Policy S/JH: New jobs and homes

2.6. This policy sets out the level of needs for jobs and homes in Greater Cambridge that the plan will meet over the plan period of 2024-2045. Within the total number of homes, it identifies the specialist accommodation needs for specific groups such as Gypsies and Travellers, Travelling Showpeople, boat dwellers, other caravan dwellers, looked after children, older people, those with disabilities, and students. It also sets out housing targets for future neighbourhood plans.

2.7.  National planning policy sets out that that plans should provide for objectively assessed needs for housing and other uses. This policy only deals with housing and employment needs. Policies within the other themes address needs for other uses, including the critical infrastructure required to support these homes and jobs.

Jobs and homes

2.8.  For housing, national planning policy says that local plans should support the Government’s objective of significantly boosting the supply of homes, providing, as a minimum, the number of homes informed by a local housing need assessment using the standard method in national planning guidance. For jobs, national planning policy expects plans should support economic growth and productivity. The continuing strength of the nationally important Greater Cambridge economy provides justification for exploring higher employment and related housing figures.

2.9.  To identify local plan needs we commissioned evidence to consider how many jobs the government’s mandatory minimum housing need calculation would support, and separately the most likely future forecast for jobs for Greater Cambridge and the homes that this would require.

2.10.  For jobs, the Greater Cambridge Employment and Housing Evidence Update 2025 (EHNU 2025) draws on the latest available data to identify the “central” most likely future jobs forecast taking account of what is unique about the Greater Cambridge economy, including life science and ICT sectors – priority sectors identified in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Local Growth Plan. This position was reconfirmed by the Review of economic data, context and representations 2026. The central forecast assumes strong growth of around 3,500 additional jobs per annum or more through to 2045 – continuing the recent period of rapid growth seen in Greater Cambridge’s Knowledge Intensive sectors, but also building in an assumption that there will be slower or contracting periods and unforeseen shocks, which are likely in most economies. We consider that we should plan for this forecast of the most likely level of new jobs.

2.11.  We are however mindful that the EHNU 2025 also identified a higher growth forecast, placing greater weight on rapid growth in the recent past, particularly in key sectors, and that it recommended providing flexibility in employment land in case the market delivers more jobs than anticipated.

2.12.  Building on the jobs forecasts, the EHNU 2025 identifies employment land needs for the 2024-45 plan period as follows, drawing also on market signals and stakeholder engagement, and incorporating a flexibility margin and allowance for vacant floorspace:

• 302,600 square metres offices and 600,000 square metres of Research and Development (R&D) space; and
• 317,000 square metres of industrial / warehousing (Use Classes B2/B8).

2.13.  For homes, the EHNU 2025 identified that the outcome of the Government’s Standard Method for calculating minimum housing need as at May 2025 would support the most likely forecast for future jobs, thereby supporting the continued flourishing of the Greater Cambridge economy. The up to date Standard Method outcome as at June 2026 of 2,289 dwellings a year is very similar to that considered in the EHNU 2025. This figure is considered to represent our need for housing, and would continue to support Greater Cambridge’s economic flourishing.

2.14.  Our objectively assessed needs have been calculated jointly for Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire, which together form Greater Cambridge, and therefore the objectively assessed need for homes will be applied jointly for the purposes of housing delivery, such as calculating housing land supply and the Housing Delivery Test.

2.15.  The housing need identified in the policy addresses the needs of the total population. As such, the needs for affordable housing and specialist housing for specific groups set out below form part of this total need and are not additional to it.

Gypsy and Traveller pitch and Travelling Showpeople plot requirements

2.16.  National planning policy sets out that local planning authorities should set targets for Gypsy and Traveller pitches and Travelling Showpeople plots within their local plans, and that a sufficient amount and variety of land needs to be able to come forward to address the needs of groups with specific housing requirements, including travellers.

2.17.  An Accommodation Needs Assessment (ANA, September 2024) has been undertaken to calculate Gypsy and Traveller pitch and Travelling Showpeople plot requirements in Greater Cambridge. The ANA 2024 records that there are no sites for Gypsies and Travellers or yards for Travelling Showpeople within Cambridge. The ANA and its Addendum (October 2025) have considered the accommodation needs of Gypsies, Travellers and Travelling Showpeople from 2023/24 to 2044/45, and have concluded that there is:

• A minimum need for 157 additional permanent pitches for Gypsies and Travellers within South Cambridgeshire;
• A potential need for 2 pitches for Gypsies and Travellers within Cambridge – based on
• National data, but that there is no specific evidence of need;
• A need for 20 additional permanent plots for Travelling Showpeople within South
• Cambridgeshire; and
• No specific evidence of need for Travelling Showpeople plots within Cambridge.

Specialist accommodation needs of specific groups

2.18.  National planning policy sets out that a sufficient amount and variety of land needs to be able to come forward to address the needs of groups with specific housing requirements, including looked after children, older people, those with disabilities, and students. Additionally, national legislation requires local authorities to carry out an assessment of the accommodation needs of all people residing in or resorting to their area in houseboats or caravans.

2.19.  Our evidence concludes that there are no specific accommodation needs for additional residential moorings or residential caravan parks, and our evidence identifies that there could be a small need for additional bedspaces for looked after children, but that this will depend on the success or otherwise of preferred alternatives such as familial care or foster care.

2.20.  A Housing Needs of Specific Groups Update report for Greater Cambridge (HNSG Update, October 2025) has been undertaken to consider the accommodation needs of older people and those with disabilities from 2024 to 2045. The HNSG Update has concluded that for older people and disabled peopled there is a specialist accommodation need for:

• 290 additional housing units with support in Cambridge (all market housing);
• 1,015 additional housing units with support in South Cambridgeshire (all market housing);
• 473 additional housing units with care in Cambridge (405 market housing and 68 affordable housing);
• 795 additional housing units with care in South Cambridgeshire (606 market housing and 189 affordable housing);
• 534 additional nursing and residential care bedspaces in Cambridge; and
• 974 additional nursing and residential care bedspaces in South Cambridgeshire.

2.21.  Engagement with Anglia Ruskin University and the University of Cambridge and its Colleges has concluded that for students there is a specialist accommodation need for 1,629 additional student units by 2033.

Housing requirement for neighbourhood areas

2.22.  Local communities can decide to prepare neighbourhood plans for their local area. National planning policy requires local plans to set out a housing requirement for designated neighbourhood areas, which falls within the overall housing requirement and which reflects the overall strategy for the pattern and scale of development and any relevant allocations. The Planning Practice Guidance makes clear that such requirements cannot be binding, as neighbourhood plans are not required to plan for housing. There are currently 27 neighbourhood areas designated within Greater Cambridge, and a housing requirement for each of these neighbourhood areas has been identified as set out in Appendix C: Housing requirement for neighbourhood areas within Greater Cambridge. An approach for calculating the housing requirement for any new or amended neighbourhood areas has also been set out in this same appendix.

2.23.  The housing requirement for an individual neighbourhood area has been identified taking account of the overall housing requirement, the development strategy, existing supply (including actual completions in 2024/25) and the proposed additional allocations, and the population of the neighbourhood area. The housing requirement applies to 2025-2045 (as actual completions for 2024/25 have already been taken into account) and a Neighbourhood Plan can choose to meet or exceed this housing requirement. The delivery of allocations already included in the Greater Cambridge Local Plan cannot be used to meet the housing requirement of a neighbourhood area.

Retail, leisure and hotels

2.24.  Our Proposed Submission Local Plan is being prepared at a time of great change in the retail and leisure sectors. Our latest evidence studies show that, overall, there is no need for additional comparison goods or leisure floorspace over the period, with a need for limited additional capacity for convenience shopping. The focus of the new local plan will therefore be on supporting existing centres adapt to change and stay vital and viable, whilst supporting delivery of new centres in our new strategic scale mixed use sites. We will update this evidence again prior to the Proposed Submission stage of plan making.

2.25.  There is a need for new hotel accommodation, responding to the success of the tourism sector locally, nationally, internationally and to support the planned growth in jobs. There is an identified need for between 1,557 and 3,740 additional bedspaces between 2024 and 2045 with a base case need for around 2,000 new bedspaces in Cambridge city centre and its periphery (3 miles) and 220 in South Cambridgeshire by 2045. The base case presents a reasonable and likely scenario. Some of this need will be met by existing planned supply. Additional hotels are also included as part of allocations proposed in this Plan.

Infrastructure needs

2.26.  Meeting the homes and jobs also brings the need to support development with the right infrastructure. This Proposed Submission Local Plan is accompanied by an Infrastructure Delivery Plan which identifies what is needed when to enable specific strategic allocations and more broadly to support planned growth, how it could be funded and who would be responsible for supporting its delivery. This includes a wide range of topics such as transport improvements, schools, community facilities, and sports and leisure facilities. In some cases this is informed by topic specific studies, such as our evidence exploring the need for playing pitches, cultural facilities and green infrastructure.

2.27.  The plan has also been subject to a whole plan Viability Assessment, to test whether the proposed policies were capable of being delivered by developers alongside the infrastructure they would need to deliver or fund. The assessment demonstrates that developments are viable when the requirements of the plan are considered, and will be able to contribute effectively to the delivery of infrastructure.

For further guidance on how to submit comments, please see the Representation Guidance Note.

All comments must be received by 25 September 2026 at 5pm.