Greater Cambridge Local Plan: the 20-year master plan for the Greater Cambridge area
Development Strategy Update report published 4 January 2023
We held a public webinar about the report on Wednesday, 18 January 2023, where we talked through the report and the evidence, as well as answering questions that were put to us by attendees. You can view the recording here, and please read the Development Strategy Update and supporting documents for further information.
The Greater Cambridge Local Plan is extremely important as it has a huge influence on how we live, work and enjoy our leisure time. It is the document against which all development proposals will be measured and judged. The Local Plan sets out future land use and planning policies for the area until 2041.
The production of a Local Plan ensures a consistent approach to planning and building across Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council until 2041
Matters covered include:
- where new development should take place and what should be protected from development
- the number of new homes and jobs that should be planned for
- the services and infrastructure that are needed to support this change
The Local Plan follows a set process and afterwards 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.
Our vision
Greater Cambridge should be a place where considered choices about our climate impacts lead to a big increase in the quality of daily life for everyone.
New developments must minimise carbon emissions and reliance on the private car; create thriving neighbourhoods with the variety of jobs and homes we need; increase nature, wildlife and green spaces and protect the area’s unique history and landscapes.
The new Plan makes the most of what is special about our area and our new approaches will help achieve this vision. The First Proposals for the Plan have been designed to ensure that development improves Greater Cambridge for future generations.
Where are we proposing to build?
In our First Proposals we suggested 19 new sites we think might be suitable for more development to meet our needs up to 2041. These proposed sites have no planning status yet and will not have any status until the new Plan is adopted, which may not be until 2024 or 2025.
View a map of our proposed sites, which were consulted on as part of the First Proposals consultation.
View a map of all the sites submitted to us for possible development as part of the Call for Sites in the early plan-making stages.
The plan-making process so far
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.
In January and February 2020, we held the First Conversation – a big public consultation on the big themes and challenges for the plan.
In September 2020 we published the responses to the First Conversation, and information received through the Call for Sites. Read our news release about the findings.
In November 2020 we published initial evidence base findings and development strategy options assessments. You can read our news release about the main findings, and the additional water briefing [PDF, 0.1MB] we published at the time.
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.
You can read more about how consultation has influenced the Plan so far in the Consultation Statement in our document library.
What happens next
We looked at the issues raised about the First Proposals consultation before the next consultation stage: a draft version of the Local Plan. 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. These decisions guided the preparation of the draft local plan. Documents regarding these decisions are in our Document Library.
Our latest timetable for the Local Plan set out in the Local Development Scheme [PDF, 0.6MB] was adopted in January 2025.
Development Strategy Update report published 4 January 2023
We held a public webinar about the report where we talked through the report and answered questions. You can view the recording here, and please read the Development Strategy Update and supporting documents for further information.