City Council Report July 2026

Council

Following the elections the City Council is now made up of the following parties:

17 Labour

12 Green

11 Liberal Democrat

1 Conservative

1 Your Party

There is still no news on Local Government Reform (LGR) which is expected mid July. In other counties, the government seems to be deciding in favour of smaller areas for a unitary against their own requirements. These unitaries appear to be concentrated around cities so that the larger 2-council options seem less likely to be chosen.

Housing Advisory Board

A working group has been set up to review the repairs and maintenance of new builds after the initial 12 month period in which the developer is responsible for any defects in the build.

The housing improvement plan is being reviewed following the Regulatory Inspection. This is looking at regulatory compliance, data management – which consists of a large-scale review of the IT system used to hold council housing information related to asset management, repairs and tenancies, service quality and how officers work with tenants.

Planning and development management

The following applications were considered:

26/00884/OUT Land North of Cowley Road and adjacent to Wild Park

Outline planning application for the construction of a Multi-Storey Commercial Car Park including pedestrian and vehicular access and a standalone amenity kiosk. The application was approved.

25/04604/FUL 1 Kings Meadow, Cambridge 

Single storey front extension, single storey side and rear extension and first floor side extension to create change of use from residential (Use Class C3) to a large 7-bed HMO (sui generis) which came to committee on the basis of more than 5 third party representations made. Officers recommended the scheme for approval but it was deferred.

163 Cambridge Science Park

This was a pre-application presentation of a full application for densification of the site through comprehensive redevelopment to provide office floorspace with dry/tech lab enablement.

25/04187/FUL Hanover Court and Princess Court – approved with amendments

The existing building described as brutalist is in poor condition and therefore it has been selected for redevelopment. It is mostly vacant because of fire safety concerns.

The new building will be more in keeping with the surrounding architecture. There will be no affordable housing in this scheme as the redevelopment is not viable even without affordable housing, however the council aims to reach 50% affordable housing across the portfolio of all redevelopments. Affordable housing will be provided separately under s106.

Minor applications which were all approved:

25/03323/FUL 73 Newmarket Road

Mixed use development comprising a ground floor commercial unit (Class E) with 23 en-suite bedsits (HMO) on the upper floors together with communal kitchens, laundry room, associated bike and bin storage and associated infrastructure following demolition of existing buildings.

The following applications consisted of the addition of external wall insulation to the solid wall constructed parts of the building:

26/01081/FUL 9, 11, 15 and 17 Ashfield Road

26/01400/FUL 1, 2, 3, 4, 11, 12 The Green

26/01401/FUL 71, 73, 75, 91, 95, 101, 107, 109, 111 Union Lane

26/01402/FUL 190, 194, 206, 208, 216, 218 Milton Road

26/01899/FUL Ross Street

Civic Affairs

This committee approved the following changes to the constitution which will be finally approved at Full Council in July. The changes are intended to acknowledge the council is in no overall control and that there is an important role to play for all opposition groups. The proposals are minor and: 

• extend the rights of main opposition group to the Liberal Democrat Group in addition to the Green Group, which enables speaking rights at Cabinet. 
• exclude breaks and Mayoral business (including speaking time of Mayor’s Chaplain) from the operation of the full council guillotine.

Scrutiny Committees

Both scrutiny committees had a training session as the scrutiny system is still new to the council and there are also several new councillors. Several ideas were raised at the Performance Assets and Strategy Committee which I chair and which I will be taking forward with officers and the Vice Chair.