Michael Gove is drawing up proposals to turn Cambridge into Britain’s Silicon Valley, with as many as 250,000 new homes built over the next two decades and the prospect of billions of pounds of investment.
The Cambridge 2040 plan, drawn up in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in recent months, is being seen as the heir to the abandoned OxCam Arc proposal.
While the closely guarded scheme is still at “concept” stage, sources said the proposals envisage a huge expansion of the city, which has about 150,000 residents. This includes identifying large swathes of land to construct new business parks, laboratories and science hubs.
Councils in the region are already considering plans for tens of thousands of new homes by 2040 but Gove’s department believes this could be increased to between 200,000 and 250,000 homes.
Tory MP for South Cambridgeshire Anthony Browne has said he would fight the plans.
Gove is expected to make a major speech on housing policy in the next month, after it was delayed due to the forthcoming by-elections.
He is expected to raise potential changes to the nutrient neutrality rules, and add detail to plans to boost development in 20 towns and cities across England, including plans for 1980s-style development corporations.
The long-awaited National Planning Policy Framework, which guides councils on their local housing plans, is expected to be published in the autumn.
