A small band of us rocked up to the latest Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC) forum to cross-examine representatives from both the Biomedical Campus partnership, and also from Cambridge University Hospitals. (You can get involved too – see here)
The most recent vision document from the CBC is here. Since then, I’ve written four blogposts about the future of the CBC – which you can browse through (along with earlier ones) here.
Even though it’s the Cambridge Biomedical Campus/CBC, to us old hands we will always call it ‘Addenbrooke’s because it got there first
“Who’s in charge of the biomedical campus?”
“CBC Ltd was created in 2021 as a non-profit partnership which represents the organisations located on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus:
- Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Royal Papworth NHS Foundation Trust
- Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust
- University of Cambridge
- The MRC Lab of Molecular Biology
- AstraZeneca
- Abcam
Above – from https://cambridge-biomedical.com/faq/
They also state that CBC Ltd is neither a landowner nor a developer, although some of our members own land.
Which makes trying to work out who is responsible for which rights of way something of a puzzle – this being something that came up in the discussions. Because if you are a local resident and one of the pavements has fallen into disrepair, or if vegetation has grown over and is impeding footpath access, you want to know who is responsible. The convoluted answer that came back confused me so much that I said they should all hand it over to the new Unitary Council once it is established – because most residents don’t have the time to figure out who is responsible for what.
Developers which cite the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in support of applications must demonstrate evidence of this
Such is the concern about the shortage of genuinely affordable housing in/around Cambridge (and the impact this has on employers) that the CBC is picking up on those developers who are not providing nearly enough affordable housing in their plans – and especially those that claim they are meeting the requirements of the CBC and its members. In a nutshell, if a firm is making such a claim, they need the evidence – and that means something in writing from the CBC. Furthermore, if such developments do not meet the needs of the CBC then we were told that the CBC reserves the right to object to such planning applications when submitted to the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service.
The case study we heard about was of one developer naming the CBC but not actually contacting the CBC, and showing no evidence that they had assessed the latter’s housing requirements.
The Cambridge Biomedical Campus published a very expensively-produced housing study back in April 2024
I wrote about it here and have been taking the summary pages around to community events to show local residents. (You can read the full report here)
Above – from Cambridge Biomedical Campus Housing Study by Lichfields for CBC, Apr 2024
The document states:
“Our ask is that 43%-50% of total homes provided (generally or on individual sites)
should be affordable (sub-market) homes. This is more than current policy requires,
with the evidence in this study justifying the need to deliver more affordable homes
than is currently sought.”
Further down the page, they acknowledge this is greater than what the local plan requires, but given the needs of the CBC’s workforce and employers, the report states:
In that context this basic ask is made of:
- Policy makers (e.g. Cambridge City Council, South Cambridgeshire Council, and
in the future, the Cambridge Delivery Group [i.e. the Growth Company]), to help inform housing strategy
and planning policies at both wider (e.g. Local Authority) and site-specific levels. - Decision makers (e.g. Cambridge City Council, South Cambridgeshire Council, or
others), to help inform decisions on planning applications. - Developers, to inform discussions and/or agreements that CBC may explore on
proposed housing developments.
Therefore it’s essential that Cambridge City Council and South Cambridge District Council councillors keep a watchful eye on new planning applications close to the CBC, and insist the Greater Cambridge Planning Service require developers of all sites that fall into the category of requiring an affordable/social housing contribution, meet the CBC before proceeding.
Addenbrooke’s 3
It got a mention today – which was the first I had heard of it although it slipped my attention when it came up during the second lockdown in late 2020
Above you can find out more on Addenbrooke’s 3 here
Basically the whole thing requires building a new acute hospital. A sort of ‘New, New Addenbrooke’s’ (the current Addenbrooke’s when it was first built was the ‘New Addenbrooke’s’ and what is now the Judge Institute opposite the Fitzwilliam Museum was the ‘Old Addenbrooke’s’)
This was also the first time I had picked up on where the new acute hospital will be
Above – via a report to Foxton Parish Council, slide 47.
Actually the above is part of a much greater planning update by the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service from October 2024
You can watch the video here and see the same slide pack
This presumably led to the recently adopted Supplementary Planning Document for the Cambridge Biomedical Campus that was approved by Cambridge City Council’s Planning and Transport Scrutiny Committee on 25 March 2025 – you can read the papers here.
“So long as someone who wasn’t me scrutinised it properly…”
After all, I’m all consultation-fatigued out! So if anyone wants to support their local councillors in scrutinising the new developments happening in/around Cambridge, do get in touch with them -> https://www.writetothem.com/ – only most of our local elected representatives rely on informal networks of community-minded residents to keep them informed of what’s happening where they live. Because even with the best will in the world, it’s impossible for one person to keep track of what’s happening in the lives of thousands of constituents – and still have a normal life at the same time!
Food for thought?
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