The Tory parliamentary candidate for South Cambridgeshire has claimed the government will not end up building 150,000 homes in the area.

Chris Carter-Chapman, the Conservative parliamentary candidate, said he did not believe there will end up being “anything like the scale” of housing that has been announced.

Last year it was reported the government wanted to build 250,000 new homes in the Greater Cambridge area as part of its ‘Cambridge 2040’ project.

In March the government published its ‘Case for Cambridge’ which confirmed its plans to build a “major new urban quarter”, and increase the amount of life science and laboratory space in the city.

The document did reveal some changes to the initial reported plans, including suggesting the area could see 150,000 or 100,000 new homes by 2050, rather than 250,000 by 2040.

In order to achieve this vision the government established the Cambridge Delivery Group and set out plans to create a development corporation to lead the work.

However, at a community organised debate this week (April 16) the Conservative parliamentary candidate for South Cambridgeshire, Mr Carter-Chapman, said he did not think this number of homes would be built.

He said: “I think we have seen quite evolving plans, this started at 250,000 by 2040, then 150,000 by 2050 now 100,000.

“I expect in time it will not be far away from what is set out in the local plan as it stands.”

When pushed to give an idea of how many houses he thought would be built he said a “ballpark figure” would be between 50,000 and 35,000.

Mr Carter-Chapman added that the ‘Case for Cambridge’ was “theoretical” at the moment.

He said: “Housing is vital, but these proposals are a very long way off. I am no longer on Michael Gove’s Christmas card list, it is not going to happen at anything like the scale that has been released to the press.”

Pippa Heylings, the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for South Cambridgeshire, challenged Mr Carter-Chapman on why a development corporation was needed if the housing numbers were dropping as he suggested.

She said the development corporation would “take the voice” of the planning authority and of people living in the area, as she said the corporation would be a “centrally driven agency for growth”.

Oliver Fisher, the Green Party parliamentary candidate for South Cambridgeshire, said the plans to build 150,000 homes in the Greater Cambridge area was “foolish”.

He said: “It does not make any sense to me either talking about concreting over this stretch of land for 150,000 new homes, it will be incredibly challenging to find places for the homes to go.

“It will also put so much pressure on existing systems, nature and infrastructure, that we have stretched to the limits.”

Luke Viner, the chair of the South Cambridgeshire Labour Party, said the government housing plans were “misguided”.

He said there was a “housing crisis”, but said the area needed affordable homes in sustainable developments.

Mr Viner also said the “local communities and local councils” knew the area best to make these decisions.

Concerns were also raised about the water supply issues being seen in the area.

Mr Fisher said water scarcity was a “massive issue” and that the region could “run out of water”.

He said: “For me if I was in charge I would love to renationalise the water companies.

“I think the current system is just not working, I know it is easy for me to say and that is not easy to make that happen.

“What is clear is that we are not holding the companies to account, regulation as it stands is not working.

“We should fine companies more, but still who gets hurt by that, the water companies will just put up the bills, I just do not think the system works.

“If we are going to build more houses, we have to build some but not 150,000, we have to look at building regulations to make sure those houses are as water efficient as possible, we just cannot keep building houses as they are.”

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Mr Carter-Chapman said there was a “big challenge” with water in the area.

He also said he recognised the Conservative government had “not done enough” around sewage discharging.

He said: “That is why limitless fines have now been introduced, that is why all the fine money collected since April last year has been put directly into schemes to alleviate sewage.

“We have not done enough of this, I apologise for that, we have let people down on this and we are addressing this.”