Month: January 2026

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CAMBRIDGE IS CHANGING: Local Plan Deadline for comments 5pm, 30 January  

Not only is Cambridge growing much bigger within its boundaries, it is also growing beyond the A14 and M11!  All this growth will affect us all – how we live, how we get to work, our health, our schools, our green areas, our shopping and our leisure facilities and much, much more.  

We know that our own immediate locality will be changing, but big changes are planned nearby – Science Park and Cowley Road for example. Further afield more houses are planned for Marshalls Airport as well as the housing already under construction there.  

There are further consultations under way which have quite short deadlines.  Our friends at FECRA (Federation of Cambridge Residents Associations) have published some useful guidance for these consultations.  See

Local Plan Deadline for comments 5pm, 30 January  

Friends of St Matthew Piece helpful advice on how to respond to the Local Plan has been updated to include omitted graphics. 

Link below 
https://www.fecra.org.uk/update-19th-january-2026/

Biodiversity and Urban Forest draft strategies consultation 

Deadline for comments 10 February. Link below

https://engage.cambridge.gov.uk/en-GB/projects/biodiversity-and-urban-forest-strategies

 ‘Feedback from the consultation will inform the final Biodiversity Strategy and Urban Forest Strategy and associated action plans going to Cabinet for approval on Wednesday 25 March 2026’ See link below

Urban Forest Strategy 

https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/urban-forest-strategy

‘The Urban Forest Strategy will replace the council’s  Tree Strategy in 2026. It will set out the vision, principles, aims, policies and actions for protecting, managing and growing Cambridge’s urban forest over the next decade.

The strategy will be a non-statutory document. It will explain how we will:

  • manage more – maintain and care for the trees we already have
  • protect more – safeguard important trees and canopy, especially where it is under pressure
  • plant more – increase tree cover and species diversity in the right places
  • engage more – support residents, communities and organisations to be part of delivery

The strategy will be supported by a set of topic papers, which provide additional detail and evidence on specific themes. These themes include asset management, tree planting, subsidence, governance and resourcing, climate resilience, statutory responsibilities, and canopy measurement’

Draft revised Biodiversity Strategy 2026-2031 https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/media/4nxnk4hz/draft-biodiversity-strategy.pdf  

Please look at this information, if looked at in bits it is really not too overwhelming.  There are still some opportunities to attend meetings about the Local Plan 

  • Thursday 22 January, 5pm to 7pm: Drop-in session at The Wing, Brown’s Field Community Centre, 31A Green End Rd, CB4 1RU
  • Friday 23 January, 11:30am to 1pm: Lichfield Hall, Coleridge, CB1 3SJ
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GCP/CCC warning about parking in your front garden

The parking scheme is due to go live on February 2nd.

Here is the statement we have received from Paul van de Bulk at the GCP summarising the advice provided by Gary Baldwin at the Policy and Regulation team at the County Council.

“So in summary, where there is a formal dropped kerb, residents (or their guests) would not be breaking the law if they crossed a double yellow line to drive over this dropped kerb to access the driveway to park. 

However, they would be breaking the law if they crossed the footpath in a vehicle to access a driveway, where there is not a formalised dropped kerb, regardless of whether there are double yellow lines or not.”

Although we asked both the GCP and the CCC to indicate which regulations governed this, neither have done so.

Gary Baldwin has told us that this is simply standard practice in our Highways Authority (the County Council) as it is in others in England .

In other words, if you have a dropped kerb, you can park in your driveway or front garden even if there is a double line outside your house.

If you don’t have a dropped kerb, you may not continue to park in your front garden – even if you have been doing so “for the past 39 years” as one of you have told us they have been doing.

IN ADDITION ….

We met James Hostler, the GCP’s project manager for installing the parking scheme, when he and Paul van de Bulk joined us on site last week.

In practice, James said, it is crossing the undropped kerb which is illegal regardless of whether there are double yellow lines or not.

And Paul warned us that he was aware of an instance where a householder was fined £1,000 for doing so.

But he didn’t provide us with details about this example.

If you don’t have dropped kerb and park in your front garden, you need to heed this warning.

AND …

Previously, we had been told that the County Council would “assist” any residents who park in their front gardens but don’t have a dropped kerb.

On the site visit last week, we asked James Hostler what form this assistance would take.

Disappointedly, he said that the County Council would simply direct such residents to its web page about how to apply for a dropped kerb and nothing more.

ARERA Committee