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

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.

You can view the document library for supporting evidence and other evidence - including a PDF version of the Plan, and a 30 page summary of the Plan. 

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.  

You can view our Interactive Draft Policies Map for Greater Cambridge. 

And view our new digital Story Map of the Local Plan, that provides a summary of the Plan more visually.

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. 

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 production of a Local Plan ensures a consistent approach to planning and building across Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council until 2045. 

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. 

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. The first of these is an introductory online webinar on Tuesday (2 December) at 6pm and you can register to attend now. 

• 3pm to 5pm, Thursday 4 December: Attending Melbourn Christmas Market 
• 9am to 11am, Saturday 6 December: Attending Linton Farmers Fayres Market  
• 10am to 12pm, Saturday 6 December: Attending Orwell Pannier Market 
• 10:30am to 3pm, Saturday 6 December: Attending Mill Road Winter Fair – stall outside Ditchburn Place, Mill Road  
• 2pm to 4pm, Saturday 6 December: Attending Bar Hill Community Market 
• 3pm to 5pm, Saturday 6 December: Attending Longstanton Christmas Market 
• 10am to 12:30pm, Sunday 7 December: Attending Cottenham Market 
• 10:30am to 1pm, Sunday 7 December: Attending Chittering Market 
• 10:30am to 1pm, Sunday 7 December: Attending Northstowe Market 
• 11am to 3pm, Sunday 7 December: Attending South Cambridgeshire Christmas Market, Cambourne 
• 11:45am to 1:45pm, Sunday 7 December: Attending Fulbourn Winter Festival 
• 3:30pm to 6:30pm, Tuesday 9 December: Drop-in session at The Cabin – Northstowe Temporary Community Centre 
• 6pm to 7:30pm, Wednesday 10 December: Online webinar: Draft Greater Cambridge Local Plan: Our Development Strategy and Site Allocations - Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams 
• 4:30pm to 7pm, Thursday 11 December: Drop-in session at Meadows Community Centre 
• 9am to 12pm, Friday 12 December: Attending Histon Country Market 
• 9:30am to 11:30am, Saturday 13 December: Attending Wilbraham Farmers Market 
• 10am to 12pm, Saturday 13 December: Drop-in session at Waterbeach Community Library 
• 9:30am to 12:30pm, Sunday 14 December: Attending Caxton Farmers Market 
• 12pm to 6pm, Monday 15 December: Drop-in session and exhibition space at The Cambridge Room 
• 9am to 11am, Wednesday 17 December: Great Shelford Country Market 
• 6pm to 7:30pm, Wednesday 17 December: Online webinar: Draft Greater Cambridge Local Plan: Our Themes - Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams 
• 5pm to 7pm, Wednesday 17 December: Presentation and Q&A on Cambourne, Papworth Village Hall  
• 5pm to 7pm, Thursday 18 December: Presentation and Q&A on Grange Farm, Pampisford Village Hall 
• 11am to 2pm, Friday 19 December: Drop-in session at Clay Farm Community Centre  
• 11am to 1pm, Saturday 20 December: Attending All Saints Garden Market, Cambridge 
• 10am to 12:30pm, Sunday 21 December: Attending Hauxton Market 
• 10am to 12:30pm, Sunday 21 December: Attending Waterbeach Community Market 
• 10am to 12:30pm, Sunday 28 December: Attending Haslingfield Village Market 
• 4:30pm to 7pm, Tuesday 6 January: Drop-in session at Arbury Community Centre 
• 5pm to 7pm, Tuesday 6 January: Presentation and Q&A on Cambourne, Cambourne Hub 
• 4:30pm to 7pm, Wednesday 7 January: Drop-in session at East Barnwell Community Centre 
• 5pm to 7pm, Wednesday 7 January: Presentation and Q&A on Grange Farm, Pampisford Village Hall  
• 6pm to 7pm, Wednesday 7 January: Online webinar: Draft Greater Cambridge Local Plan: About our Plan - Refresher Session - Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams  
• 4:30pm to 7pm, Thursday 8 January: Drop-in session at The Hall, Campkin Road Community Centre 
• 5:30pm to 7:30pm, Thursday 8 January: Presentation and Q&A on Cambridge East, Marshall, Cambridge 
• 2pm to 4pm, Friday 9 January: Drop-in session at Melbourn Community Hub 
• 5pm to 7pm, Monday 12 January: Drop-in session at Storey’s Field Centre, Eddington 
• 5pm to 7pm, Tuesday 13 January: Drop-in session at Main Hall, Trumpington Pavillion 
• 1pm to 4pm, Wednesday 14 January: Drop-in session at the Marketing Suite, Cambourne  
• 5pm to 7pm, Thursday 15 January: Drop-in session at Jubilee Pavillion, Stapleford 
• 5pm to 7pm, Thursday 15 January: Presentation and Q&A on Cambridge Biomedical Campus, 1000 Discovery Drive 
• 5pm to 7pm, Friday 16 January: Drop-in session at the Nightingale Pavillion Community Room 
• 5pm to 7pm, Friday 16 January: Drop-in session at The Sycamores, Milton Community Centre 
• 11am to 1pm, Saturday 17 January: Attending All Saints Garden Market, Cambridge 
• 1pm to 6pm, Monday 19 January: Drop-in session and exhibition space at The Cambridge Room  
• 4:30pm to 7pm, Tuesday 20 January: Gamlingay Eco Hub 
• 10am to 12pm, Wednesday 21 January: Gypsy and Traveller Liaison Drop-in, All Saints Hall Community Centre 
• 4:30pm to 7pm, Wednesday 21 January: Drop-in session at The Wing, Brown’s Field Community Centre 
• 2pm to 6pm, Tuesday 27 January: Cottenham Village Hall 

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. Read our news release about the findings. 

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, and you can read our news release about the main findings. 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 has been scrutinised by local councillors – starting with Cambridge City Council’s Performance, Assets and Strategy Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday 4 November; then the South Cambridgeshire District Council Scrutiny and Overview Committee on Thursday 6 November.

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.

You can view draft Local Plan documents for that meeting through our Document Library: Draft Greater Cambridge Local Plan: Cabinet Pack | Greater Cambridge Shared Planning.

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.

Local Plans, along with national planning policy, are the foundation of decision-making on planning applications.