East Cambridgeshire District Council has confirmed there is enough land available on which to meet the district’s housing development requirements for the next seven years.
 
Government policy requires the Council to demonstrate it can meet the future demand for housing. Specifically, it needs to prove it has five years’ worth of supply of land, and it does this by counting how many plots of land either have permission for housing or are likely to come forward soon.
 
Being able to prove there is at least five years’ worth also reduces the likelihood of the Council being approached by developers looking to build on land outside of designated development envelopes, which in turn helps to protect green spaces and the rural nature of our district, and ensures growth is directed to sustainable locations.
 
The full report detailing the calculations and listing all the planned housing coming forward is available on the Council’s website Monitoring and Local Development Scheme.

Separately, the Council can confirm that a total of 154 affordable homes were built in East Cambridgeshire over the past year. This figure is the highest for the past 10 years and three times the annual average for the district.
 
A further 472 market properties were also built during this time, and, after accounting for seven dwellings which were lost, that means a net total of 619 new homes were provided in the district in the year to 31 March 2022. This is the highest recorded number of completions for 14 years and around three times the annual figures recorded between 2012 and 2018.
 
Cllr Lisa Stubbs, vice chair of the Council’s planning committee, said: “The population in East Cambs increased 4.6 per cent between 2011 and 2021 and is now around 87,700. We know East Cambridgeshire is a popular place to live, so we do need to support more homes being built in the right locations, including a significant number of affordable homes. 
 
“Growth of the area helps bolster the economy but it’s important we accommodate this increase as sustainably as possible. 
 
“Making sure we have sufficient land is just one aspect. We also need to ensure the social and community infrastructure – such as roads, schools, doctors’ surgeries and sports facilities are also there to support our desire to make sure East Cambridgeshire continues to be a great place for residents to live, work and thrive.”