Lower buildings requested for Beehive Centre plans

A city council said it would reverse its opposition to plans to redevelop a shopping centre if there was a condition limiting the loss of daylight to nearby homes.

A five-day inquiry into plans to knock down the Beehive Centre in Cambridge in order to build new offices, laboratories and community spaces began on Tuesday.

Cambridge City Council recommended the plans for refusal in February, on the basis the buildings would block light in nearby homes, but this decision was later called in by Angela Rayner, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

This means a decision on the application will be made at a national government level, following the inquiry.

The city council objected to the maximum possible heights for the new office blocks and laboratories, which it said would block daylight to nearby homes at an unacceptable level.

The developer, Railpen, said it did not think the maximum heights it had proposed would have an unacceptable impact on light levels reaching people's homes.

It put forward details of an illustrative scheme, which showed lower heights for the proposed buildings.

In some cases, the difference in height between the buildings in each proposal was several metres.

The city council said it would support a condition that would limit the impact of the development to this illustrative scheme, saying that otherwise it would continue to oppose the redevelopment.

The opening day of the inquiry saw the city council, councillors and members of the public raise a series of concerns about the proposals.

The Beehive Centre currently has 17 retail units including shops, food outlets and a gym.

A note published by the council, setting out its new position, said: "The parties agree that the daylight, sunlight and overshadowing (DSO) effects of the illustrative scheme, would be materially lesser than a scheme built out to the maximum parameters shown on the parameter plans.

"The residual DSO harm from the illustrative scheme would be acceptable in planning terms."

It will be for the Planning Inspectorate and Rayner to decide whether this condition is imposed if approval is given to the redevelopment.

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