Stapleford Planning news

Neighbourhood plan referendum - Please use your vote on September 4

What is a Neighbourhood Plan?

Neighbourhood planning is a way for communities to take a proactive approach to deciding the future of the places where they live and work and help protect the character of their area. Communities can use a Neighbourhood Plan to help shape the future development and use of land in their neighbourhood reflecting their local pride. This includes the development of homes, green spaces, amenities and infrastructure.

Nearly 1,500 neighbourhood plans have so far been adopted in England. Nine of these are in South Cambridgeshire.

Stapleford & Great Shelford Neighbourhood Plan is at its final stage

South Cambridgeshire District Council has agreed that the Stapleford & Great Shelford Neighbourhood Plan can proceed to a community referendum. This is the final stage of the Neighbourhood Plan process, and it is now up to residents to vote on whether you would like the Stapleford & Great Shelford Neighbourhood Plan to come into force.

Arrangements for our community referendum

The referendum will take place on 4 September 2025. Everyone aged 18 and over who is registered and entitled to vote in local elections and lives in either the parish of Stapleford or Great Shelford can vote. Voting may be done in person (with ID), by post or by proxy. In-person voting will take place between 7am and 10pm at:

Stapleford residents: Sheltered Housing Communal Building, Cox’s Close (off Church St), Stapleford, CB22 5SP
Great Shelford residents: Memorial Hall, Woollards Lane, Great Shelford, CB22 5LZ.

Look out for your polling card for more details.

A simple yes/no vote

If you choose to vote, you will be asked the following question:

Do you want South Cambridgeshire District Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Stapleford and Great Shelford to help decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?

You will be able to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’. If more people vote ‘yes’ than ‘no’, then South Cambs Council will adopt the Stapleford & Great Shelford Neighbourhood Plan and it will become part of the development plan for South Cambridgeshire. Our Neighbourhood Plan will be used when making decisions on all planning applications in our area. If more people vote ‘no’ than ‘yes’ in the referendum, then planning applications will be decided without regard to our Neighbourhood Plan.

How can I find out more about the Neighbourhood Plan?

You can view the Stapleford & Great Shelford Neighbourhood Plan and its supporting documents on South Cambs Council’s website at https://bit.ly/4lyPrkE.

Why have a Neighbourhood Plan?

We can't stop development coming to our area but - if or when it does - a Neighbourhood Plan is our best way to shape it in line with our community's expressed needs and priorities.

What you told the Plan organisers is important to you about our villages has been turned into 20 new planning policies covering housing, green spaces, countryside access, amenities and infrastructure. The new policies will protect, enhance and improve these aspects of life in our villages, now and for future generations.

Cumulatively, they offer: a blueprint for the affordability, type, size and look of new housing; sustainability and biodiversity standards for new development; protections for our rural landscape; and proposals for new countryside routes.

Benefits of a Neighbourhood Plan

Neighbourhood planning enables communities to play a much stronger role in shaping the areas in which they live and work and in supporting new development proposals.

A Neighbourhood Plan gives a local community power to decide the future of their area, setting out where new homes, shops, and offices should go, and how they should look, while also protecting green spaces and local character. It allows communities to shape development to meet their specific needs, offering more specific, local planning policies that complement the wider local authority's plans and grant legal weight to community-driven development proposals.

The plan can identify and protect important local green spaces, ensuring they remain for community benefit.

They are a testament to the principle that local people should not simply be told how their community will look by central Government, but be empowered to shape the future of the places they call home.

A plan creates a shared vision for the neighbourhood's future, setting objectives for development over the next 5 to 20 years.

They are optional but can be used to show how a community wants land to be used and developed in its area.

There is also a potential financial benefit. The UK government's Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is a charge developers may pay to help fund infrastructure. If we have a Neighbourhood Plan in place, we will receive a higher percentage of CIL revenue—25% instead of 15%—from developments in our area. This money can then be spent on local priorities identified in the Plan.

Downsides of a Neighbourhood Plan

Downsides of Neighbourhood Plans include the extensive time, resources, and commitment required for their creation, which can be a significant burden on communities. There's a risk of creating plans that don't satisfy everyone.

What difference will a Neighbourhood Plan make?

A Neighbourhood Plan is not about preventing all development, but rather about guiding and shaping it in a way that benefits the community and aligns with South Cambs Council’s broader strategic goals.

Why should I vote?

Voting in a neighbourhood plan referendum allows you to directly influence the future of your local area, impacting decisions on everything from new housing to local infrastructure. Your vote decides if the neighbourhood plan is officially adopted and used to guide planning decisions in your community.

A majority 'no' vote on 4 Sept would mean that our Neighbourhood Plan would be disregarded in all planning decisions in our area.

Posted August 26 2025

Stapleford housing news

More than 100 homes could be built off Mingle Lane

More than 100 homes could be built on land off Mingle Lane.

Developers who have met with Great Shelford Parish Council say that there could be slightly more than 100 homes on the site.

A planning application is expected by February 2026.

They say that the development will be "fairly low density." A map of the likely development is shown below.

The proposed development is located on land between Hinton Way and Mingle Lane in Great Shelford.

The maximum capacity is limited to 100 homes due to Cambridgeshire Fire Service requirements for a single vehicular access. There may be potential for a higher capacity if an additional access could be provided.

Carter Jonas is promoting Land off Mingle Lane for new homes on behalf of Nightingale Land and Hill Group.

The Parish Council has recommended a corridor of trees between the current homes and the proposed development.

They have also asked for more open space which can be used by nearby families.

The developers have confirmed that they were not looking to bring “city” architecture into the village.

Whilst the site is currently owned by two companies, it will be developed as one parcel.

The Parish Council has asked for consideration of the Stapleford Cemetery with a buffer or less density near the cemetery as it is a sensitive area.

The site is a draft allocation within the emerging Greater Cambridge Local Plan, which proposes the site for new homes and open space.

Updated June 11 2025

A map of the likely development behind Hinton Way, Great Shelford and Mingle Lane, Stapleford in January 2025. The Location Plan shows the extent of the allocation (in red) and additional land (in blue) which will be utilised as open space and landscaping. The area in blue will not be utilised for new homes.

poll

Strawberry Fields update

Work has started on the of construction of Strawberry Fields, a £50 million retirement development of 147 homes in Stapleford.

It will offer 147 one, two and three-bedroom properties with the first phase estimated to be completed in 2024, and building work finished in 2025.

Developers Rangeford have published a number of artist's impressions about what Strawberry Fields will look like.

Images courtesy of Rangeford Villages

What does the future hold for Great Shelford and Stapleford?

Since Autumn 2021, a steering group of Stapleford and Great Shelford residents and parish councillors has been working to produce a combined Neighbourhood Plan (NP) on behalf of our parishes. This is a chance for the people who know and love our area to set out a positive, shared vision for how we want it to develop and to ensure that identified local needs are not overlooked in the rapid economic growth which our wider region has been targeted to deliver. Policies in our NP will ultimately have equal weight when assessing all planning decisions in our area to those in the Local Plan and National Planning Policy Framework.

In April/May of this year, we undertook a second public consultation with residents, combining pop-up displays and a survey. We are very grateful to everyone who gave a few minutes of their time to participate.

A report summarising survey outcomes and outlining next steps in the process is now available to read at https://www.greatshelfordparishcouncil.gov.uk/sgsnplan/neighbourhood-plan-consultations/.

Posted June 28 2023

100 new homes for Stapleford and Shelford?

One hundred new homes off Hinton Way and Mingle Lane have come a step closer.

Around 100 new homes in the area have been included as a list of potential

development sites, for the new draft Greater Cambridge Local Plan published on Aug 31.

The draft plan identifies an area of 10 hectares between Hinton Way and Mingle

Lane for possible future development.

“Maximum capacity limited to 100 homes, relating to Cambridgeshire Fire Service

requirements for no more than 100 homes to be served via a single vehicular

access,” the new report states.

“There may be potential for a higher capacity if an additional access could be

provided.

“(It is) Very well located in relation to existing railway station, with resulting excellent

access to Cambridge, and to Cambridge Biomedical Campus once the new Cambridge

South station is open, providing the exceptional circumstances required for Green Belt release.

“Development should accommodate the following constraints:

Design of development should preserve key views from Stapleford Conservation Area including from Mingle Lane past St Andrew’s Church and the adjacent vicarage.
Open space to be provided to the east of the built development to help provide compensatory improvements to the environmental quality and accessibility of remaining Green Belt.

Out of over 690 sites put forward by developers and landowners, and another 200 considered by planners, only 19 new sites are proposed to be taken forward into the new Plan

The new Local Plan is the most important document you've (probably) never heard of. It will affect how we live, work and play in Greater Cambridge over the next 20 years and beyond.

The sites are published as part of the draft First Proposals for the new Plan, made public ahead of decision-making by Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire District councillors through their respective committee processes. Once Councillors have reviewed and commented on the proposed sites, the list will be finalised for public consultation. This consultation is due to start at the beginning of November.

Posted Aug 31 2021

Mingle

Stapleford planning

Dernford reservoir proposals

New proposals have emerged for Dernford reservoir between Stapleford and Little Shelford.

Russell Smith Farms are assessing the potential redevelopment of the former Dernford Quarry at Stapleford to provide a community country park with camping and caravanning facilities.

They are applying for planning permission for a caravan park in conjunction with the Caravan and Motorhome Club. As part of the caravan park, there would be further amenities that would benefit the local community.

This would include water-based activities, a farm shop/ café and a children’s play area.

An outdoor event space is also proposed with various options:

• Competitor camping for sporting events like triathlons and duathlons

• Outdoor cinema

• Food festivals

There will be scope for a variety of ancillary sport and recreation facilities, which could include a bowling green, gym, sauna, tennis courts, all-weather courts (for football), farm shop and associated parking.

This initial consultation will run from Monday 24th May for a six week period until 5th July.

Read more details at the South Cambridge Waterpark website.

Posted May 28 2021

1,000 homes proposed for Stapleford

Major housing developments for more than 1,000 new homes have been proposed for Stapleford.

Proposals include up to 987 new homes centred around a new station for the new tramway on land east of Haverhill Road.

There are also proposals to build new homes on the allotments

The proposals for Stapleford include:

Land to the east of Haverhill Road, Stapleford 987 homes

Land at Hinton Road, Stapleford – up to 500 homes.

Land to the north east of Gog Magog Way Stapleford - 200 homes

Land south of Hinton Way, Stapleford - Up to 100 homes or a retirement village

Land east of Haverhill Road, Stapleford – up to 58 homes.

Wedd Joinery, Granta Terrace, Stapleford - 25 homes

The suggested developments are a long way from reality. The proposals have been made as part of a ‘First Conversation’ consultation to create a new Local Plan for the area by 2023.

Developers and landowners have put forward their initial proposals for homes across sites in Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire.

The first wave of the consultation took place in January and February. The next public consultation stage is planned for Autumn 2021.

These proposals are not planning applications. Councils stress that none of the suggested sites have any real planning status at this stage and far more land for development has been suggested than will be required to meet the area’s housing needs.

The Greater Cambridge Local Plan will set out where development in Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire is allowed to happen, and what it should include – such as homes, business space, community facilities, shops, leisure facilities and green spaces. It will guide how development should help address current and future environmental, social and economic issues.

You can read the responses and a summary report on the Greater Cambridge Planning Service

website: www.greatercambridgeplanning.org/localplan (The site can be challenging to navigate - you may find it easier to click on the links within the story to read about specific proposed schemes.)

A map of all the proposals can be seen here.

You can have your say about the proposals by contacting South Cambridgeshire District Councillors Peter Fane or Nick Semple or Stapleford Parish Council.

Read the coverage in the Cambridge Independent.

Posted September 18 2020.