There are lots of ways you can find out what’s happening and ask questions about urban growth in and around Cambridge.

Meadows Community Centre and Buchan Street Neighbourhood Centre redevelopment

Cambridge Investment Partnership is leading a major development in Arbury and King’s Hedges.

The development includes a new two-storey community centre to replace Meadows Community Centre and Buchan Street Neighbourhood Centre. It also includes approximately 100 new council-owned, rented, sustainable homes.

We will install a new Sport England-approved football pitch, multi-use games area, play area, and skate area. And we will make significant improvements that will benefit wildlife on the adjacent recreation ground.

Public meetings

During the construction phase of the development we will hold regular meetings to keep you informed about what’s going on. We’ll listen and respond to any issues that you want to raise.

Recent meeting: 30 June 2021

This meeting took place online because of current coronavirus restrictions. There were presentations on the following, as well as time for your questions.

• An overview of the design and construction phases
• Consultation on the selection of play equipment and naming of the new community centre building
• Council progress updates and key next steps – housing, new community hub and public art

Previous meeting: 27 January 2021

Residents heard updates about the design of the buildings and the construction phases. This meeting took place online.

• Resident meeting, 27 January 2021: Watch a recording of the meeting
  • Amendment: An incorrect email address was given in the presentation – Hill’s email address is residents@hill.co.uk
• Resident meeting, 27 January 2021: Read the presentation slides [PDF, 1MB]
• Public correspondence following the resident meeting on 27 January 2021 [PDF, 0.1MB]

Public consultations

Play equipment

We want you to help us choose the new play equipment that we plan to install to improve St Alban’s recreation ground.

Read the Meadows play equipment options [PDF, 13.5MB] to see the planned improvements to the park, then complete our short online survey to tell us which play equipment you would like us to install. The survey closes on 1 August.

Community centre name

We are asking users of Meadows Community Centre and Buchan Street Neighbourhood Centre what we should call the new community centre building. If you have any suggestions for a name, email us at bsnc@cambridge.gov.uk by 16 July 2021.

Mill Road depot and Cromwell Road developments

We held a public meeting on 2 March 2020 to discuss progress at the Mill Road depot and Cromwell Road development schemes, and to enable residents to raise issues and discuss progress with the developers and builders.

We recorded and responded to all questions asked. Our responses and a copy of the presentation slides shown at the meeting are available below.

• Answers to residents’ questions [PDF, 0.2MB]
• Presentation [PDF, 14MB]
• Meeting terms of reference [PDF, 0.1MB]

If you have any questions, contact Hill Investment Partnership at residents@hill.co.uk or 0800 032 6760.

North East Cambridge, North West Cambridge and Cambridge East

There are community forums for ongoing major developments in North East Cambridge, North West Cambridge (Eddington and Darwin Green) and Cambridge East (Wing/ Marleigh and land north of Cherry Hinton).

These bring residents, councils and developers together to raise issues and discuss how the developments are moving forward. They are open to everyone and usually meet three times a year. The format tends to involve an informal drop-in session followed by a more formal meeting.

• Cambridge East Community Forum
• North East Cambridge Forum
• North West and West Community Forum

Southern Fringe

Until recently, if you live on one of the developments at Trumpington Meadows, Glebe Farm, Clay Farm and the Bell School site you could use Southern Fringe Community Forum meetings to raise questions about planning and construction. The last of these took place in June 2019.

The construction stage is nearing completion, with over 3,000 homes now occupied on the Southern Fringe. So the time has come to welcome you from these developments into the regular arrangements for addressing local issues in the South Area of the city.

You are invited to come along to South Area Committee meetings, which serve Cherry Hinton, Queen Edith’s and Trumpington wards. These formal meetings involve the local councillors for these wards. They normally take place four times a year, in January, April, July and October.

The meetings include an opportunity for you to raise local issues during an ‘open forum’ slot.

The date of the next South Area Committee meeting will be confirmed soon.

Other ways to get involved

• Email us if you have a question
• Find your local councillors and how to contact them
• Raise a local issue in the open forum of your area committee
• Attend Joint Development Control Committee or Planning Committee meetings
• Take part in consultations
• Find out more about the Greater Cambridge Partnership
• See how S106 contributions make a difference across Cambridge.

See also: Why Cambridge is growing | Where Cambridge is growing | Living in the new neighbourhoods