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Search the Public Notice PortalUp to 40 homes have been approved in a village near Royston after an inspector said she was “not persuaded” by the council’s claim to have a more than seven year supply of housing.
The outline application for land west of Moorefield Close off Pampisford Road in Great Abington had been refused in December 2025. The scheme also includes 16 affordable homes.
There were 16 objection letters from residents who said the new homes would put too much pressure on local services, such as doctors, would be overdevelopment and “unstainable encroachment”.
An officer from Greater Cambridge Shared Planning – a collaboration between Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council – refused the plans.
They said the site was outside the “development framework boundary” of Great Abington and “located on rural agricultural land in the countryside”.
They added that it would “result in significant encroachment into the countryside” and a number of listed buildings are nearby.
But, this decision was overturned by The Planning Inspectorate after developer Rossconn Group launched an appeal.
A hearing was held on August 11 and 12 with inspector Gemma Pannell visiting the site on the second day which she said was a “suitable location for housing”.
Residents argued the site functioned as a gap between the modern buildings of Granta Park and the rural character of the village – but the inspector disagreed.
She said the business park is “well screened” from Pampisford Road with “only glimpsed views possible”.
She said the “scattered residential development on both sides of the road does not feel like it separates the built up part of the village from other development.”
The council’s housing supply was disputed in the hearing with South Cambridgeshire District Council claiming a 4.92 year supply in Greater Cambridge in 2025, but the developer arguing it was 3.49 years.
The council also said they had a 5.59 year supply in 2026, but the inspector said this was an unreliable number as the full data was not yet available.
The latest report also put forward what Ms Pannell called a “significant change in approach” with the council now separating their supply from Cambridge City Council.
South Cambridgeshire claimed a housing supply of 7.83 years compared to 2.72 years for Cambridge – which would place it among the highest in the country.
The inspector was “not persuaded” by this and concluded that the council “has not demonstrated a five-year housing land supply”.
Ms Pannell accepted the scheme conflicted with the development plan but said the benefits outweigh the harms and granted the appeal.
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