Town Planning Update – October 2025

As reported in the Hunts Post recently, a developer has made an outline planning application for a development on the edge of St. Ives.  The application is for up to 650 houses on land adjoining Marley Road and Old Ramsey Road.

There are a number of good reasons to be concerned about this development.  These include increased demand on local schooling and surgeries, already under pressure.  It may be that the applicant will seek to answer these issues in any substantive application by funding additional facilities.  

There are other issues which cannot be so easily solved. The major one is increased traffic on Hill Rise, Marley and Ramsey Roads.  The site is well served by existing bus services, linking it with the town centre, Cambridge and Huntingdon but there will still be a significant increase in car traffic.  In any substantive application, the developer should provide easy access to the bus services.  There are archaeological matters which will have to be investigated before the development can go ahead.  It should also be noted that this is agricultural land not a brownfield site.

At present we are still awaiting the District Council’s review of the Local Plan, which will set out potential development sites in the area. There is government pressure to provide significant numbers of new housing sites. The issues associated with this site will have to be set against those of the other sites under consideration for development.