South Cambridgeshire District Councillors unite against loss of planning powers

Posted byCambridge Town OwlPosted inUncategorized

South Cambridgeshire District Council held an EGM on the proposed Cambridge Development Corporation.

It gave all councillors the opportunity to discuss their proposed collective response to the consultation on creating a new development corporation that would cover the areas of Cambridge City Council *and* South Cambridgeshire District in their entirety – powers that would stay with the development corporation for the best part of a quarter of a century.

You can:

“This consultation opened on 4 February 2026. Responses should be submitted no later than 11:59pm on 1 April 2026.”

Cambridge City Council have their debate on Thurs 19 March at The Guildhall from 6pm

You can see the meeting papers here – it’s open to the public if you want to rock up to watch in person. (It often gives local residents the chance to have a quiet word with one of their local councillors on a local constituency issue prior to the meeting if you get there 15 mins before. Just don’t expect them to solve longstanding wars in other parts of the world in the course of a council meeting).

Who Decides Cambridge’s Future?

Clearly not me – but then I don’t have a mandate from the people.

This was clearly an issue that South Cambridgeshire District councillors wanted to get to grips with as far as South Cambridgeshire is concerned. I agree with the councillors who said that the decision made after the consultation will be the biggest one in the district council’s relatively short 54 year history assuming the proposed unitarisation goes ahead.

An event by Cambridge Past, Present and Future at Lee Hall, round the back of Wolfson College off Grange Road.

See the sign up details here. Chances are it will book out so do sign up

  • Date : March 23, 2026
  • Time : 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm (Europe/London)
  • Venue : Lee Seng Tee Hall, Wolfson College, Barton Rd, Cambridge CB3 9BB

The line-up of speakers includes:

  • Eleanor Riley, Deputy Director, Cambridge Strategy Unit, MHCLG (a senior civil servant, not a minister in the department I used to work for. The POLICY decisions are being taken by the Minister of State for Housing and Planning Matthew Pennycook MP, who is paying much closer attention to the details than any of his recent predecessors did.
  • Nathan Vear, Environment and Sustainability Adviser, Cambridge Growth Company (who I thought did a good job under cross-examination from Cambridge City Councillors late last year)

Alongside them are

  • Bridget Smith, Leader, South Cambridgeshire District Council 
  • Wendy Blythe, Federation of Residents Association & Friends of the Cam
  • James Littlewood, CEO, Cambridge Past, Present & Future

I’ve met and/or know all five speakers – the last three for over a decade. Please be nice to them.

If you have any issues with *the principle* of the creation of a development corporation, you are best off raising this with your MP in the first instance, and ask them to put your questions to the minister directly.

See https://www.writetothem.com/ on how to find which of our local MPs represents you in Parliament.

This is also why I think the Minister for Housing should do some public events in and around Cambridge.

“The Minister for Housing going around South Cambridgeshire villages?!? That’s just asking for trouble!”

Only if you create a confrontational set up BBCQT style – which gets people nowhere on both the issues of principle *and* the issues of detail.

Remember that two years ago, creating a new development corporation for Cambridge was the party and Government policy for the Conservatives.

“In the longer term, we are taking the steps to establish a development corporation to oversee and coordinate the complex operation and the fundraising required to deliver a bold vision for Cambridge.”

Above – Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove Published 6 March 2024 in the final few months of the last Conservative Government.

The one additional point councillors made that’s worth exploring is over transport planning powers. Some councillors pointed out that local councils were losing town planning powers, but the Combined Authority did not appear to be losing transport planning powers. Should the two not go together?

It will be interesting to see what ministers decide.

If you are interested in the longer term future of Cambridge, and on what happens at the local democracy meetings where decisions are made, feel free to: