Greater Cambridge Development Corporation (Establishment) Order 2026

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd July 2026 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage]

That the Order laid before the House on 4 June be approved.

Relevant document: 5th Report from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980 sets out that the Secretary of State may designate an urban development area where they are of the opinion that it is expedient and in the national interest, and following a public consultation. Between 4 February and 1 April 2026, the Government held a public consultation on establishing the Greater Cambridge Development Corporation to promote ambitious, high-quality and sustainable growth, and unlock the full potential of Greater Cambridge for the benefit of its communities and the country as a whole. I am grateful to all those who took time to engage and provide thoughtful and constructive feedback.

Consultation respondents were clear that Greater Cambridge faces increasingly complex challenges relating to infrastructure provision and the supply of affordable housing. This is having a detrimental effect on quality of life and holding back the region’s ability to scale its globally significant innovation economy.

The Government believe that these challenges cannot be met by incremental change alone. Delivering nationally significant growth in Greater Cambridge requires a bold, long-term approach, and a genuine step change in how infrastructure is planned, co-ordinated and delivered. The Government consider that establishing a centrally led development corporation is the most effective way to unlock nationally significant growth at the pace and scale required, combining responsiveness to local priorities with national leadership and influence.

To show the Government’s commitment to fulfilling the full potential of the region, since publishing the consultation the Chancellor has announced a further £400 million of funding for the Oxford-Cambridge corridor, doubling the £400 million announced in October 2025.

Once established, the boundary of the development corporation aligns with the combined administrative boundary of Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council. This will enable the Greater Cambridge Development Corporation to deliver on its objectives and make effective use of its powers, enabling the scale of growth necessary to deliver on both local and national interests.

As we set out in the consultation, the development area captures the core functional geography of the Cambridge economy, enabling a holistic approach to growth and infrastructure delivery. It will enable coherent planning across a wide area, strategic land assembly and land value capture to fund infrastructure. However, the success of the development corporation will also of course depend on strong partnership and proactive engagement with neighbouring authorities, and transport and utility providers beyond its boundary.

Although the development corporation will predominantly focus on its designated development area, it will also have influence beyond its formal boundary. This includes the ability to acquire land outside its development area to enable it to meet its objectives. The development corporation will bring a combination of powers, financing and national influence beyond what is available to existing local organisations. The development corporation will provide clarity and certainty through a clear vision for place and a stable governance framework.

The development corporation is intended as a joint national and local endeavour, combining local insight and input from local democratically elected representatives with national leadership, powers and investment. It will have direct access to central government and the ability to convene and co-ordinate partners around shared priorities. The democratically elected local leaders from Cambridge City Council, South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridgeshire County Council, and the Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, will be invited to join the board.

The Government also recognise that resident voices from across Greater Cambridge will form an integral part of the joint local and national endeavour in shaping the area’s future. The Government will therefore ask the development corporation to create structured forums for engagement that reflect the diversity of places and lived experiences across the region and serve as an exemplar of innovative, transparent, continuous and deep engagement. In short, it will provide Greater Cambridge with the tools, certainty and investment needed for sustainable, infrastructure-first growth. The model will form an exemplar for integrated powers and funding, setting the standard for housing development elsewhere in the country.

This establishment order will establish the GCDC as an entity, upon which it will be granted automatic infrastructure, financial and land assembly powers. My officials are now preparing the powers and functions order, a negative statutory instrument that is due later this year, which will equip the GCDC with planning powers, including the ability to determine planning applications for strategic development. Prior to the point at which we define the strategic sites, the development corporation will use minimum thresholds as a proxy to provide a clear and proportionate mechanism to focus the development corporation’s resources on sites of strategic importance. The development corporation will also take on plan-making powers, but it is anticipated that this will be once the draft local plan has been adopted, subject to public examination.

This combination of powers will provide Greater Cambridge with the tools, certainty and investment needed for sustainable, infrastructure-first growth. The model will be an exemplar for integrated powers and funding, setting the standard for housing development elsewhere in the country, delivering the good growth that this Government support.

To conclude, this order will establish the Greater Cambridge Development Corporation and set out the boundary in which it may operate. The Greater Cambridge Development Corporation will be focused on the delivery of strategic, nationally significant growth in its boundary, and work collaboratively with councils both within and bordering the development area, transport bodies and utility providers, to help supercharge growth and unlock development opportunities. It will support the delivery of new homes, infrastructure, and business and laboratory space.

I extend my thanks to the local leaders and their councils for their hard work and for their ongoing collaboration in delivering nationally significant growth in Greater Cambridge. I also thank the Cambridge Growth Company, under the leadership of Peter Freeman, for its ongoing work in Cambridge that has helped unlock planning applications for over 9,000 homes and 528,000 square metres of commercial space. While I am standing at the Dispatch Box, I also thank my noble friend Lord Vallance, who is standing down from the Front Bench but has made a huge contribution to the development of the OxCam arc in his time as a Minister. I am very grateful to him for that work.

I hope noble Lords will join me in supporting the order. I beg to move.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have taken part in a very interesting debate on the future of Cambridgeshire and the Greater Cambridge Development Corporation. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Lansley, for his contribution to Cambridge. We had a visit there and I could see his involvement in how Cambridge is developing. I thank my noble friend Lord Smith for setting out the benefit to the whole UK economy of the growth and innovation that is taking place in Cambridgeshire and how important it is to continue investing in that—not just for the local area but for a national purpose. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Best, for welcoming the development corporation approach to these major growth areas.

All the comments of the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, with her slightly negative perspective on the development corporation, were made in the 1940s and 1950s about the development corporation for my town. We need the growth that Cambridge offers. The Green Party may want our country to stand still, but this Government will not let that happen. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, as usual, for her thoughtful comments about the engagement of local people in this project.

I start with the boundary issues, which are the subject of the regret amendment and are important. The boundary proposed for the Greater Cambridge Development Corporation covers a broad geography which will enhance the ability to maximise funding and enable land value capture, increasing the viability of strategic infrastructure projects. The boundary aligns with the existing boundaries of South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridge City Council, simplifying governance arrangements and allowing the development corporation to support the emerging local plan. This boundary is considered of a suitable scale to allow the development corporation to respond flexibly and adapt to the emerging constraints within Greater Cambridge.

The Government recognise that the boundary does not always align with the location of essential strategic infrastructure. This will require the development corporation to build strong relationships and carry out proactive engagement with neighbouring authorities and transport and utility providers beyond its boundary. The example the noble Lord, Lord Lansley, gave of mass rapid transit between Huntington and Cambridge is very relevant here. The development corporation will also hold influence beyond its boundary. This could even include acquiring land outside the boundary, so long as it is in line with its functions and is deemed necessary. The noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, referred to the golden triangle. I am very aware of that—my home town sits in the middle of it. The whole area is very important for the UK economy.

Moving on to planning powers, the development corporation will be granted development management powers for sites of strategic importance. We will be defining that through the function and powers SI. If an application exceeds the proposed threshold set out in the consultation but is not deemed to be strategic, it is expected that the development corporation will delegate decision-making to the Greater Cambridge shared planning service to determine the application in the usual way. As a result, we expect the vast majority of planning applications to continue to be determined by the existing planning service. Plan-making powers will be essential to developing that long-term spatial vision for Greater Cambridge that delivers nationally significant growth. The Government are clear that the plan-led approach must remain the cornerstone of the planning system.

Laying the functions order later in the year gives us time to build a planning service capable of delivering its objectives. The development corporation will be granted development management powers once the statutory instrument is approved, but the intention is that a phased approach will be taken to the exercising of plan-making powers, and that those exercising the powers will be limited by Secretary of State direction. We anticipate this direction being lifted once the draft local plan has been adopted, subject to the public examination. The Secretary of State may choose to lift it sooner if, for example, it becomes apparent that the draft local plan would not deliver development at the scale and pace necessary.

I was asked some questions by the noble Lords, Lord Lansley and Lord Jamieson, on the scope of the planning powers for the development corporation. As a proxy for a definition of strategic sites, the development corporation will use the following minimum thresholds to provide certainty about the sites it intends to examine for their strategic importance with a view to exercising its development management responsibilities. This will include all sites proposed with a minimum of 250 houses, flats, or houses and flats, 5,000 square metres of floor space for all other development, and an infrastructure development which occupies more than 1 hectare of land.

The noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, and the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, asked about the impact of local government reorganisation on this programme. The development corporation’s boundary did not pre-empt or prejudice the recent consultation on local government reorganisation, which is a fundamental change. Given the significance of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough for national economic growth, it is important that we take the time to get this right. We will make a decision by October this year at the very latest. We are still committed to the existing timetable, with elections to new authorities in May 2027 and a “go live” date in April 2028. The boundary of the development corporation will be kept under review to ensure that it continues to meet its objectives. Any such review could also take into consideration the new administrative boundaries resulting from local government reorganisation if that is necessary.

A number of points were made about water. Water is a key issue in the whole of the east of England, as we know, but particularly in the Cambridgeshire area. My noble friend Lord Smith rightly raised the new Fens reservoir. No new reservoirs were built for 30 years in this country. That has caused some of the problems we are now experiencing, so we want to get on with that as quickly as possible. The Government are committed to ensuring adequate water supply and wastewater capacity to support sustainable growth in Greater Cambridge and to protect the natural environment. We have very rare chalk streams in this area, which we must look after.

No new homes in Cambridge are currently blocked due to water scarcity issues. Our work with the advisory water scarcity group has unblocked planning applications totalling over 9,000 homes and over 500,000 square metres. In December 2024, the Environment Agency lifted its objections to remaining blocked development following improvements in Cambridge’s water resource management plan and progress made by the water scarcity group. In addition, the work undertaken by the Government’s water delivery taskforce to resolve wastewater constraints means that over 18,000 homes across East Anglia, Lincolnshire and the home counties are now a step closer to being built.

The Government will continue to work closely with partners to ensure that water scarcity is not a constraint on development in Cambridge. The development corporation will have powers to directly plan, fund and deliver essential infrastructure to support regeneration, including utilities such as water. This includes the ability to lay connecting infrastructure for water mains and sewerage on sites delivered by the development corporation. There will be an opportunity for the development corporation to trailblaze across sites ambitious water efficiency approaches that can inform wider policy development and approaches in Cambridge over time.

There were quite a few comments from the noble Baronesses, Lady Bennett and Lady Pinnock, on consultation and how that has taken place. MHCLG, supported by the Cambridge Growth Company, undertook a series of engagement and publicity events throughout the consultation period, engaging residents, businesses and councils. This was supported by communication about the consultation and public participation through community-led events, MHCLG-hosted webinars and a wider programme of media and digital publicity, including local and regional press coverage, interviews, podcasts and social media. Social media coverage was amplified by local authorities, businesses and organisations.

The Government recognise the very complex challenges facing Greater Cambridge. They require a bold, long-term approach and a genuine step change in how infrastructure is planned, co-ordinated and delivered. The magnitude of these challenges cannot be met through incremental change. I know that change can feel unsettling for local residents, so it is not surprising that their reaction to the plans coming forward is sometimes negative. However, importantly, the centrally led development corporation is the most effective way to unlock nationally significant growth at the pace and scale needed.

My noble friend Lord Smith referred to the rail link that has been promised before—it must now happen. I think he will get the sense from both the new Prime Minister and the former Prime Minister of how we see this as urgent and want to deliver it.

If I have missed any points, I will respond using Hansard, but I am running out of time, so I will just say, in conclusion, that this order delivers the establishment of the Greater Cambridge Development Corporation. We think this is absolutely the right way to generate the growth that will be both locally and nationally important for Cambridge. I hope noble Lords will welcome the order.