Cambridge City Council
Public Art Supplementary Planning Document
Adopted January 12th 2010
The City Council's Public Art Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) has been superseded through the approval of the Cambridge Local Plan (2006) and the Council required a new Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) in order to continue to support the delivery of public art in new development and to manage funds commuted to the Council via planning obligations (Section 106 Agreements).
The preparation of the new SPD has provided the City Council an opportunity to review processes for delivering high quality public art and develop guidance to clarify the processes required to achieve this objective.
Introduction to the document - The Vision for Public Art in Cambridge
1.1 A vision for public art is conceived within the context of Cambridge as a centre for culture and learning and the broader vision for the City.
1.2 The Cambridge Local Plan states:
‘The vision for Cambridge is of a compact, dynamic City with a thriving historic core surrounded by attractive and accessible greenspaces. It will continue to develop as a centre of excellence and world leader in the fields of higher education and research and it will foster the dynamism, prosperity and further expansion of the knowledge-based economy. It will also grow in importance as a Sub-regional centre for a wide range of services. The Local Plan for Cambridge seeks to guide and facilitate growth in a sensitive and sustainable manner, ensuring that the high environmental quality of the City is protected and enhanced and that future developments offer a full range of opportunities to all its citizens’.
1.3 The Local Plan strategy promotes ‘the highest possible standard of design in new development’ and has design objectives ‘to create new and distinctive communities’.
1.4 The Local Strategic Partnership has drawn up a vision which states that it wants Cambridge to be a sustainable and accessible city which has a positive approach to tackling climate change; sustainable communities that are thriving, environmentally sensitive, and affordable places in which to live; and communities that are strong, healthy, active, safe and inclusive.
1.5 The vision for public art aims to drive forward these aspirations. In doing so it must have regard to the community, the place, its innovative culture, artists and the art itself. As part of the Council’s commitment to supporting the arts in Cambridge the vision for public art in Cambridge is:
"To deliver outstanding communities and places by joining the best contemporary public art practice to community engagement, architecture, landscape and urban design in order to shape and improve the experience of the City as a place of creativity and innovation that offers a high quality of life."
Download the full Public Art Supplementary Planning Document as an MS Office document
