London Borough of Sutton to get splendid new lifelong learning centre – why can’t Cambridge have one too?

Posted byCambridge Town OwlPosted inUncategorized

That’s not to say Cambridge isn’t getting any money, but policy-wise what little is recycled back through Whitehall’s algorithms is (understandably) being spent on ‘cold spots’ across the county.

Image – Sutton College – Cambridgeshire doesn’t even have an adult education service logo! (It has two words in a font, the words indicating a much narrower range of services)

“The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) has approved a new Skills Capital Programme worth £15.1 million, bringing together £14.45 million of Department for Education investment with additional funding from the Combined Authority’s FE Cold Spots programme.”

Above – Combined Authority Press Release, 21 July 2026

“£15million won’t get you much in Cambridge – it all gets swallowed up by land prices and consultants”

A separate conversation in itself – and also a task for the Cambridge Growth Company

Look what the London Borough of Sutton is getting for its town centre revamp!

The site on G-Maps here has one railway station top-left, and another bottom-centre

Above – CGI from the Design and Access Statement of a lifelong learning centre for Sutton College on 246 – 254 High Street / 2 – 8 Marshall’s Road Sutton SM1 1PA

***Doesn’t it look marvellous!?!?***

Doesn’t it just? (Compared with many contemporary building designs in Cambridge anyway!)

You can see the documents in the planning application (recently approved) at https://planningregister.sutton.gov.uk/online-applications/ – click and type in the reference DM2025/00754 into the simple search box. Have a look at:

  • The design and access statement (in 2 parts)
  • The statement of community involvement
  • The transport statement

It doesn’t look like being a huge new facility – the transport statement indicates around 300 people will be travelling to the site every day. I want something much larger than that for Cambridge.

It looks like it’s going to replace the white oblong-box0shaped building below on G-Maps. Note the significant number of bus services ***that stop outside the site***

Above – what the existing building looks like, along with the buses stopping on the High Street

The Statement of Community Involvement – a key document

These need to be far more prominent more generally in local public life. There’s so much that people can find out about their area and what other local residents think – if the community engagement work is done well.

Residents were asked about:

  • Space
  • Quality
  • Inclusivity
  • Community

They were asked what their must haves vs would like to haves were.

Above – Statement of Community Involvement, Northern Gateway Site, LB of Sutton, p9

Again, you can find the above document in the planning application papers for the application ref DM2025/00754 in Sutton’s planning register here.

This case study is very different to what Cambridge is facing

In Sutton’s case they have:

  • An existing built up site that is being regenerated
  • An existing built up area with two supermarkets and an additional very large retailer surrounding it – little room for expansion
  • A comprehensive bus network serving it
  • The opportunities and challenges that come with being an outer London borough, in this case on the border with Surrey county.

The lifelong learning college I’m imagining for Cambridge East is one that I think should be built on what is currently an airport site – so currently a runway and grass. Furthermore, The Government effectively owns the land.

Which is why it’s such a huge opportunity to build a facility that is effectively a sub-regional one in scale, serving residents in walking distance, those who can cycle or go by bus, and those that can come in via rail at the proposed Cambridge East Station – construction of which is now Government Policy.

What saddens me about it is I can’t see myself living long enough to make use of it – such is the time that it takes to get any significant piece of public infrastructure built here. In the meantime the city keeps on growing.

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: