On Thursday 16th November, Countryside Partnerships welcomed Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to Great Kneighton in Cambridge, where he saw placemaking at its best and talked about the importance of building great communities.
Gove embraced Countryside Partnerships’ commitment to providing a range of house types for all buyers, with generous green space woven throughout the scheme, and its approach to building high-quality homes using modern methods of construction.
Great Kneighton is a sustainable new community that has become home to 6,000 people in integrated neighbourhoods that include 40% affordable housing.
Gove was interested in hearing more about community engagement at the site, where extensive consultation with the local community led to significant early investment in the delivery of infrastructure including a 120-acre country park, primary and secondary schools and a new town square.
In addition to new homes and community facilities, adjacent to Great Kneighton Countryside Partnerships created the 2.3 million sq ft Cambridge Biomedical Campus, in partnership with Liberty Property Trust and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, to accommodate the expansion of Addenbrookes Hospital and be home to Astra Zeneca and Papworth Hospital.
Andrew Taylor, Group Planning Director, Vistry Group, said: “We were delighted to welcome Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to Great Kneighton. We are committed to delivering high-quality housing across the country and it is fantastic to be able to celebrate that at one of our successful, award-winning new communities.
"Mr Gove emphasised throughout the trip how Cambridge is a ’world-leading city’ and he wanted to see communities be able to live in ‘wonderful homes’ and we are proud to be involved in the process of delivering much-needed homes to the area."
