Developing new communities

Cambridgeshire is one of the fastest growing counties in the UK and has seen much demand for housing in recent years.

A number of new communities are being delivered, or are in the process of being planned. The County Council is tasked with ensuring its services, including education, waste, transport and community infrastructure, are well planned, suitably funded, and delivered in a timely and sustainable way, thereby meeting the needs of Cambridgeshire's new communities, and contributing to the county's economic prosperity. The Growth and Development Team at the County Council co-ordinates this work.

Engagement with developers

We recognise the value of early engagement with developers and other stakeholders. This can enable a clear understanding between relevant parties of what facilities and infrastructure will be necessary to support development, the funding sources, and the implications for development viability. We encourage pre-application discussions on these matters at the earliest opportunity.

This can help identify key considerations earlier, paving the way to a quicker and smoother planning application process.

The Growth and Development Team provides pre-application advice to developers for general planning and transport assessment matters for all category developments, and pre-application highways advice for large, major and strategic scales of development (Categories 3, 4 and 5 Proposals) only.

Pre-application highways advice for small and medium scale developments (Categories 1 and 2 Proposals) are managed by the Highways Development Management team and you can apply and pay for this type of advice online here.

There are charges associated with such advice, details of which are in the 'Pre Application planning advice - Charging Schedules 2023-24' document.

To request pre-application advice, please complete the Request for pre-application advice form.

Travel plans, sustainable travel advice and coordinator services are available through 'Smartjourneys', a not-for-profit commercial enterprise within the County Council. Visit the Smartjourneys website to find out more.

Transport assessment guidelines

We have prepared guidelines to assist developers with the preparation of transport assessments and transport statements that accompany planning applications. The guidelines are available in our transport assessment guidelines document.