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Greater Cambridge Local Plan: the 20-year master plan for the Greater Cambridge area

View and comment on the Local Plan

Public consultation on the draft Local Plan is now open. It runs until 5pm on Friday 30 January 2026.  

Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council are working together to create the first joint Local Plan for Greater Cambridge. 

The draft Local Plan was approved for consultation at a joint Cabinet meeting between both councils on Tuesday 25 November. 

How to get involved 

You can view and comment on the Draft Local Plan for consultation through our consultation hub. You can also view our Interactive Draft Policies Map for Greater Cambridge that shows the allocations and designations set out in the Local Plan. 

You can view the PDF versions of the Local Plan, supporting documents and evidence in our document library.

And lastly, you can view our new digital Story Map of the Local Plan, that provides a summary of the Plan with key images from each Chapter for a more visual story of the Plan’s content. 

Paper copies are available to view at council offices and main libraries. See our Public Notice [PDF, 0.1MB]for more details.  

If you have difficulty commenting online, please contact us on 01954 713694 or localplan@greatercambridgeplanning.org and we will help you comment in other ways. 

All comments received during the consultation period will be published. Please refer to our Privacy Notice for further details, which can be found on our website.  

We have produced a Frequently Asked Questions document [PDF, 0.2MB] to help with any queries you may have on the information above, or the Local Plan content. 

Competition now open

We are encouraging participation in planning through two competitions. The first is a Lego competition, inviting young people under the age of 18 to submit photos of their creations. We are looking for buildings, places or streets that they would like to see in the new communities of Cambourne North or Grange Farm. The competition is open throughout the consultation period, and a prize is up for grabs for the best creation! 

The second competition, open to all ages, is a drawing competition asking for drawings or illustrations for one or all of the seven themes of the Plan. Seven winners will receive a prize, and their drawing will be included in the next version of the Local Plan!

Find out more information about our competitions by looking at our digital posters:

Site submissions

You can view our Site Assessments Interactive Map that shows you each site that the Councils considered through the Housing and Employment Land Availability Assessment (HELAA). 

If you wish to submit a new site or provide updated information about a previous site submission, please complete our dedicated Sites Form by 30 January 2026, where you can tell us about the site and submit any supporting documentation. 

Please contact us at LocalPlan@greatercambridgeplanning.org should you have any questions or problems using the Sites Form. 

If you want to comment on a site that was considered and either published in the draft Local Plan or not, please do so by commenting on the relevant site allocation, or general Sites Chapters. 

What the draft Local Plan is

The draft Local Plan shows where new homes and workplaces could be built over the next 20 years - and how essential community facilities and public services would support this expected growth. Once adopted, the joint Local Plan would become the statutory development plan for the Greater Cambridge area. 

The draft Local Plan sets out the Development Strategy and proposed development within the Cambridge urban area, the edge of Cambridge, new settlements, the rural southern cluster and the rest of the rural area. The plan sets out our vision for Greater Cambridge through development management policies under seven key themes of:

  • Climate change
  • Biodiversity and green spaces 
  • Great places
  • Wellbeing and social inclusion
  • Homes
  • Jobs
  • Infrastructure.

The Local Plan follows a set process, and will be independently verified to check if it is sound before it can be formally adopted. The examination will test whether the Plan is realistic, deliverable and based on good evidence. 

Local Plans, along with national planning policy, are the foundation of decision-making on planning applications, and the Plan ensures that a consistent approach is taken to planning across Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council until 2045. 

Where we are proposing to build 

In our First Proposals draft version of the Plan in 2021, we suggested new sites that might be suitable for more development to meet our needs up to 2041. Since then, we have considered the consultation feedback, and updated our assessments of the need for jobs and homes. Evidence confirmed the need for over 50,000 new homes between 2024 and 2045 to meet the forecast increase in jobs. Some 37,000 of these homes are already provided for within planning permissions and sites identified in the adopted local plans from 2018.

Get involved 

Join one of our in-person or online events to ask questions. Our events list below is being regularly updated to show where we will be attending during the consultation period. The events list was last update on 12 December 2025.

Visit our market stalls 

We will be attending markets in your area on the following dates: 

December

  • Saturday 6 December, 9am to 11am: Linton Farmers Fayres Market   
  • Saturday 6 December, 10:30am to 3pm: Mill Road Winter Fair – stall outside Ditchburn Place, Mill Road  
  • Sunday 7 December, 11am to 3pm: South Cambridgeshire Christmas Market, Cambourne 
  • Cancelled: Friday 12 December, 9am to 12pm: Histon Country Market
  • Saturday 13 December, 9:30am to 11:30am: Wilbraham Farmers Market  
  • Sunday 14 December, 9:30am to 12:30pm: Caxton Farmers Market  
  • Wednesday 17 December, 9am to 11am: Great Shelford Country Market, Memorial Hall, CB22 5LZ   
  • Saturday 20 December, 11am to 1pm: All Saints Garden Market, Cambridge, CB2 1TQ
  • Sunday 21 December, 10am to 12:30pm: Waterbeach Community Market, Old Barracks, CB25 9PA  
  • Sunday 28 December, 10am to 12:30pm: Haslingfield Village Market, Village Hall, High Street, CB23 1JN 

January

  • Saturday 17 January, 11am to 1pm: All Saints Garden Market, Cambridge, CB2 1TQ   

Attend our in-person drop-in events

We will be hosting in-person drop-in events at the following locations, that all members of the public are invited to: 

December

  • Tuesday 9 December, 3:30pm to 6:30pm: Drop-in session at The Cabin – Northstowe Temporary Community Centre, CB24 1FD  
  • Thursday 11 December, 4:30pm to 7pm: Drop-in session at Meadows Community Centre, CB4 2JL  
  • Saturday 13 December, 10am to 12pm: Drop-in session at St Johns Church Room, Waterbeach, CB25 9HT
  • To be confirmed: Monday 15 December, 12pm to 6pm: Drop-in session and exhibition space at The Cambridge Room, Unit 57, The Grafton Centre, CB1 1PS
  • Earlier time change: Wednesday 17 December, 4:30pm to 6pm: Presentation and Q&A on Cambourne, Papworth Village Hall, CB23 3RD 
  • Cancelled: Thursday 18 December, 5pm to 7pm: Presentation and Q&A on Grange Farm, Pampisford Village Hall, Hobson Avenue, CB2 9FN
  • Friday 19 December, 11am to 2pm: Drop-in session at Clay Farm Community Centre, Hobson Avenue, CB2 9FN  

January

  • Tuesday 6 January, 10am to 1pm: Drop-in session at Arbury Community Centre,  Campkin Road, CB4 2LD 
  • Tuesday 6 January, 5pm to 7pm: Presentation and Q&A on Cambourne, Cambourne Hub, CB23 6GW 
  • To be confirmed: Changed date and meeting information: Tuesday 6 January, 5pm to 6:30pm: Drop-in session, Pampisford Village Hall, CB22 3ES
  • Wednesday 7 January, 4:15pm to 7:15pm: Drop-in session at Main Hall, Trumpington Pavillion, CB2 9JT 
  • Wednesday 7 January, 4:30pm to 7pm: Drop-in session at East Barnwell Community Centre, Newmarket Rd, CB5 8RS   
  • Thursday 8 January, 4:30pm to 7pm: Drop-in session at The Hall, Campkin Road Community Centre, CB4 2ZH
  • Thursday 8 January, 5:30pm to 7:30pm: Presentation and Q&A on Cambridge East, Marshall, Cambridge 
  • New time: Friday 9 January, 12pm to 2pm: Drop-in session at Norbury Room, Melbourn Community Hub, SG8 6DZ
  • New event (to be confirmed): Monday 12 January, 11:45am to 1:30pm: Drop-in session at Cherry Hinton Village Leisure Centre, Colville Rd, CB1 9EJ
  • Monday 12 January, 5pm to 7pm: Drop-in session at Storey’s Field Centre, Eddington, CB3 1AA 
  • Wednesday 14 January, 1pm to 4pm: Drop-in session at the Marketing Suite, Cambourne, Business Park (located nearby South Cambs Hall), CB23 6DP  
  • Wednesday 14 January, 7pm: Presentation and Q&A on Grange Farm, Abington Village Institute, 66 High Street, CB21 6AE
  • Thursday 15 January, 5pm to 7pm: Drop-in session at Jubilee Pavillion, Stapleford, CB22 5BQ  
  • Thursday 15 January, 5pm to 7pm: Presentation and Q&A on Cambridge Biomedical Campus, 1000 Discovery Drive, CB2 0AX 
  • New time: Friday 16 January, 4:45pm to 6:45pm: Drop-in session at the Nightingale Pavillion Community Room, off Nightingale Avenue, CB1 8SG 
  • Friday 16 January, 11:15am to 1:30pm: Drop-in session at The Small Hall, Milton Community Centre, Coles Road, CB24 6BL
  • Monday 19 January, 1pm to 6pm: Drop-in session and exhibition space at The Cambridge Room, Unit 57, The Grafton Centre, CB1 1PS
  • New event (to be confirmed): Monday 19 January, 4:15pm to 5:30pm: Drop-in session in Girton 
  • Tuesday 20 January, 4:30pm to 7pm: Drop-in session at Gamlingay Eco Hub, Stocks Lane, SG19 3JR 
  • Thursday 22 January, 5pm to 7pm: Drop-in session at The Wing, Brown’s Field Community Centre, 31A Green End Rd, CB4 1RU
  • New event: Friday 23 January, 11:30am to 1pm: Lichfield Hall, Coleridge, CB1 3SJ 
  • Tuesday 27 January, 2pm to 6pm: Drop-in session Cottenham Village Hall, Lambs Lane, CB24 8TA

Join our online events

We will also be hosting online webinars that you can sign-up to through the links below: 

More information on the plan-making process so far 

Call for Sites - 2019

In 2019 we held an initial Call for Sites and workshops with a wide range of groups to understand what they felt the big issues for the Plan might be. 

A call for sites is a way for landowners, developers and individuals to suggest sites that might be available for development in the future. It is a normal part of plan making.    

First Conversation (Issues and Options) - 2020 

In January and February 2020, we held the First Conversation – a big public consultation on the big themes and challenges for the plan. This also included a Call for Sites.

The consultation resulted in over 5,000 visitors to our website, 6,000 people attending events, 30,000 views of our videos, over 8,500 comments and responses to the consultation questions from a huge range of people, and over 650 suggested sites for development and 21 suggested sites for green spaces. This included comments on the Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report, Habitats Regulations Assessment Scoping Report, and Sustainability Appraisal. 

In September 2020 we published the responses to the First Conversation, and information received through the Call for Sites.

Our Early stages of the Local Plan Document Library includes all the documents related to the First Conversation consultation and the Call for Sites.  

In November 2020 we published initial evidence base findings and development strategy options assessments. The additional water briefing we published at the time is published in our Early stages of the Local Plan Document Library.  

First Proposals consultation (Regulation 18) - 2021

In late 2021 we held a full public consultation on the First Proposals for the Plan, including a wide range of in-person and online events and activity. Again this included a Call for Sites.  

You can read more about how consultation has influenced the Plan so far in the Consultation Statement in our document library. 

View a map of our 2021 proposed allocations, which were consulted on as part of the First Proposals consultation. 

Since 2021

We looked at the issues raised about the First Proposals consultation before the next consultation stage. Between autumn 2022 and spring 2023 we held meetings of the Joint Local Plan Advisory Group where members talked about the consultation feedback received. 

In early 2023 Members made decisions about the development strategy and key sites as well as confirming an updated need for jobs and homes, drawing on new evidence. We held a public webinar about the Development Strategy Update where we talked through the report and answered questions. Documents regarding these decisions are in our Document Library. These decisions have guided the preparation of the draft local plan. 

We also held a Site Submissions Update in early 2025 which allowed for updated information to be provided on previously submitted sites, or new sites to be submitted.

Our latest timetable for the Local Plan is set out in the Local Development Scheme  adopted in November 2025. 

Recent stage: Draft Local Plan – Winter 2025

The draft Local Plan and supporting documents were scrutinised by local councillors – starting with Cambridge City Council’s Performance, Assets and Strategy Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday 4 November 2025; then the South Cambridgeshire District Council Scrutiny and Overview Committee on Thursday 6 November 2025.

To view joint Cabinet agenda papers including our proposed modifications to the draft Plan in response to Scrutiny meeting actions (Appendix K) visit: Agenda for Cabinet on Tuesday, 25th November, 2025, 5.30 pm - Cambridge Council and Agenda for Cabinet on Tuesday, 25 November 2025, 5.30 p.m. - South Cambridgeshire District Council

What happens next 

Feedback from this consultation will help shape the final version of the Plan, which will be consulted on for a final time next year before it is submitted to Government to be examined.

The examination will test whether the Plan is realistic, deliverable and based on good evidence, before it can be adopted.

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Page last reviewed: 17 December 2025
Next review due: 14 November 2026