Campaign group seeks ‘explicit support’ from secretary of state for city of one million people near Cambridge
The Forest City campaign group has submitted a report to government urging it to back the proposed 400,000-home settlement in the Oxford-Cambridge corridor.
Forest City 1 (FC1) is a proposal to deliver what the group dubs as the “UK’s first new city in 50 years” alongside the “largest single land-based nature reserve” in England.
The 295-page report entitled “We Can Build a City”, was submitted to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government last week, which is currently examining its feasibility following initial meetings with project representatives in mid-February.
More than 40 individuals, all working pro bono, have contributed to the report, including a Sovereign Network Group development manager, as well as architects, a transport advisor to the Scottish government, tech experts and a housing lawyer.
The document sets out a series of claims, including that the 400,000 proposed dwellings would deliver around £53bn in annual GVA and create at least 600,000 jobs.
It also said that 80% of journeys could be made without the use of a car within the city and that a new reservoir would “help resolve broader water scarcity issues across the East of England.”
According to the campaign group, all homes would be affordable across a 70/30 buy and rent split, with a target for a four-bed, Passivhaus-standard home to sell for £200,000 to £250,000, which is “roughly 40% below prevailing UK market norms.”
This would be made possible by subsidising infrastructure costs through the sale of 8,000 acres of commercial land for offices, labs and advanced manufacturing.
The number of proposed homes for FC1 would exceed the combined housing output of all seven sites recommended by the government’s New Towns Taskforce, with estimates sitting at around 300,000 new homes.
The development of FC1 is currently in its first phase, with the aim to receive “tacit or, ideally, explicit support from the secretary of state” for a city of one million people near Cambridge and an agreement that the Albion City Development Corporation (ACDC) can retain the freehold on 160 acres at the centre of the commercial district.
ACDC was created by FC1’s co-founders, Shiv Malik and Joe Reeve. Malik is a former Guardian investigative journalist, while Reeve is the co-founder of pro-development campaign group Looking for Growth.
If phase one completes, phase two of the four-phase strategy would see the creation of a detailed masterplan and a funding plan.
The plan has been backed by several influential bodies, including former Labour business secretary Patricia Hewitt, economic advisor to two prime ministers Tim Leunig, the masterplanner behind the Olympics and King’s Cross developments Steve McAdam and the London-Cambridge Innovation Corridor chair Jackie Sadek.
Last week, the group announced that former head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Paul Johnson, had joined its advisory board.
Johnson, a Times columnist and current provost of Queen’s College, Oxford, said: “The UK desperately needs new housing, new ideas, and catalysts for growth.
“If we are serious about getting on the right economic track, we need to get serious about Forest City, and other innovative projects which will support growth and prosperity.”
However, the Stop Forest City campaign group has raised concerns about the loss of approximately 45,000 acres of countryside, water stress in East Anglia and the affordability claims of the proposed housing.
Nick Timothy, West Suffolk MP, said: “This proposal would erase ancient villages… destroying vast tracts of irreplaceable countryside and productive farmland.”
ACDC said the initial masterplanning phase would be carried out by the private sector at no cost to the public purse, with enabling legislation targeted for 2028/29.
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