Cambridge City Council approves plans to build more offices over houses

Developers say that a new office building will be more climate friendly than a building a hotel in Cambridge

Two new offices are set to be built near Cambridge railway station.

Developers plan to build one of the offices five-storeys tall and the other four-storeys tall as well as a multi-storey car park for the station.

Cambridge City Council approved the new plans despite objections made from some members of the public.

"You are failing Cambridge people by building too many offices and not giving them enough houses," one said.

An apart-hotel was proposed to be built as part of the initial plans but developers Brookgate Property, changed this for two office buildings instead.

At a planning committee meeting held on July 5, its spokesperson said: "The offices would be built to high sustainability standards and would use less water due to fewer numbers of showers compared to what had been planned for the hotel."

Cambridge City Council believed that this proposal was much better and said: "The hotel was good, but this building is of the highest quality design and jumps off the page."

However, concerns about the change of plans were raised by some at the meeting.

A representative from the South Petersfield Residents Association said the development would "contribute to the failure of [the city council's] local plan to provide housing for local people".

They went onto say the employment growth in the city and the demand for housing was causing house prices to rise "unaffordably".

Councillor Richard Robertson said there was a problem with flats near to the station being used as short-term lets, and suggested an apart-hotel was needed more than offices.

But a planning officer said building a hotel would not necessarily mean flats nearby would not be converted into short-term lets.

When the application was put to a vote, a majority of the councillors voted in favour of approving the plans.

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