South Cambs District Council: Faith and Community Land

Allocation of the Faith and Community/Voluntary Land at Phase 1, Northstowe

The window for applications by an eligible community group to win the award of the faith and community land closed in January 2026. 2 bids were received.

The land is currently owned by the lead developer, Urban&Civic, and is set to transfer to South Cambridgeshire District Council in Spring 2026. In anticipation of this transfer, we opened the bidding process to identify the winning group to be awarded a 999 year-long lease to develop the land.

We received 2 bids within the bidding window, which ran from January 2025 to January 2026.

The application process required applicants to provide information about themselves and their proposals. Both bids have now been judged by an assessment panel of officers in accordance with the assessment matrix, which can be found in the Supporting Information section below.

The summarised project proposals and officer assessments have been published, and views are invited from the community to inform the council decision. To provide your feedback on the proposals please complete our survey on our engagement platform. The survey runs from 16 March to 11:59pm on 27 April 2026.

If you are unable to respond online you may complete a paper copy of the form. Paper forms can be collected from the temporary community centre The Cabin, at 1, The Green, Pathfinder Way, Northstowe, CB24 1FD and then, once open to the public, from the neighbouring Unity Centre and returned via The Cabin’s post box, or South Cambridgeshire Hall, Cambourne Business Park, Cambourne, CB23 6EA; please mark envelopes “Faith Land Feedback”. Please email engage@scambs.gov.uk if you have any questions.

The proposals

The following bid summaries are a reflection of the bid summitted, in order that the public can provide feedback on the proposal; these summaries do not reflect the view of the Council or of the assessment panel. There is a separate officer assessment summary which indicates the response of the officer assessment panel, which is also provided to give further context. Please note that any development of the Faith and Community Land would be subject to the formal planning process, which is fully independent of the allocation process.

Hindu Samaj Northstowe:

Northstowe Church Network:

We will publish our final decision, followed by an appeals period lasting one month, before the successful applicant will be made an offer.

A withdrawal of any offer and/or the termination of any leasehold agreement with the applicant could result if applicants:

fail to disclose relevant information during or post application
fail to adhere to the policies they provide
fail to deliver to agreed project milestones

A draft leasehold agreement is available in the supporting information section.

Criteria

Submissions were invited from groups who could show that their proposal met the following criteria:

The applicant faith or community/voluntary group has a local association with Northstowe.
The applicant group or lead organisation of a consortium is a registered charity.
The organisation that would manage the faith/voluntary land and any building delivered would have charitable status.
The applicant organisation has the financial resources and organisational capacity to deliver their project proposal.
The applicant can achieve construction within the time frame laid out in their project proposal (which should include clear milestones to show the progress anticipated within the first five years post award).
The land and any building delivered must have space to accommodate shared spaces for community activities open to all, in addition to any dedicated worship space that it may include.
Any building delivered would be staffed and the managing group would make the shared space available to other community and faith groups regardless of faith, belief or lifestyle.

Supporting Information

The following information was made available to potential applicants:

A location plan [PDF, 0.5MB] of the 0.25 hectares parcel of serviced land in Phase 1 Northstowe.
A layout plan of services to the plot [PDF, 1MB], approved by Greater Cambridge Shared Planning, and installed by Urban & Civic prior to the transfer to us. Please note that we will certify that the land is serviced accordingly, prior to accepting transfer of the land. The electricity supply will be delivered at 104 KVA.
Development Guidance Faith/Volunteer Land [PDF, 3.5MB] and Addendum to Development Guidance Faith/Volunteer Land [PDF, 1MB].
A Ground Condition Survey [PDF, 74Kb] summary prepared for us which applicants may refer to (but does not offer reliance to third parties). If you wish to receive the report in full, please email northstowe.community@scambs.gov.uk
A draft Heads of Terms for Lease Agreement [PDF, 93Kb]
Assessment Matrix [PDF, 84Kb]
Clarifications issued - November 2025 [PDF, 81Kb]
Clarifications issued - December 2025 [PDF, 35Kb]

Within the Addendum to Development Guidance for Faith | Volunteer Land, Nov 2024 document there is a response from the Local Authority Planning officer which has a table using colour coding, to provide comment on the key issues associated with the proposed development.

The colour used indicate the acceptability, partial acceptability and unacceptability of the guidance within the document. Red means an in-principle issue remains unresolved, Amber means another type of issue remains unresolved and Green means the issue is resolved.

Applications have now closed.

Post-Assessment Feedback To Applicants

Total assessment scores and rankings will be made available to all applicants following the conclusion of the Council’s assessment of all eligible applications.

Further feedback on the breakdown of scoring as per the Assessment Matrix, will be made available to all applicants on request, within the window for appeals.