A new vision for Cambridgeshire was launched on Wednesday 21st May to guard the future quality of housing and town development in the area and to ensure it remains an international leader in architecture, design, community development and low-carbon growth for years to come.
The Cambridgeshire Quality Charter for Growth is the result of two years hard work from Cambridgeshire Horizons, working closely with local authorities in Cambridgeshire, Urbed and other partners, to set out the core principles for achieving excellence in the new housing developments planned for the area.
To view the Quality Charter document please click here.
Background
The Quality Charter for Growth Initiative started in 2006 as a 6 month 'looking and learning' consultation process undertaken by URBED and sponsored by Cambridgeshire Horizons, the Academy for Sustainable Communities, Inspire East, and English Partnerships. The initiative offered senior stakeholders from various sectors involved in the Cambridge growth agenda, an opportunity to learn from other innovative projects in the East of England and in Frieburg, Southern Germany. A further aim was to develop the management and leadership skills needed to create sustainable new communities in the Cambridge area and to build capacity for partnership working, including better trust and collaboration between agencies, a capacity to take risks and innovate, and faster implementation.
A round table symposium at the Cambridge Science Park in July 2006 brought together 55 participants, who supported the idea of producing a charter - a concise set of principles on good practice to help guide development in the Cambridge Sub-region - and came up with various proposals.
The task of creating a Quality Charter was then taken forward by URBED in a second phase sponsored by Cambridgeshire Horizons, Cambridgeshire County Council, South Cambridgeshire District Council, Cambridge City Council and Inspire East. This phase brought the program down to a focused site level on the Southern Fringe of Cambridge, and enabled the charter to be tested out in a real situation.
The final charter was then officially launched in May 2008 and can be viewed by clicking on the link above.
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