City Council Update April 2026

Performance, Assets and Strategy Overview and Scrutiny Committee

City Centre Heat Network

The scrutiny committee looked at proposals for setting up a city centre Heat Network. The Heat Network will use air and river source heat pumps to heat buildings in the city centre instead of the traditional gas boilers and has the potential to reduce carbon emissions by 93% over a 40 year project timeline. The proposals are for a joint venture between the City Council (51%) and various academic institutions owning buildings in the city centre. There is potential for growth in the scope of operations due to anticipated Heat Zoning regulations which will require large heat loads to connect to a heat network. The current proposal was to release £0.6m from the climate change fund reserve to develop the proposals and apply for grant funding for £20m from the Green Heat Network Fund.

This is a very exciting and ambitious project but has a number of risks including the impact of utility trenches, archaeological considerations, keeping the project up to date with advances in technology, cost overruns and licensing requirements for river extraction. The recommendation from the scrutiny committee to Cabinet was to monitor these risks and approve the release of £0.6m from the reserve.

IT

IT services at the council are a shared service with Huntingdonshire (as lead) and South Cambridgeshire District Councils. There was a review in 2024 after which several improvements were recommended. There has been good progress on some measures and some on-going remediation measures are now being transferred to ordinary business. Some measures remain outstanding and will continue into the future including a necessary culture change. The appointment of a Chief information Digital Officer has been a success.

Planning

25/04801/FUL Cambridge Rugby Union Club Grantchester Road

The application to construct a floodlit padel tennis facility with a club hut and landscaping was rejected, despite officer’s recommendation to approve the application. This was because, it failed t preserve the openness of the Green Belt, the site is a protected open space of environmental and recreational importance and the siting, scale and artificial lighting, times of use and massing of proposed courts would introduce an intrusive built form into the middle of it.

25/04322/FUL 66 Ross Street

The application to convert the property into a 6 bedroom house of multiple occupation was rejected.

25/02831/FUL Land at Bateman Street

Approval was sought for alterations to the existing access, including an impermeable surface to the road together with a drainage scheme, removal of the hedgerow and additional cycle parking. The application was approved subject to the new hedgerow also being yew and restrictions on the lighting scheme.

25/04408/CL2PD Nightingale Avenue Recreation Ground, Nightingale Avenue

Permission was sought to install the concrete foundations for 6 steel posts intended to bear the public art that has been commissioned. The application was approved.

25/04382/FUL and 25/04383/LBC (listed building consent) Market Square

The application concerned the refurbishment of Market Square, Peas Hill and Guildhall Street including provision of cycle parking, erection and siting of replacement fixed and temporary market stalls, refurbishment of Grade II listed setts (i.e. cobbles), works to listed fountain and railings and additional landscaping, street furniture and associated works.

The concerns that this proposal seeks to solve are as follows; the setts are not level and slippery when wet and very difficult to traverse for those with a disability as does the kerb to the road. The public realm is cluttered with trade bins and the existing market stalls are shabby. The road around the market is excessively wide and pushes pedestrians to the edges and gives cars a feeling of priority. There is also little greenery and no seating in this very important and central city centre location. There is a strong desire to improve the appearance of the space and safeguard the market.

This decision was deferred pending resolution of concerns from Highways.

25/04384/FUL and 25/04385/LBC Guildhall

This application proposes the installation of roof plant and screen, refurbishment and enhancement of internal and external fabric including installation of PV panels, alterations to internal fabric, rooms and wall positions, and fourth floor and basement extensions of the Guildhall and was approved.

There were concerns over the plant on the roof but the refurbishment results in a 65% reduction in energy use and an improvement in water efficiency and the public benefits were considered to outweigh the concerns.

25/04386/FUL and 25/04387/LBC Corn Exchange

The proposed refurbishment and extension of the Corn Exchange including addition of PV panels, changes to public realm, and alterations and extension to 3 Parsons Court and 2 Wheeler Street including change of use to drinking establishment was approved.

Greater Cambridge Partnership Executive Board

The budget for 2025/26 is £88m of which £26m has been spent and the forecast is that only £52m will be spent leaving a £36m underspend. This is driven by delays to the CSET and greenways programmes.

Combination of utilities and GCP works

There are multiple GCP schemes that are due to be delivered in the City including four corridor schemes: Newmarket Road, Madingley Road, Hills Road and the A1134 (in QE this is Long Road and Mowbray Roads). However, there are multiple utilities programmes also planned, including UK Power Network upgrades to the grid, Cadent gas upgrade works and the Cambridge Heat Network. Officers are investigating how this should be managed.

QE projects

The following schemes relevant to QE are progressing as shown:

A1134 and Hills Road projects (formerly cycling plus) – completion 2028 – amber

Addenbrookes Roundabout is completed but the rest of the project is still in early development.

Sawston Greenway– completion 2027 – green

Linton Greenway – completion 2027 – green

Cambridge Southeast Transport (CSET) phase 1 – red , phase 2 – completion tbd

The requirement for the Haverhill and Wandlebury schemes to go through planning permission means that this is taking longer than planned. Legal agreements for Francis Crick Avenue are still on-going. Phase 2 public inquiry will now take place towards the end of 2026.

Further decisions were:

• An experimental traffic regulation order TRO for Sidgwick Avenue prioritising cyclists was approved.
• Comberton Greenway Full Business Case was approved.
• Moving to design facilities at the Waterbeach Railway Station to include a waiting room and toilets.

Licensing

The Artyst, 54-56 Chesterton Road received approval to extend its licensing hours to 22.30pm Monday to Saturday and 22.00pm on Sundays.

Civic Affairs and Audit Committee

Constitutional arrangements

The constitution was substantially changed last year to a leader/cabinet model. Some more minor changes to the constitution were recommended to full council:

• an updated member/officer protocol which includes a response time limit to queries of 5 days rather than 7,
• revised terms of reference for the Equalities Panel and
• other technical changes.

The risk management strategy, internal audit report and the annual report on civic affairs were also reviewed.

Services, Climate and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee

Bio-diversity Mid-Term review

The bio-diversity strategy covers all possible ways that biodiversity in the city can be increased. The strategy commits the City council own development sites to increase bio-diversity net gain by 20%. Across the city green spaces, the target is a ‘measurable net gain’ to biodiversity. 

Broadly there are designated local nature reserves, chalk streams and green and blue spaces. The strategy assesses the condition of these sites: of the 14 main sites, 3 are in moderate condition and declining, 2 are moderate and improving, 5 are moderate and stable, 2 are poor and stable and 2 are good and stable. The strategy envisages that these sites are all linked up to increase resilience but it is not clear how this will be done. They all appear quite fragile and subject to many pressures such as increasing urbanisation, recreational use, and water over-abstraction. Active management is required to make sure that bio-diversity is maintained.

The committee recommended to cabinet that a ‘measurable net gain’ be more precisely defined.

Urban Forest Strategy

The urban forest strategy sets out a target of 20% canopy cover by 2050 and also prioritises lower canopy areas of the city, which are generally the more deprived and densely populated areas. It sets out detailed policy and guidance for various situations, for example, for cases where trees are causing subsidence.

This is seen as an achievable goal as the current canopy covers stands at 18%. The canopy cover is a better measure than number of trees as saplings have a fraction of cover and beneficial effects of a fully grown tree. Trees are also under threat from urbanisation and climate change which brings a lack of water and pests and diseases. 75% of the canopy cover is in privately owner gardens and so there is a need to build awareness with residents also.

Extraordinary Full Council meeting

This was held in view of the consultation by central government on the existence and powers of the proposed Development Corporation for Cambridge which is tasked with bringing about 150,000 new houses to the city.

The general view was that a Development Corporation could help with some of the intractable problems we have in Cambridge such as the water scarcity problem, lack of a transport infrastructure and looming problems with sewage capacity. There was unanimous concern about the taking away of plan making and development management powers from a very high functioning and efficient planning department which is democratically accountable to residents. The Leader of the Council promised to respond to the consultation accordingly.

Cabinet

Great Cambridge Planning Obligations Supplementary Planning Document (SPD)

This SPD will assist the council in negotiating s106 contributions due from developers to mitigate the effects of the development on the surrounding infrastructure.

Transition plan for the Guildhall and Corn Exchange

A plan for a temporary performance and events venue to be constructed in a currently undetermined location in the city centre was approved to go for planning permission, noting that this was in advance of any final decision on the Corn Exchange which is due in September. This was in order to maintain a cultural programme and customer loyalty. The Liberal Democrats were sceptical that this would reduce costs and claimed that on the contrary this is likely to increase them as no evidence had been provided on what events might be produced and who might attend.

The Climate Change Strategy, Bio-diversity Strategy, Urban Forest strategy and Urban Heat Network have been discussed in previous updates or elsewhere in this update and were also approved by Cabinet.