Tens of thousands of homes proposed by developers for Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire
Developers and landowners have put forward their proposals for tens of thousands of homes across sites in Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire - including many on agricultural land and greenfield sites.
New towns in the South Cambridgeshire countryside at Elsworth and Dry Drayton are suggested in the wish list of ideas, along with major developments at Croxton, Madingley, Bourn, Cambourne, Babraham, Cherry Hinton and Teversham and elsewhere. Some 5,000-10,000 homes are proposed for near Six Mile Bottom. And Trinity College has unveiled its wish to expand Cambridge Science Park north of the A14.
The suggestions for future developments are revealed today as part of the Local Plan process and follows a ‘call for sites’ from Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council as they put together the latest blueprint for the region to 2040.
Many are sure to alarm residents - but the councils stress that none of the suggested sites yet has planning status and far more land for development has been suggested than will be required to meet the region’s housing needs.
We have created an interactive map of the sites. Note that the dots are only in approximate locations, based on nearby postcodes, and should be not be taken as a precise indication of a plot put forward.
We have also summarised some of the major developments below. Note that in some cases developers have not suggested the potential number of homes, so the council has estimated the site capacity for them.
Developers and landowners put forward 656 proposals in total - covering 16,103 hectares and 170,000 to 200,000 homes, which is far more than needed.
The Greater Cambridge area, which had 121,000 homes in 2017, is expected to need between 40,900 and 66,700 homes by 2040, with plans already in place for 36,400 homes. This means the new Local Plan is expected to find room for somewhere between 5,000 and 30,000 homes.
Agricultural land in South Cambridgeshire is a particular target for developers, with the A428 corridor attracting a lot of interest, but there are proposals for virtually every community.
Developers’ site suggestions for South Cambridgeshire - west and north of Cambridge
- 10,000 homes for agricultural land around Elsworth, Boxworth, Knapwell
- 8,000 on land to the west of Scotland Road at Dry Drayton
- 7,080 homes at Pitt Dene Farm, Elsworth
- 4,200 homes on land to the west of the M11 and north of Madingley Road, Madingley
- 4,000 homes on land north and south of the A428 at Croxton
- 3,596 homes on land north east of Bourn
- 2,300 homes on land south of School Lane and east of A1198, at Cambourne
- 1,820 homes on land west of Broadway and south of Beaufort Road in Cambourne
- 185,806 square metres of commercial space to expand Cambridge Science Park on to land north of A14 and south of Milton Road, Impington. Trinity College, via Bidwells, has applied to use the land, currently owned by Chivers Farms Ltd, on farmland bounded by the guided busway, Butt Lane and behind developments on New Road and Milton Road, with a country park surrounding the development
- 450 homes on land west of South Road, Impington
- 430 homes on land south of Crafts Way, Bar Hill
- 430 on land at Willingham Road, Over, 150 on land off Longstanton Road, 80-90 on arable land off Willingham Road, 65 on land off Station Road, 44 on land at and to rear of 30-32 New Road, and 43 on land on the north side of Willingham Road
- 400 homes on agricultural land to the east of Wilson's Lane, Longstanton
- 300 homes off Comberton Road in Comberton, a further 250 homes on land off Branch Road and Long Road, 120 homes on land to the west of South Street, Comberton, and 35 at Bush Lane, 30-40 on land north of Bennell Farm, off West Street, and 16 to the rear of 40 West Street
- 270 homes for land east of Glebe Way, Histon, 172 for land west of Cottenham Road, 92 for land to the west of Croft Close and 40 to the north of Park Lane
- 300 homes north of Kingfisher Way in Cottenham, 90 at Two Mill Field, 250 homes off Histon Road, 200 on land at Glebe and Fen Farm, Twenty Pence Road, 175 homes on land off 335 High Street, 100-150 to the rear of High Street, Cottenham plus other smaller schemes
- 250 on land at Dairy Farm (site 2), Boxworth End, Swavesey, 100 on land adjoining 107 Boxworth End used for agriculture and wildlife habitat, 176 on land north of Home Close and west of Moat Way and 65 on Trinity Farm, Middle Watch
- 200 on land at Ambrose Way, Impington, 100 on land at land at Milton Road, 50 south of Milton Road, 52 on land north of Impington Lane, a further 50 homes for the Kings Gate site at Villa Road, 50 on agricultural land adjacent to St Georges Way and Woodcock Close
- 150 on land off Station Road, Willingham, 100 on land north of Fen End, 50 on land off Bourney's Manor Close, 50-54 on land south of Priest Lane
- 140 homes on land on the south side of Cambridge Road, Waterbeach, 140 in a derelict field south-east of the village, 174 homes or 23,000 square metres on land to the south of Cardyke Road, Waterbeach, 130 on arable and pasture farming land to the east of the village and 56 on agricultural land off the A10 and Green End
- 100 homes on land to the east of Ely Road, Milton, and 90 where the foot-golf centre lies off Ely Road, Milton
- 102 homes on land at Walnut Farm, Landbeach Road, High Street, Landbeach, 87 on garden and pasture land at 60-70 High Street, and 79 on land off Waterbeach Road and 14 on paddock land at Spalding Drive and Chapmans Close
Proposals for land to the east and south of Cambridge
- 5,000-10,000 homes and 144,000 square metres of commercial space on agricultural land to the north, east and south of Six Mile Bottom, falling within the parish boundaries of Weston Colville, Little Wilbraham, Carlton and Brinkley
- 3,500 homes and 23,225 square metres of commercial space on predominantly agricultural land adjacent to Babraham and falling within Barbraham, Little Abington, and Pampisford boundaries, which currently has two radio masts, 16 homes and some rural businesses on it
- 30,000 square metres of commercial floorspace at Babraham Research Campus
- 1,500 homes on agricultural land and south of Fulbourn Road and north of Worts Causeway, known as Cambridge South East, along with 139,354 square metres of employment floorspace, which would expand Peterhouse Technology Park. The site falls within Fulbourn, Cherry Hinton Ward and Queen Edith’s ward
- 1,320 homes on agricultural and amenity land to the east of Horningsea Road, Fen Ditton, and 250 on land west of Ditton Lane
- 1,250 homes on land south of Addenbrooke's Road and east of M11, known as Cambridge South, plus a further 280 on land south of Addenbrooke's Road, Trumpington
- 1,200 homes and 50,000 square metres of commercial floorspace on agricultural land east of Gazelle Way and west of Teversham Road, Teversham, falling within Fulbourn and Teversham
- 1,148 homes and 15,300 square metres of commercial space on land at Robinson Farm, Cambridge Road, Sawston, plus 1,123 homes on agricultural land east of Cambridge Road, 225 homes on land to the north of Mill Lane and 238 east of Huddleston Way
- 987 homes on land to the east of Haverhill Road, Stapleford
- 880 homes on arable land south of Babraham Road at Shelford Bottom
- 500 homes on agricultural land and a playing field at Hinton Road, Stapleford
- 500 homes on land off Cambridge Road, Fulbourn, 200 homes on land west of Station Road, plus 150 homes and 27,450 square metres of commercial space at Capital Park, 160 homes to the south of Shelford Road and Cambridge Road, 250 homes on land at Court Meadows House, off Balsham Road, and 110 homes on land at Teversham Road
- 400 homes on land east of Cabbage Moor, Great Shelford, 250 on land south of Granhams Farm, plus 120-150 on grassland off Cambridge Road
- 75-100 homes on land at Hall Farm,Teversham, and 60 homes on what is a field and car park off Fulbourn Road
Proposals for the south of South Cambridgeshire district
- 4,500 homes on agricultural land north of the A505 Baldock Road, west of Royston
- 2,000 homes on vacant agricultural land to the north and south of Ashwell Street, Bassingbourn-cum-Kneesworth
- 2,080 homes on land at Beauval Farm, Old North Road, Bassingbourn
- 1,900 homes on agricultural land north and south of Chestnut Lane and Kneesworth Road, Bassingbourn
- 2,900 to 3,150 homes on agricultural land at Hoback Farm, south of Cambridge Road, Wimpole
- 3,800 homes on arable land north and south of Whaddon Gap, Whaddon
- 250 homes on land to the south west of Fishers Lane, Orwell, 155 homes on Land to the west of Malton Road
- 1,500 homes on land to the east of A505 and south of the A10, Melbourn
- 400 homes on agricultural land west of Cambridge Road, Melbourn, 300 homes on agricultural land west of Cambridge Road, 375 homes on land at Tostock Farm, Cambridge Road, 140 homes on land off New Road, and 100 homes on land off Water Lane
- 2,300 homes on land at Docwraies Farm, Barrington Road, Shepreth, and 240 homes on land at Frog End, Shepreth
- 900 to 1,800 homes on agricultural land north-west of the A10 Royston Road, Foxton, 486 homes on land at Herods Farm, High Street, 60-90 homes in green belt land to the north and east of Barrington Road, and 50 homes on green belt land east of Station Road
- 158 homes on land to the north-east of Long Lane, Fowlmere, 40-50 homes on land west of Long Lane, 45 homes at The Way, Fowlmere, 50-60 homes on vacant land west of High Street, 50-200 homes on agricultural land west of London Road, High Street, and 50 homes to the south of Lanacre, Chrishall Road
- 400 homes on agricultural/industrial land west of Station Road, Meldreth, and 270 homes on previously developed land east of Station Road
- 9,072 homes on agricultural and gold course land at Heydon Grange Golf Club, Fowlmere Road, Heydon
- In Thriplow parish, 2,080 homes on agricultural land within the green belt at north of the A505 (Site B3, north of Heathfield and east and south of Thriplow, Duxford), 1,172 homes on green belt land north of the A505 (Site B1, east of Gravel Pit Hill, Duxford), and 272 homes on green belt land north of the the A505 (Site A5, north of Heathfield, Duxford)
- 1,629 homes on agricultural land at Parsonage Farm, West End, Whittlesford
- 987 homes on agricultural land at Millfield Farm, Duxford Road, Whittlesford, 575 homes on agricultural land on the north side of Newton Road, 250 homes on land to the north of Station Road West and east of Duxford Road, and 75 homes on land to the north-east of Whippletree Road
- 800 homes on land east of M11 and west of the village, Duxford
- 100 homes on land south of Ickleton Road, Great Chesterford
- 1,000 homes on land between Great Abington and north of Great Chesterford, Great Abington
- 150 homes on land north of Hinxton Court, Hinxton
- 135 homes on land north of Pampisford Road, Great Abington
- 7,000 homes on agricultural land to the east of Linton, 450 homes on land west of the village, and 123 homes on land off Back Road
- 3,432 homes on agricultural land off Camps Road, Bartlow
- 160 homes on land off High Street and east of Fox Road, Balsham
Proposals for Cambridge
- 12,000 homes and 500,000 square metres of commercial floorspace are proposed for Cambridge Airport when Marshall vacate the site by the end of the decade, as previously reported
- 1,500 homes for agricultural land north of Barton Road, Cambridge
- 990 homes and 132,000 square metres on land at Granham's Road, Cambridge, to the south of Addenbrooke’s, falling within Great Shelford and Queen Edith’s ward
- 750 homes at Grange Farm in Newnham
- 540 homes west of Trumpington Road, Trumpington
- 110 homes on the Clare College Sports Ground, Bentley Road, Cambridge
- 100 at the telephone Exchange and car park in Long Road
Cllr Dr Tumi Hawkins, lead cabinet member for planning at South Cambridgeshire District Council, said: “We know some of our residents may worry about sites in their villages that have been put forward through the Call for Sites process; please be reassured that no suggested sites have any planning status at this point in time.
“There is far, far more land submitted than will possibly be needed to meet the numbers of new homes we may need to plan for, and we won’t be choosing any sites that don’t meet strict tests for their suitability and sustainability.”
The suggested sites were put forward among 8,500 responses received to ‘First Conversation’ consultation by the Greater Cambridge Planning Service, which have been published today.
The city and district councils will use the response to develop the spatial strategy for the Local Plan, taking into account comments received. They will put this out for full consultation next year.
The councils stressed that sites will only be selected if they fit with the wider aims of the Local Plan and are shown to be sustainable.
Cllr Katie Thornburrow, executive councillor for planning policy and open spaces at Cambridge City Council, said: “Thank you so much to everyone who got involved – whether as parish councils and residents’ associations, statutory consultees, recipients on our email distribution list, the 5,000-plus visitors to the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning website; 6,000-plus people having conversations at pop-up events and The Big Debate, 28,000-plus viewers on YouTube and 55,000-plus people who engaged on social media.
“We are carefully considering all of the feedback and we look forward to being able to share more updates in the emerging Local Plan process in due course.”
Cllr Hawkins added: “The whole purpose of creating a Local Plan is so that the homes that we do need can be built in a planned, balanced way, according to the policies and guidance we establish through the Local Plan process.
“If anything, we hope the Call for Sites process will help to illustrate the effort that the council puts into creating a Local Plan and help residents to understand how much consideration goes in to ensuring development is done well.”
The councils said evidence has been commissioned from specialists to explore how the Local Plan can respond to climate change, and the challenge of water resource availability .
They also asked for green sites to be put forward, which could be protected from development. Some 28,875 hectares was covered in the responses. These are being assessed as part of green infrastructure evidence being prepared for the Local Plan.
Read more at greatercambridgeplanning.org/localplan where you can also find an interactive map of all the sites proposed.
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