Watch the full meeting: 

Watch the full meeting:

Meeting Overview

Date and time: Wednesday 25 June 2025
Location: Cambourne Sports Pavilion/Hybrid via Microsoft Teams

Meeting Overview

Date & Time: Wednesday 12 February 2025

Location: Online via Microsoft Teams

Meeting overview

Date and Time: December 11, 2024, 5:46 PM

Location: SCDC Chamber

Welcome And Introduction

• The forum was introduced as the first in-person meeting since its inception in November 2021.
• The purpose is to bring together residents, councils, developers, and stakeholders to discuss ongoing developments and share information.

Planning Updates – Stephen Kelly, Greater Cambridge Shared Planning (GCSP)

View the presentation [PPTX, 17MB].

• Government Reforms: Discussion on the need for radical and decisive reforms in the planning process to accelerate housing delivery.
• Cambridge Delivery Company: Established to oversee housing delivery and address water scarcity issues.
• Local Plan Program: Updates on the revised timetable and ongoing consultations, including the relocation of water treatment works and East West Rail progression.

Cambourne 25 – Cllr Stephen Drew

View the presentation [PPTX, 3MB].

• Aimed at addressing long-standing issues and improving infrastructure in Cambourne. Focus areas include active travel arrangements, parking, and community facilities.

Cambourne West Development – James Truett, Senior Planning Officer

View the Cambourne West presentation [PPTX, 2MB].

• Overview of the development phases, planning permissions, and current status of residential and infrastructure projects.

Cambourne to Cambridge Busway – Jo Baker, GCP

View the busway presentation [PPTX, 5.5MB].

• Updates on the Transport Works Act order application, the proposed bus route, and the integration with East West Rail.
• Plans for improving walking and cycling routes, with a focus on connecting Cambourne to surrounding areas.

SCDC Communities Team – Kathryn Hawkes and Louise Lord, SCDC

View the communities presentation [PPTX, 2MB].

• Community Hubs: Initiatives to support local communities, including cost of living support, physical activity programs, and community safety partnerships.
• Grants and Funding: Information on various grants available for community projects, including the Community Chest Grants and funding for long-term health conditions.
• Growth Team: Collaborate with GCPS to negotiate developer contributions/ and support delivery of community infrastructure such as open space, play provision and community buildings as well as ensuring community development and supporting community governance.

Cambourne Village College – Frankie Rose, Head of Sixth Form

View the village college presentations [PPTX, 6MB].

• Cambourne Village College: Updates on the school's expansion, the introduction of a sixth form, and efforts to support a diverse student population. Emphasis on providing high-quality education and vocational pathways.

Closing Remarks

• Encouragement for attendees to provide feedback via QR codes.
• Announcement of the next forum scheduled for February 12, 2025.

Local Planning

The next stages of the Joint Local Plan for Greater Cambridge is linked to the outcome of key projects, not least the work of the Water Scarcity Group (to help determine how much water will be available for future housing and job needs) and the outcome of infrastructure decisions, including for the relocation of the Cambridge Waste Water Treatment Works.

The recent establishment of a “Cambridge Delivery Group” (see below) to oversee the governments previously expressed ambitions for significant additional growth in Cambridge will also have an impact. Together with further details yet to be published on the Governments reforms to the Local Plan process, this means that we do not expect to be able to clarify the programme for the next phase of the Local Plan until the autumn.

Infrastructure

A428

Work on the A428 dualling has now started, and the Council is therefore engaging with the programme team from National Highways to understand the implications for our communities caused by the works. Noting that National Highways have public engagement planned amongst communities through the summer, the Council is also seeking to explore how the project and its associated grant regimes might be deployed to benefit communities along the route.

Read more about the A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet improvements scheme

East West Rail

The announcement of a General Election has led to a pause to the planned phase 1 public consultation round proposed by East West Rail Company for the early summer. The East West Rail Company has also recently appointed a new Chief Executive. The Councils are seeking to engage with the new postholder to stress the importance of timely and comprehensive information on the project to be shared at the consultation stage – noting the considerable local interest in the project, and communities concerns around recent notices that were served. We are awaiting information on when the consultation process may now take place and also what details residents can expect to be shared.

East West Rail Company have also recently served property questionnaires on a large number of properties to determine/confirm information around ownership. This has caused widespread concern amongst communities and property owners as the questionnaires covered areas not just directly impacted by the proposed route, but properties some distance from it.

More information on the process can be found on East West Rail Land & property section of their website. 

The Council has made East West Rail clear about the impact and unease caused by these questionnaires and will continue to press for full and early information on the scheme design.

Cambourne to Cambridge

The Transport and Works Act submission for the Cambourne to Cambridge public transport corridor are being prepared ready for submission shortly. This follows the decision taken by the County Council on 21 March 2023 to submit a Transport and Works Act application for the project. That submission is expected later in the summer, with the statutory process then resulting in a fixed programme timetable that will be publicised by the Government appointed Inspectors in due course.

Anglian Water Fens Reservoir Phase 2 Consultation

This consultation closes on 9 August 2024.

Anglia Water Fens Reservoir Phase 2 Consultation: closes 9 August 2024. Anglian Water and Cambridge Water are proposing a new reservoir in the Fens as well as associated Water Infrastructure to help meet the growing demands on water supply in the East of England. The Reservoir itself will be in Chatteris, Fenland and it is proposed it will connect via a predominantly underground pipeline to a connection point, also referred to as a Service Reservoir, near Madingley.

The current option for this connection point is located on land to the east of Hardwick, immediately south of the A428 and St Neots Road, and to the west of Long Road on an existing Cambridge Water site. With regard to the path of the proposed pipeline, the consultation document indicates a proposed 500-metre wide corridor within which a smaller construction area to build the pipeline would be agreed.

The Phase 2 Consultation invites feedback on emerging design for the reservoir; early-stage proposals for wider areas of land in the vicinity of the reservoir and areas identified for the water sources infrastructure needed to transfer water from sources to the reservoir, and the water supply infrastructure needed to treat the water stored at the reservoir, and supply it to homes and businesses. You can find out more about the proposals, planning process, in person and online consultation events and how to respond on the consultation web page. 

Planning Applications Update

Bourn Airfield

The outline planning application for Bourn Airfield is currently being reviewed following the objection from the Environment Agency in 2023, recent planning appeals decisions and the actions being pursued by the government to resolve water supply matters through the Cambridge 2040 project.

Cambourne High Street

A Planning application has been submitted recently for the development of the above to provide Erection of 87 No. apartments, 30 No. townhouses, 1,401sqm of commercial (use class E(a-c and e)), realignment of existing road, public open space and landscaping. The application is currently under consideration by the Planning Authority.

Details of the proposals can be found online under view and comment on planning applications on the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning website, using the reference number 24/01548/FUL. It is anticipated that the application will be reported to the Planning Committee later in the year for a decision.

Cambourne Business Park

Planning permission for the development of the land on the south side of the Cambourne Business Park road was granted earlier in the year. The applicants (the South Cambridgeshire Partnership between SCDC and the housebuilder Hill) have advised that work on the site will be starting shortly – with the last few details being considered at the moment by the Shared Planning Service on the “pre-commencement” planning conditions.

Cambridge 2040

In July 2023, Michael Gove announced plans for significant expansion of Cambridge by up to 250,000 new homes. He appointed Peter Freeman to head up a “Cambridge Delivery Group” to plan for how this objective would be achieved. This included establishing a cross government “water scarcity group” made up of Civil Servants, Water Companies, the Regional Water Planning Group, the regulator and officers from the Council to seek to address short term (immediate) supply issues, whilst planning for longer term and larger scale demand arising from the new homes the Minister aspired towards. Earlier this summer, the “Cambridge Delivery Group” was formally established as a company, allowing the appointment of staff to focus on the project.

In the Spring budget further funding was also announced to assist in the work of the Water Scarcity Group and to support the next stage of the development of the Cambridge South East Transport corridor (CSET) project. At the same time, The Case for Cambridge was also published expressing in more depth the government’s ambitions for the area. Finally, in May 2024, a Written Ministerial Statement was published focusing on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.

View the published Ministerial Statement on written statements on the UK Parliament website. 

Since autumn 2023 the “Water Scarcity Group” has met to discuss what measures may provide solutions to the areas current status, and at the same time unlock development held up (such as Bourn) by the concerns expressed by the Environment Agency. In Spring 2024, the Secretary of State published new guidance on using planning conditions to go beyond national water conservation targets in planning permissions. The government also published a Joint Statement with the Shared Planning Service and Environment Agency on immediate water scarcity matters.

Read the Joint statement on addressing water scarcity in Greater Cambridge on the GOV.UK website.

New funding to enable to the exploration/development of a potential water credits scheme to capture developer funds to invest in more effective water demand management across the greater Cambridge Area was also announced.

The purpose of the Cambridge Delivery Group was also clarified in Spring 2024, with an explicit objective of exploring the case for establishment of a Development Corporation for the area. This followed earlier announcements (in July 2023) on this matter. The Cambridge Delivery Group were also charged with the preparing a plan for realising the government’s growth ambitions. Officers understand that the commissioning of the work to undertake that spatial planning exercise has not yet been undertaken.

Bourn Airfield

The Outline planning application for Bourn Airfield remains under consideration by the Local Planning Authority. The single issue forming the basis for that status is the Environment Agency’s current position on water supply across Greater Cambridge and their objection to a number of large applications.

Following the establishment by the Government of the Cambridge Delivery Group and through that group, a “Water Scarcity Group” comprising representatives from a number of government departments, the Environment Agency, Water Companies, the water Regulator, County Council and the Local Planning Authority, a series of initiatives are being developed by the Government to accompany work that has been undertaken on a further revision to Cambridge Waters Water Resources Management Plan (WRMP), which seek to respond positively to the objection from the Environment Agency and unlock the current Bourn planning application.

The latest WRMP was published this week (4 March 2024) and is being reviewed by the EA and the Local Planning Authority. The LPA is also continuing to engage with the Environment Agency on its concerns and will keep under review the pause to the current applications determination.

Cambourne West

Development in Cambourne continues, with parcel 2.1 (Vistry) proposals for 118 homes underway and parcel 1.5 (Taylor Wimpey) development of 41 homes also ongoing. People are now moving into their new homes on parcels 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4. The application for the noise bund, alongside the A428 is also with the Council for consideration and determination. Applications for the Habitat ponds 24 and 25 (located in the field south of Lower Cambourne) which are part of a legal obligation with Natural England to create two habitat ponds for Great Crested Newts (and other species).

Elsewhere on Cambourne Business Park, the SCDC Planning Committee recently resolved to approve the full planning application for 256 new homes on the south side of the Cambourne Business Park access road, and for the conversion of the former marketing suite building to a café. The S106 for that application is being completed currently with a decision to be issued shortly.

Local Plan Update

On 12 March 2024, SCDC Cabinet will be considering a report on the Greater Cambridge Joint Local Plan. The continued unresolved position on water supply, together with the ongoing review of transport impacts following the pause to the GCP Making Connections programme and certainty around E-W Rail, and the timeline for the determination of the Development Consent Order application to relocate the Water Treatment works from the North East Cambridge site are identified as significant factors impacting the timetable for completion of the Plan. The report also highlights those changes to the Local Plan process - brought in by the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 - and transitional arrangements add further uncertainty to the process.

Cambridge 2040

The Government Cambridge 2040 ambitions emerged in July 2023 and include significantly greater growth ambitions than set out in the Joint Local Plan. Following the appointment of peter Freeman (Chair of Homes England) to lead the “Cambridge Delivery Group” a number of studies have been commissioned by the government to explore growth issues in the area.

The Conclusions of that work have not (at the time of drafting this update) been shared with the Councils. The Government has also indicated an intention to set up a development corporation to deliver those ambitions – but details of the extent and form that any such delivery body might take have not yet been shared or published.

Initially, the Cambridge Delivery Group indicated that it would be sharing ideas with partners including the Council in the Spring. Once the relationship between the governments and SCDC plans become clearer, we would anticipate further briefings being provided to local communities – by both the government and the Council.

EWR update

The Greater Cambridge Shared Planning (GCSP) service is seeking to understand the details likely to be subject of the planned first stage of a two-stage statutory consultation in relation to the East West Rail (EWR) project. The initial consultation stage is due to commence in the first half of 2024 and is expected to include updated information on design areas in greater detail compared with previous consultation events.

Prior to the first stage of the statutory consultation, EWR will be engaging with GCSP and other host local authorities on the content of a draft Statement of Community Consultation (SoCC), which sets out how EWR proposes to consult with local communities and aims to ensure that consultation methods meet the needs of communities along the route. The feedback received from this initial consultation stage will inform EWR in finalising a single proposal for the entire route, which will be presented in the second stage of the statutory consultation, prior to the submission of a Development Consent Order (DCO) application.