Greater Cambridge
Cambridge is home to a world-class university, incredible heritage and many of the UK’s life sciences and other high-tech companies, which offer a range of high wage jobs.
But restrictive planning policies and a tight green belt now mean it’s one of the most unaffordable cities in the country. Building more homes to make housing more affordable for current and future residents is one of the best things we can do to help with the housing crisis as well as grow the economy.
Where we build homes is crucially important. As you can see on our interactive map, homes in parts of Cambridge go for over £8000 per square metre. This is because Cambridge has access to some of the best jobs in the country. GVA per head, a measure of how productive the average worker is, is 48% higher in Cambridge than the national average. Every new high wage job in Cambridge helps that worker but also generates more in tax, funding improvements in the NHS and other public services.
However, housing costs are a huge barrier to opportunity for ordinary workers. We should be creating homes to give them access to these opportunities.
As Tim Leunig and Henry Overman argue in their excellent paper, many of our most productive cities are far too small because of poor planning. The Chair of the Government’s New Towns Taskforce has endorsed plans for 150,000 homes in a ‘Greater Cambridge’. That would be a huge step forward for the country’s economy, but also importantly for all the people are struggling to afford Cambridge housing or who want to live and work in Cambridge.
We’re calling on the Government to ensure the following, so that future development in Cambridge is as successful as possible.
Build close to Cambridge
It’s crucial that new homes feel like part of the city from day one, not decades into the future. The best place for new homes is close to existing ones, where people can access the most jobs possible.
Comparing the urban extension Eddington, built by the University, and the Cambridgeshire satellite town Northstowe shows how crucial this is. Eddington, whilst not perfect, is truly part of Cambridge, allowing people to cycle to all the major employment centres in the city, as well as enjoy the incredible amenity it has to offer. The Northstowe scheme, by contrast, is difficult and impractical for residents without a car. There have been multiple complaints about it being ‘soulless’, with residents feeling disconnected from Cambridge, but without a community feel of their own.
Jobs as well as homes
Building more homes in Cambridge is crucial. Far more people already want to live there than are able to. But to keep the virtuous cycle of economic growth going, the Government needs to make sure that jobs are added at the same time.
This shouldn’t be hard! Lab space in Cambridge, crucial for some of the most innovative companies in the world who call the city home, is at a huge premium. Firms are desperate to expand operations there, all we need to do is let them.
Use land value capture to deliver social housing
Giving landowners permission to turn agricultural land into homes can result in its price increasing by over 100 times. The Government should capture some of this value to make sure there is an adequate supply of affordable and social homes for residents.