In this section we provide an overview of the .
Introduction
Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council are working together to create a joint for . A is a legal document that the Councils are required to prepare, which sets out the future land use and planning policies for the area over a set time frame. It identifies the need for new homes and jobs, and the services and infrastructure to support them, and guides where this development should happen.
The emerging has been informed by several stages of public engagement and working with stakeholders. We are now seeking your feedback on this draft before we prepare the final plan that we would like to submit for adoption.
The UK Government has identified as a priority for sustainable economic growth. Our plan seeks to identify and plan to meet the needs of the economy, deliver the homes and infrastructure that are needed, and protect and enhance the environment, providing a vision for the future of the area.
Our vision for Greater Cambridge
We want to be a place where impacts on our climate and environment are significantly reduced, balanced with the continued flourishing of our internationally significant innovation economy, and an increase in the quality of everyday life for all our communities. New development must minimise carbon emissions and reliance on the private car, create thriving neighbourhoods with the variety of jobs and homes and supporting infrastructure we need, increase our network of nature, wildlife and multi-functional green spaces, and safeguard our unique, locally distinctive heritage and landscapes.
Identifying development needs
A key role of the is to identify and meet the development needs of .
The economy is nationally and internationally important. The area is home to two Universities and one of the most significant clusters in Europe of high-tech industries, research and development, and life sciences. The economy has experienced high levels of growth, and this growth is anticipated to continue. We anticipate around 73,300 additional jobs in between 2024 and 2045. Our plan responds to this by planning to deliver at least 48,195 additional homes between 2024 and 2045, or 2,295 per year, which also reflects the government’s standard method housing calculation for the area.
Our existing plans adopted in 2018 mean that we have a strong foundation to build on. We expect places that are already planned and being built, like Darwin Green on the edge of Cambridge and the new settlements at Northstowe and Waterbeach, along with windfall sites, to deliver around 37,865 homes by 2045. We also have around 1,000,000 square metres of employment space already planned for, at places like Cambridge Science Park and the Wellcome Genome Campus.
We have identified sites that will deliver around 13,460 further homes by 2045 to meet the needs and provide a buffer to ensure the target is met. We also plan further development for needs of specific employment sectors, and to ensure we have a sufficient flexible supply of employment land.
Our Development Strategy for Greater Cambridge
Our development strategy aims to direct development to where active and public transport is the natural choice, where green infrastructure can be delivered alongside new development, and where jobs, services and facilities can be located near to where people live. We have sought to make the most of brownfield land, and to use the land we have identified efficiently.
We applied the following order of preference to identify development needs, reflecting the sustainability of different locations to accommodate development:
- Within the Cambridge urban area;
- On the edge of Cambridge whilst considering the impact on purposes;
- At Cambourne and new settlements; and
- In the rural area at Rural Centres and Minor Rural Centres.
Our development strategy focuses on the period between 2024 and 2045, but it also delivers a longer term vision, with number of developments continuing to deliver new homes and jobs beyond that period. Planning early for sites alongside infrastructure that will continue to deliver will help use maintain land supply for homes and jobs, and reduce the need for development in less sustainable locations. Our long-term plans will also help project the Cambridge , by ensuring an ongoing supply of land that does not rely on further green belt release.
Cambridge
Our ambition is for the historic core of Cambridge to be protected and enhanced by appropriate new development of the highest design quality, and for the centre to be complemented by active, compact neighbourhoods – new and old. This means regenerating parts of the city that aren’t fulfilling their potential, and where there are opportunities creating new neighbourhoods on the larger brownfield sites. We want all of Cambridge to be a place where walking, cycling and public transport is the natural choice for travel. We want to further develop the cultural offering of the city, helping to deliver a diverse range of cultural activity spaces. The Draft identifies a range of specific development opportunities to help meet the need for housing and employment.
Where there are areas of the City experiencing change, the plan provides policy guidance to shape how those places will develop. It also identifies areas where development could help improve the public realm, reinforcing the area’s sense of place and improved connectivity.
North East Cambridge is the area around Cambridge North Railway station and Cambridge Science Park. We have been preparing an Area Action Plan for this area recognising its potential to meet future development needs for both homes and employment. In August 2025 the Government announced that it will not be funding the relocation of the Cambridge Waste Water Treatment Plant (CWWTP) through its Housing Fund, which means that there is uncertainty as to whether the effective delivery of the Councils’ vision for North East Cambridge can take place. For this draft the Councils have made the decision to retain the allocation for North East Cambridge as previously set out in the Area Action Plan, noting the significant benefits that development at this site would bring, on the basis that other funding may be found to enable the relocation of the CWWTP. Ahead of the Proposed Submission stage in 2026, the Councils will continue to engage with relevant partners to confirm a refined position for that later plan-making stage.
The Edge of Cambridge
We want to complete the planned new neighbourhoods on the edge of Cambridge from previous plans like Darwin Green and Trumpington Meadows, as well as bringing forward new opportunities for sustainable developments, which successfully link the city to the countryside, and where active and public transport is the natural first choice. These should be lively, mixed-use areas to live and work, with local centres of community activity, and their design should enhance the setting of Cambridge in the landscape. We think that development around the edge of Cambridge should come with improved green and natural spaces which are accessible for everyone to enjoy, as part of an expanded network of green infrastructure across the area.
The Cambridge was established to preserve the unique character of Cambridge, maintain and enhance the quality of its setting, and prevent communities in the environs of Cambridge from merging into one another and with the city. Whilst building on the edge of the city to meet development needs has benefits in terms of proximity to the jobs and services of the city, it would also cause harm to those green belt purposes. We think there are other ways that the development needs we have identified can be met sustainably. The only green belt release on the edge of the city we have identified is to meet the specific needs of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
Cambridge Airport site has been recognised for many years as an opportunity to help meet Cambridge’s development needs, and has already been removed from the . It will now become available for development as Marshalls relocate some of their business to Cranfield. This provides an opportunity for a major new city district for Cambridge, delivering market and affordable housing and employment space well connected to the city centre and other important locations by high quality public transport.
Cambridge Biomedical Campus is of national and international importance and is a key location for the life-sciences cluster of . It has a local, regional and national role in providing medical facilities and medical research. It offers the unique benefit of siting commercial research directly with the hospital. The current campus has some amazing buildings and institutions, but it suffers from a poor layout, under used spaces, and a lack of facilities for its staff and visitors. In addition some of its buildings, including the Addenbrookes hospital building itself, are aging. If it is to fulfil its role as Europe’s leading centre for medical research and health science significant improvement is required. To meet the future needs of the campus and to enable the improvement of the existing campus the Draft identifies the release of an area of green belt south of the campus, accompanied by enhancement of green spaces and the landscape adjoining it. However, development will only be allowed if it is accompanied by the right infrastructure, that will deliver the range of supporting services, facilities and infrastructure that workers, visitors and residents need that deliver the goal of making it a world class campus.
Eddington and West Cambridge are growing neighbourhoods, which together are a hub of innovation for both academic and commercial research. Eddington has potential to deliver additional homes beyond what was originally planned whilst retaining open spaces and maintaining the quality of the area. New homes will also meet help the needs of university workers at all levels.
New settlements
We want our new towns to mature into great places to live and work, making the most of their existing and planned public transport links to Cambridge and other centres. Our towns should be real communities with their own distinctive identity, with the critical mass to support local businesses, services and facilities.
The plan explores how we can respond to this, by presenting a vision for the future of Cambourne, where over several decades it would grow to become the largest centre outside Cambridge within the plan area, with homes, jobs, services and green spaces.
Northstowe, Waterbeach and Bourn Airfield new settlements are now underway with communities starting to take shape. They will continue to play an important part in meeting ’s development needs.
Following the completion of the A14 upgrade in 2020 and the growing evidence of a need for logistics space in to complement the forecast continued growth in key knowledge intensive sectors of the economy, this plan also includes
additional site allocations aimed at meeting this identified need. Land to the south of Cambridge Services and Land north of A1307, Bar Hill (Slate Hall Farm) on the A14 corridor and with good links to Northstowe have been identified responding to the need
for industry and logistics space where access to the strategic road network is a key requirement.
Cambourne will become one of the best-connected places in the region with project connecting Cambridge with Oxford delivering a new railway station.
Developing it into a larger settlement will make it a more sustainable place with more local jobs and services but also linked to a range key destinations by fast and frequent public transport. The draft presents a vision for the future of the town, where over several decades it would grow to become our largest centre outside Cambridge, with homes, jobs, services and green spaces.
The Southern
South of Cambridge, the area around the M11 and the A1307 corridor is home to a range of major business parks with world-leading facilities, and has some excellent and improving public transport links. We want to support this business cluster through ensuring that more business space is provided where needed but also seek opportunities for new homes in this area, reducing the need for people to travel to access these jobs.
A new community at Land adjacent to A11 and A1307 (Grange Farm) provides an opportunity to deliver new homes near to the three campuses, and where planned improvement to public transport which would offer connections to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. The homes would be supported by services and green spaces that respond to its setting.
Wellcome Trust Genome Campus is home to world leading organisations in genomics, biodata, health data and data science, using machine learning and AI to discover new science, and improve people’s lives. Construction has now commenced on expansion of the campus which will increase the workforce from around 3,000 to between 7,000 and 9,000 people. Plans also include 1,500 homes for campus workers and their families. There are now opportunities to explore improvements to the original campus. The Draft seeks to help this employment park evolve into a place, supporting delivery of local services and facilities and helping it to find its place in the network of towns and villages.
Babraham Research Campus focuses on early-stage bioscience enterprise. Over 60 companies, 2,000 employees and 300 academic researchers are located on the site, which is sited within the parkland setting of Babraham Hall. The allocates additional space for research and development buildings, as well as the redevelopment of some existing homes to better meet the needs of the campus. We think the needs of the campus warrants built areas of the site being removed from the green belt, along with requirements to enhance the areas which are staying in the green belt.
Granta Park developed around The Welding Institute (TWI), and has become home to a range of major life science research and development companies. It plays a particular role in providing grow on space for firm which have grown out for sites like the Babraham Campus. Phase 2 of the campus is currently being developed. The Draft specifically identifies the campus to support its continued success.
Rural South Cambridgeshire
South Cambridgeshire is home to over a hundred villages, ranging from larger Rural Centres like Sawston and Histon and Impington which provide services to surrounding villages, to very small villages like Heydon or Newton with very limited services.
We want our rural villages to continue to thrive and sustain their local services, but we don’t want to encourage lots of new homes in places where car travel is the easiest or only way to get around. We therefore propose some development in and around villages that have good transport links and services, while in smaller villages, we propose that only small-scale infill development and affordable housing would be permitted. Any development in and around villages needs to be well-designed for the rural setting, with a strong relationship to landscape.
Our policies also will also support the rural economy, farm diversification and land based businesses.
Land to the south of Cambridge Services and Land at Slate Hall Farm on the A14 corridor have been identified responding to the need for industry and logistics space where access to the strategic road network is a key requirement.
Our Local Plan themes
Our provides positive vision for the future of . The aim is simple: to ensure sustainable development. Sustainable development has three strands – social, economic and environmental. It means meeting the needs of the present population without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
During our plan-making journey we developed key themes that would shape the and will influence how homes, jobs and infrastructure are planned.
In addition to the themes, the draft consultation includes the strategy that the plan is proposing, which has been influenced by all of the themes. It sets out the development strategy, the proposed policies and sites to meet our needs in to 2045 and beyond.
Climate change
Strategic Priority: Help transition to net zero carbon by 2050, by ensuring that development is sited in places that help to limit carbon emissions, is designed to the highest achievable standards for energy and water use to reduce environmental impacts, adapts to and mitigates against climate change, and is resilient to current and future climate risks, including flooding.
Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council have both declared climate emergencies. Climate change is a key priority across the Councils’ plans and strategies, but the local plan is a particularly important tool for implementing change.
Our spatial strategy has been informed by carbon assessment that highlights the impact that transport emissions can have and promotes patterns of development that enable low carbon transport modes, shifting away from a reliance on private cars. We have explored the issue of water availability and developed our plan to ensure that a sustainable water supply can be made available to support growth.
Our policies will shape the form of development, to ensure it responds to the challenges climate change will create in terms of hotter drier summers and more extreme rainfall events, but also it minimises the impact of development on the causes of climate change. The standards proposed in many cases go beyond national standards, responding to the opportunities we have in , and our expectation that development must be of a high quality.
One of the greatest challenges we have faced when preparing this has been the availability of sustainable water supplies. In order to protect our precious chalk streams Cambridge Water need to reduce abstraction from the chalk aquifer south of Cambridge which currently supplies most of our water. The formation of a Cambridge Water Scarcity Group has brought all the key agencies together to identify solutions.
New infrastructure is being delivered to supply Cambridge from alternative sources, in particular a pipeline connecting the area to Grafham Water, and a new Fens Reservoir.
Measures are also being implemented to use supplies more efficiently, including the roll out of smart metres and programmes to retrofit existing properties. Policies we propose in the will require buildings to be highly efficient in their water use. We consider that there are now solutions available such that the development needs of can be met by sustainable water supplies, and we are able to move our forward.
and green spaces
Strategic Priority: Increase and improve our network of habitats for wildlife, and green spaces for people, ensuring that development leaves the natural environment better than it was before.
Cambridge City Council and South Cambridge District Council declared a biodiversity emergency in 2019, in recognition of the pressures facing our natural world, both locally and internationally. Working as part of the Local Nature Partnership, we want to double nature by 2050. We also want to play out part in implementing Cambridgeshire’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy, which is being prepared by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.
To inform the overall strategy for the plan we considered the best locations to restore our area’s habitat networks and provide more green spaces for people to enjoy. The draft has identified 14 strategic green infrastructure initiatives to help achieve this. The developments the plan identifies will deliver green infrastructure directly, but we will also secure planning contributions where funding can be used to enhance the wider network.
Reflecting our ‘doubling nature’ ambition, our policies seek a higher level of biodiversity gains from new development than the standard national requirement. We have followed Natural England’s new Framework, to develop standards that would ensure places include green spaces, trees, and places for people as well as wildlife.
Great places
Strategic Priority: Sustain the unique character and identities of Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire, and complement it with beautiful and distinctive development, creating a place where people want to live, work, visit and play.
has beautiful architecture and public realm, historic assets ranging from the historical colleges of Cambridge though to village conservation areas, and valued landscapes.
Maintaining and creating great places is crucial to sustaining the quality of the area for people who live, work, study in, and visit . Great places are valued and distinctive, accessible to all people and well-integrated with nature. Valuing place in this draft aims to ensure that all residents’ quality of life can be improved while enhancing the global excellence of its knowledge economy and the preservation of the area’s heritage assets.
Our new developments need to protect what is special and deliver high quality and well-designed buildings and spaces that combine to form great places. has a strong track record of delivering high quality design, evidenced through award winning schemes and overall growth delivery, and our policies require this to continue.
We continue to support the Cambridgeshire Quality Charter for Growth to provide a clear and consistent basis for securing quality new developments. Themes covering the four ‘C’s’ of Community, Connectivity, Climate and Character have been used to provide an understanding of what needs to be considered when creating and assessing high quality design.
Wellbeing and social inclusion
Strategic Priority: Help improve equality of access and opportunities for people in to lead healthier and happier lives, ensuring that everyone benefits from the development of new homes and jobs.
The Councils aspire to create healthy, sustainable and inclusive communities. Our places need to enable people to live healthy lives, where they can access the services and facilities they need locally, where people feel safe, they can have active lifestyles with access to high quality green spaces and active travel, and needs can be met throughout their lives. We want our communities to support arts, sports and leisure, with thriving centres which have facilities to support day to day needs as well as creating vibrant cultural centres.
Many residents of benefit from the economic success of the area, through high employment rates and high average pay rates and disposable incomes. This financial prosperity is accompanied by a high quality of life and very high levels of health and well-being. However, there are also significant numbers of people continue to experience poverty in alongside many residents who face challenges due to a high cost of living and lack of affordable housing. Both Councils have corporate priorities to help address these issues. Cambridge City Council have developed a Community Wealth Building Strategy which looks to build an inclusive and sustainable economy whilst tackling poverty and inequality.
Through the draft we have explored how we can share the benefits of growth with all parts of the community. New policies would require developers provide inclusive employment opportunities, through employment and training opportunities from construction, and opportunities for local workers when buildings are operational. Our policies seek to protect local facilities, and ensure new developments help deliver the new facilities that people need. The plan includes a number of new communities that will be built out over a long period, so we will require meanwhile uses to ensure the needs of early residents can be met. We also want our new communities to be healthy places, so we will make sure health is a key consideration when places are being designed.
Homes
Strategic Priority: Plan for enough housing to meet our need, including significant quantities of housing that is affordable to rent and buy, and different kinds of homes to suit our diverse communities.
We want our local plan to deliver high-quality, affordable housing in the right places. The Housing Strategy sets out our high-level approach to tackling these challenges, including through the building of a new generation of council homes, promoting the development of affordable homes and the delivery of a co-ordinated effort to reduce homelessness. It has guided our policies in this draft .
We require a high proportion of new homes to be , provided at a cost below market rates to meet the needs of those who cannot afford to buy or rent at market prices. Our policies support innovative housing products, such as self-build, build to rent and co-living. We also require housing to meet specific needs including for older people and for .
As well as planning to meet the overall need in terms of the number of new homes, our policies seek to ensure that the right mix of house types and tenure is delivered. We want homes to be of a high quality, we therefore set minimum sizes for rooms and outdoor space. We also require homes to be adaptable, so they can meet need through people’s lives.
Jobs
Strategic Priority: Encourage a flourishing, dynamic and mixed economy in which includes a wide range of jobs, while maintaining our area's global reputation for education, research and innovation.
The economy has a turnover around £30 Billion per year, and employs over 110,000 people. Our fast-growing economy is driven by successful partnerships between academics, business, investors and local government, and we are committed to sustainable and inclusive growth. is competing at a global level, with companies often choosing to come here or go elsewhere in the world, and we need to make sure offers an attractive choice. We also want economic growth to take place alongside environmental and social benefits, so that the benefits are felt by all.
The needs to deliver a flexible employment land supply. We have explored the needs of different sectors to consider their specific quantitative and locational needs. Sites are proposed to be allocated to add to the existing substantial supply of employment land to ensure that flexible supply can be maintained. We also recognise that the need for logistics, distribution and industry space to meet the needs of our economy has increased. We therefore propose new sites to meet that need.
We want our employment centres to flourish and provide facilities that can complete on the world stage. To do this they must be more than just collections of employment buildings, but provide supporting facilities, green spaces, and services where people can thrive. They can then help achieve the full benefits of the where ideas are developed through cooperation. Our Key Sectors study showed that there is a need for more start up spaces, and our Cultural Strategy showed the benefits of providing multipurpose spaces for creative industries. Mixing these with other uses can help create thriving places. We have therefore proposed a policy to seek an element of affordable employment to be included as part of large employment developments.
’s cultural and creative industries are a major and growing economic force employing 14,000 people which makes up 8.5% of total employment in the region. We want Cambridge City Centre to remain a key retail and cultural destination, and our policies seek to maintain its role as the main centre for the subregion, whilst also supporting and protecting other centres to meet local needs. also has a large tourism sector, with visitors coming from all over the world to see its colleges and museums. Visitors also come for academic research, and to visit friends and family. Reflecting growth in the area our Hotels Study has identified a need for further visitor accommodation, and the draft seeks to meet this meet by supporting new hotels in key locations.
Strategic Priority: Plan for transport, water, energy and digital networks; and health, education and cultural facilities; in the right places and built at the right times to serve our existing and growing communities.
The relationship between homes, jobs, and sustainable transport opportunities has been a key influence on the development strategy. A range of transport measures and transport corridor improvements are already planned, such as those being brought forward by the Partnership. A Transport Strategy is currently being prepared by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, for completion by the end of 2026. They have issued a Statement of Intent that it will includes measures needed to support the development identified in the .
The policies in the local plan require developments to be located and designed so that sustainable travel choices are available. They also require developments to contribute towards the cost of these transport schemes, to mitigate the impact of development.
The draft has been informed by an Delivery Plan. Through engagement with a range of stakeholders this identifies the infrastructure, services and facilities that are needed to support the developments that have been proposed. The will require developers to deliver or contribute to that infrastructure to mitigate the impacts of their development. This will either be through planning obligations on specific items, or through a Community Levy which sets a flat rate for different types of development.
We will need infrastructure providers to respond and meet the development needs of the area and resolve growth constraints. Upgrades to a number of waste water treatment works will be needed to accommodate growth, including the Cambridge works if the relocation does not take place. Sewerage undertakers like Anglian Water now have a statutory obligation to prepare Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans to respond to current and future demand, and will need to consider the needs of our new local plan.
With electricity demands in the area expected to triple, a Cambridgeshire Local Area Energy Plan is currently being prepared to help ensure that the right energy infrastructure is in place to support growth and the transition to a low carbon future. We will require our large developments to prepare energy masterplans, to consider how their power needs can be met most effectively.
Our policies require developments to enable the consolidation of goods to support local deliveries, charging points for electric vehicles, and broadband infrastructure.
Tell us what you think
Introduction
The will shape the future of Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire, and this is your chance to influence how it develops. We want to hear views from as many people as possible, and we want it to be easy for you to tell us what you think.
Our plan has been informed by several consultations including the First Proposals in 2021 and a huge amount of feedback in recent years. As we have reached the draft plan stage, we are now proposing specific policies and sites that we want your feedback on before we prepare the final version of the plan that we would like to adopt. This is a key opportunity to shape the plan, and we would like to encourage anyone with an interest in the future of the area to take part.
We will take all comments into account while developing the next version of the draft , and we will report on this in the Consultation Statement which is updated at each stage.
All comments must be received by 30 January 2026 at 5pm.
Consultation information and events
During the consultation we will be holding in-person and online events with our communities, groups and stakeholders across . We will explain our proposals and want to hear what you think.
Public events during the consultation will be listed on our website.
How to comment
The easiest way to comment on the draft is via our consultation system at: https://consultations.greatercambridgeplanning.org.
This requires you to login (or register if you are not already a user). It allows you to leave comments and add attachments, and it means we can get in touch with you if we have any questions. You can comment on all or just some parts of the Plan such as the chapter you find most relevant to you.
If you have difficulty using our online consultation system, please contact us via our dedicated email: localplan@greatercambridgeplanning.org as we would be happy to help.
If at all possible, please do not email us comments or documents, as we will have to manually enter them into the consultation system and ascribe them to policies or sites. This will potentially mean that we will spend a longer amount of time processing responses to the consultation.
Please note that as required by legislation, consultation responses will be made public as part of the preparation of the plan-making process, and we will keep your details on our consultation database for future reference. Your contact details will be protected under data protection legislation but your name and any comments you make will be publicly viewable. Our privacy notice for planning policy consultations and notifications sets out how your personal data will be used and by whom. For more information, please view our privacy statement.
Submitting information on sites not in the plan
If you wish to comment on a site that has not been taken forward into this draft , please comment against the policy for allocations in the relevant broad location. For example, to comment on rejected sites in the rural southern cluster area, comment on Policy S/RSC – Village allocations in the rural southern cluster.
If you wish to submit a new site for consideration at the next plan-making stage, or to update information about a site you previously submitted to the call for sites, use our online site information form. This is for landowners, developers and their agents only.
Commenting on the Sustainability Appraisal
The draft is accompanied by a Sustainability Appraisal and Habitats Directive Assessment. These provide information on the environmental, social and economic impacts of the polies and sites in the plan and compare them with reasonable alternatives. We would welcome feedback on these assessments.
Need help?
If you are having difficulty commenting, or need this information in a different format, please email us at localplan@greatercambridgeplanning.org, call us on 01954 713694 or write to us at Shared Planning, Planning Policy Team; South Cambridgeshire District Council; South Cambridgeshire Hall, Cambourne Business Park, Great Cambourne, Cambourne, Cambridge CB23 6EA.
If you would like to read a paper copy of the draft , these can be consulted at deposit locations around . Please visit our website or call 01954 713694 for a list of locations.