The Greater Cambridge Development Corporation (Establishment) Order 2026
House of Commons · General Committees · 8 Jul 2026 · 35 speeches · Official Report
The Committee consisted of the following Members:
Chair: Dr Rupa Huq
Amos, Gideon (Taunton and Wellington) (LD)
† Bonavia, Kevin (Stevenage) (Lab)
† Brandreth, Aphra (Chester South and Eddisbury) (Con)
† Cocking, Lewis (Broxbourne) (Con)
† Collinge, Lizzi (Morecambe and Lunesdale) (Lab)
† Costigan, Deirdre (Lord Commissioner of His Majesty ’ s Treasury)
† Coyle, Neil (Bermondsey and Old Southwark) (Lab)
† Craft, Jen (Thurrock) (Lab)
† Holmes, Paul (Hamble Valley) (Con)
† Hume, Alison (Scarborough and Whitby) (Lab)
† Lamb, Peter (Crawley) (Lab)
† Pennycook, Matthew (Minister for Housing and Planning)
† Rutland, Tom (East Worthing and Shoreham) (Lab)
† Simmonds, David (Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner) (Con)
† Slinger, John (Rugby) (Lab)
† Sollom, Ian (St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire) (LD)
† Swallow, Peter (Bracknell) (Lab)
Jack Edwards, Committee Clerk
† attended the Committee
Ninth Delegated Legislation Committee
Wednesday 8 July 2026
[Dr Rupa Huq in the Chair ]
Greater Cambridge Development Corporation (Establishment) Order 2026
The Chair
Given the heatwave that we are experiencing, I am happy to give blanket dispensation on the jacket rule, so Members can take them off if they so wish.
I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the Greater Cambridge Development Corporation (Establishment) Order 2026. It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Dr Huq. The order was laid before the House on 4 June. It will establish a centrally led urban development corporation in greater Cambridge, pursuant to the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980, which provides that the Secretary of State may designate an urban development area only when they are of the opinion that it is expedient and in the national interest, and following a public consultation. As the Committee will be aware, the economic growth of Cambridge over recent years has been a phenomenal success. It now has arguably the most intensive and innovative science and technology cluster in the world, with more than 5,000 knowledge-intensive firms based in and around the city, employing tens of thousands of skilled workers and generating in excess of £18 billion in annual turnover. However, the supply-side constraints that are evident across the Oxford-Cambridge corridor, from infrastructure deficiencies to housing affordability, are particularly acute in greater Cambridge. Its continued position as a world-leading centre of innovation, its ability to make an even greater contribution to the UK economy, and the quality of life experienced by its existing residents are all dependent on removing those constraints. Local institutions and leaders have worked hard to support the rapid growth of...
The Minister is always very generous with his time. He has just explained the boundaries of the development corporation. Cambridge is going through local government reorganisation. How will that affect the order and the boundaries that he has just described?
That is a very good question. In short, although I am more than happy to expand on this response, the development corporation’s boundary does not pre-empt or prejudice the outcome of the recent consultation on local government reorganisation. The Government would, of course, consider, through due process, any changes to the development area that are deemed necessary as a result of any local government reorganisation but, as I say, that does not pre-empt or prejudice what we are taking through by dint of this order. The Government have worked hard to sustain a constructive relationship with local leaders and key partners. We want the development corporation to be a joint national and local endeavour that combines local insight and input from local democratically elected representatives with national leadership powers and investment. As such, the democratically elected leaders of Cambridge city council, South Cambridgeshire district council and Cambridgeshire county council, as well as the democratically elected Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, will be invited to join the board. The Government also recognise that input from residents and communities will be integral to the success of the development corporation. That is why it will be asked to create exemplary engagement structures to enable broader community participation, including from residents, community representatives, and town and parish councillors. The order will establish the Greater Cambridge Development...
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Huq. I am sure that Members will be pleased to know that, because the Opposition agree with the principle underlying the statutory instrument, we will not seek to divide the Committee. The Minister has brought his usual clarity to introducing the order. Although I am sure that there are many questions that could be hotly debated, because there is always discussion about whether measures have the correct boundaries and powers, I would simply like to ask him a few questions that my colleagues have raised. My hon. Friend the Member for Broxbourne touched on the impact of local government reorganisation on the proposed development corporation. One issue is that the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 envisages that new mayors will take on many of these development powers. Given that a decision on local government reorganisation structures in greater Cambridge and many other areas is likely to be imminent, what thinking has there been about how the powers of the corporation will be transferred to the new mayoral or combined authority once it comes into being, if at all? The Minister might have already decided that that is not going to happen, but it would be helpful if he clarified how that will work. As the instrument establishes a new development corporation that transfers planning powers that currently sit with two district-level authorities, how does that sit alongside the amended planning regulations...
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Huq. I would like to be clear at the outset that the diagnosis behind the idea of the corporation is one that I and many in the area broadly share. Cambridge’s growth is constrained by water supply, wastewater capacity, and transport and energy infrastructure. They are real problems with real consequences, and not just for the current residents that I and others in the area represent, but for future residents. Nobody disputes that. However, the Lib Dems cannot support establishing a corporation whose purpose remains undefined at the point at which we are being asked to approve it. This order does one thing: it creates the Greater Cambridge Development Corporation in name. The powers and functions order, which will determine what it actually does, including any planning powers, comes later in the autumn. We are being asked to vote on an institution before we know what it will be for. That is not just a procedural quibble; it goes to the heart of whether development corporations actually work. The historical cases that genuinely justify optimism-London Docklands and the Olympic Delivery Authority are really good examples of development corporations working-succeeded because they had a clearly defined task, a timeline and a funding commitment to match that ambition. That clarity is what gave them the authority and legitimacy that made the democratic trade-off arguable, at the very least, and worthwhile for those who agreed....
That was a long list of perfectly reasonable and fair questions, which I will seek to answer in turn. If I miss any, hon. Members are more than welcome to intervene on me. I will begin with the questions from the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner. The order establishes, as a corporate body, a centrally led urban development corporation, not a mayoral development corporation. The sitting Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough will have representation, with a seat on the board, but the mayor and his area will not be controlling this development corporation; it is very different from the mayoral development corporation model. I think the Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough has designs on a mayoral development corporation for Peterborough, but that would be a delivery vehicle very different from the one we are establishing here. The mayor will, however, have representation on the board along with other local authority leaders. The shadow Minister asked me about the planning committee modernisation statutory instrument that we voted on today. That will apply to local authority committees in the ways we discussed when we considered that instrument in Committee. As I said in my opening remarks, we expect the vast majority of planning applications still to be determined by the greater Cambridge shared planning service. I will come on to why we have taken the development management powers we propose to in the functions order that will follow in...
Resolved,
That the Committee has considered the Greater Cambridge Development Corporation (Establishment) Order 2026.
Committee rose.