The emerging local plan documents include reports on what to do with the Cambridge Airport site
TL:DR? Come along to the Rail Future East meeting on Saturday 6th December 2025 – Cambridge at 14:00 .The Signal Box Centre, Glenalmond Avenue, Cambridge CB2 8DB …and they might have something to say about it
A super-sized Cambridge needs a second urban centre – one that is anchored by regional-sized facilities
Could Cambridge Airport provide that site?
I made the case for the site providing that second urban centre in September 2024 here
I probably need to get out my crayons and illustrate what I think it could look like but in a nutshell it involves turning the southern end of the airport where the Cambridge-Newmarket Railway line past and creating a Cambridge East Station that spills out over Coldham’s Lane running along the bottom of the image below, and creating a new large civic square for passengers to enter/exit.
Above – from G-Maps here – the eastern section of Coldham’s Lane
With passengers exiting the civic square, my vision involves them stepping out of the station (itself designed as a work of art as much as a safe, functional space to move passengers into and out of as efficiently as possible) and into a civic square enclosed by three awe-inspiring buildings.
- A new city hall to bring together a host of public sector organisations alongside the new unitary council. (Call it ‘Great Cambridge Hall’ because start as you mean to go on!)
- A new lifelong learning college – named after Sir Michael Marshall (whose family own the land) as a reminder that he was one of the biggest supporters of apprenticeships and learning at work, as well as being a prominent civic figure.
- A new large concert hall – named after Florence Ada Keynes, the first woman to become an elected councillor in Cambridge in local government in 1914
And so as to avoid confusion in the names, I’d go with ‘Sir Michael’s College’ and ‘Florence Hall’ for the latter two institutions, due to the multiple Marshalls and Keynes’ in our civic history. (Also, there already is a Keynes Hall at King’s College).
What do the reports for the local plan show?
That East West Rail commissioned a feasibility study into Cambridge East. This was included in a summary document titled Cambridge East Transport Approach by KMC from March 2025. You can keyword-search the title to access the document here
The report from KMC also states:
Beyond the first phases, substantial opportunities exist for further transformational investments.
- A new railway station would provide regional access to jobs and provide intercity access between the east side of the city and CBC.
- Other connections being explored relate to an expanded public transport network or Mass Transit [Bus Rapid Transit] system.
- These are not just development connections but sub-regional enhancements for which Cambridge East is a contributor and facilitator
What the consultants get right (****crikey!!!!****) in my view is identifying Cambridge East as a sub-regional enhancement. (What they get wrong is ‘bus rapid transit’. ***Noooo!!!*** Because buses can be cut by right wing governments like Thatcher did!!!)
The revised concept plan
You can see why they went with a ‘busway’ proposal. That for me is not the way to proceed – rather it should be incorporated into the CPCA Mayor’s proposed light rail scheme.
Above – a proposed mass transit route through the airport site that would curve westwards north of Newmarket Road before joining the A14 I presume at the Horningsea Junction, and terminating at Cambridge North (which it potentially could do at the A14 bridge over the existing guided busway – but then the buses would get stuck in traffic at the Milton Junction of the A14. The only way to avoid it would be to build a raised causeway or elevated busway on concrete & steel pillars monorail style – and that would cost a fortune.
The consultants were not able to look at the airport site as part of a wider system
This is where their analysis falls down for me. They got tied up in knots trying to figure out how bus services from Cambridge Station and Cambridge North to the airport site. Dr Colin Harris has already solved that problem in his Cambridge Connect Light Rail proposals.
Above – from Connect Cambridge Light Rail where a slight adjustment of the phase 2 section that crosses the airport site would enable an overground interchange at Cambridge East before heading out to the GCP-proposed Park & Ride by the A14 Quy/Bottisham roundabout and extended to Bottisham and Burwell in Phase 3
The tunnelling work in Phase 1 – the most complex part of the Connect Cambridge proposals would solve most of the problems regarding an east-west link through the city. The Phase 2 from Cambridge North heads westward along the existing busway and then turns south and loops around the West Cambridge sites before heading underground to serve the city centre, then re-emerging at the airport site.
A vision for Cambridge East
Before the recent troubles of Marshalls hit the headlines on their airport move, they carried out an early consultation which I rocked up to in 2023. The first thing I wanted to know was whether they were going ahead with the 2008-era proposals. You can see why I was concerned having located the study in the Cambridgeshire Collection (Support your local libraries and archives!)
Above. ***Ewww! It’s ugly and hideous! Take it a-way!!!!***
What made it worse was the publication trying to make a connection between the ivory towers and brutalist ugliness.
Property professionals: Why do you do this??!?!
Why I want something that is awe-inspiring
Neuroarchitecture is one of the emerging fields of research so for those of you who are either loaded or are part of an institution with a massive research book-buying budget, have a look at The Routledge Handbook of Neuroscience and the Built Environment published 09 Oct 2025. In particular have a look at PART V: Neurodiversity, Stress, Trauma, and Healing which Dr Cleo Valentine has co-authored a chapter. (She completed her Ph.D at Cambridge University).
What came out of the consultations of 2023?
Have a browse of the initial engagement report here – and credit to all of those who took part and shared their ideas. There are some really interesting ‘off the beaten track’ ones that are worth looking at. Also, me and a few friends rocked up so if you see suggestions involving arts, music, and heritage, some of that is us.
“No city hall?”
Back in 2023 an overhaul of local government in England was not on the cards. Hence not raising the potential of a new city hall.
But I’d like to think the concept of a new civic square anchored by non-retail institutions is still a sound one. One of the lessons from The Grafton Centre is that it’s risky anchoring a district or regional centre on one industry – eg retail. Furthermore, in my opinion one of the things that ‘broke’ the Grafton Centre was Stagecoach’s decision to remove bus services from the Grafton to the more affluent residential neighbourhoods of South Cambridge. Any second urban centre for Cambridge needs to have really strong institutional anchors that can withstand an economic depression.
Food for thought?
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