Links. Increase the use of public transport, new dwellings and factories or commercial building near rail stations. Reuse the St. Ives line.