Chancellor John Healey made the announcement in his Budget speech in Parliament today – providing £95million in 2027-28, and another £10m the following year
The additional documents attached to the speech gave more detail:
“The government will continue to work with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority to agree a [Business Rates Retention Zone] to support the [Cambridge] Biomedical campus and development in Cambridgeshire from 2028.”
Furthermore:
“The Fiscal Devolution Roadmap outlines a new funding model for regional and local government. This includes income tax assignment for all Mayors beginning in 2028; increased business rates retention, with Mayors retaining a 20% share of locally retained business rates from next year, and with local and regional government retaining 100% of business rates income by the end of the decade; and plans to legislate for all Strategic Authorities to have the power to introduce an Overnight Visitor Levy. Fiscal devolution baselines will be set at the spending review in 2027.”
Above – Budget 2026, section 5.5
It will be interesting to see whether CPCA Mayor Paul Bristow agrees to introduce an overnight visitor levy for Cambridge given the up-to £2.5million in revenue such a levy could generate if a flat £2 levy were issued. (My preference would be a levy being a percentage rather than a flat fee, the former raising more money from those that could afford to pay for it at the upper end). See also the House of Lords Library briefing on visitor levies published the day before the Budget speech here.
“Why the pilot?”
With other development corporations being established elsewhere – especially for the new generation of new towns, ministers want to develop something that can become a template easily applied to other places.
“The government will pilot a new financing model for the Greater Cambridge Development Corporation, giving it direct access to government finance for land assembly and to invest alongside private partners. This pilot is a first step that will help the government consider wider reforms to enable development corporations to access long-term, flexible government financing.”
Above: Budget 2026, Section 5.5
In the table under ‘Delivering Fiscal Devolution’ bit, row 24 shows the development corporation will be getting £50m in the financial year 2028/29, and £60m in 2029/30. Note it takes a fair amount of time to come up with the proposals to actually spend the money. That gives the CamDevCo 18 months to identify the sites they want to acquire for land assembly. At the same time it looks like HMT want to get the money out to the CamDevCo out the door in 2027/28. I’ll leave it for a public finance accountant to explain the difference.
“What did the CPCA Mayor say in response?”
“Making the Cambridge Biomedical Campus a special zone for Business Rates will help our region as it expands. The Campus already contributes £4.7 billion to the UK economy every year. I want to harness its success, delivering new infrastructure and jobs for local people.”
Above – CPCA Mayor Paul Bristow, 28 October 2026
He’s separating his party political comments on national politics (mirroring the Conservative line on cutting taxation, cutting spending, and cutting debt) from his role as mayor of the Combined/Strategic authority, welcoming the additional funding and flexibilities provided for the emerging regional tier of the state.
“What did the CamDevCo say?”
“The Budget is positive news for Greater Cambridge and for our commitment to infrastructure-first growth.
“This new model will give us greater certainty and flexibility to invest over the long term, helping us bring public and private investment together to get behind Greater Cambridge’s infrastructure, housing and placemaking priorities.“
It remains to be seen what the Combined Authority does with the flexibilities as a new round of CPCA meetings take place in November.
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