Trumpington
Meadows
CLIENT
Grosvenor
PRINCIPAL STAKEHOLDERS
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The communities resident in the area
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Cambridge City Council
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South Cambridge District Council
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Terence O’Rourke Planning Consultants
Summary
The ACS for Trumpington Meadows looked at how cultural projects of different kinds could play a role in embedding sustainability into this major urban extension on the southern fringe of the city of Cambridge.
Context
Trumpington Meadows will form an extension not only to Cambridge, but also the existing settlement of Trumpington. A key aim for the strategy was to present ways Trumpington Meadows could draw on the resources and identity of the existing settlement, as well as the natural environment, to develop a strong identity of its own. Similarly, cultural activity was well placed draw the old and new communities together into one cohesive place.
Community
As part of the development of the strategy Plan delivered a community engagement plan that sought to understand how the existing community defined culture and what forms of activity they believed could contribute to the success of the new settlement. This involved talking individually to key people and holding a creative workshop with the local school to ensure the voices of the younger members of the community were heard.
Vision
The vision for the ACS was to conceive a wide range cultural projects that specifically addressed some of the key social, environmental and economic issues facing the new settlement; first among these issues were knitting together old and new, underpinning the local authorities’ principles of sustainability and helping deliver a high quality and locally distinctive place.
Key Recommendations
The study produced a number of recommendations, these included:
- The natural environment was identified as a major source of ideas for place-making and cultural development at the site. The cultural programme therefore sought ways of bringing this key resource into the life of the new settlement.
- Trumpington is an existing settlement with a strong community and wide range of community activities. Fundamental to our programme was therefore facilitating the involvement of local people at the delivery stage of the cultural programme.
- The strategy deliberately set out to establish a broad approach that sought to unite the different elements of Trumpington into one cohesive community.