The ambitious plans to develop the north-east area of Ely are coming closer to fruition.
The development is being spearheaded by the Church Commissioners for England who applied to East Cambridgeshire District Council for planning permission so that 500 hundred new homes can be built at the east of the city’s Princess of Wales Hospital at Highflyer Farm.
The proposal also includes a “neighbourhood centre” that will offer business units, a supermarket, shops and a pub, as well as a community hall, a place of worship, a primary school, playing fields and even allotments.
There are already plans for thousands of new homes in East Ely in the next 15 years as the city plans to expand the current population from 15,000 to 25,000. The project at Highflyer Farm is part of the Ely Masterplan that was published by the district council in spring 2010.
Residents have had the opportunity to look at the proposals and discuss their opinions at two public consultations.
Mike Rouse, a District and city councilor who represents north Ely, is in full support of the plans: “They have put a lot of thought into the design. It recognises that mistakes have been made in the past and that this site deserves a very high degree of thought into how it links to other parts of the city.”
A spokeswoman for the Church Commissioners of England said: “The Ely Masterplan sets out to provide a long-term vision to help manage the growth of Ely over the next 20 to 25 years – with development at Highflyer Farm envisaged as the first phase of a much larger development in North Ely eventually totalling some 3,000 new houses.
“The Commissioners’ proposals are considered to be compatible with the council’s indicative masterplan for north Ely.”