Selling Land in Cambridgeshire

• It sits next to, or is well related to, an existing town or village.
• A safe access onto a public road is possible, even if it needs work.
• Most of the land is outside the highest flood risk zone.
• It is not covered by a strong designation such as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
• It is about 2 acres or more, or part of a larger holding.
• Everyone who owns it is willing to consider one clear, agreed price.

If your land does not tick every box, ask anyway. Many of the sites we take on have a problem to solve, whether that is access, drainage, a tenancy or an awkward boundary, and solving those problems is our job.

1. A first conversation. You call us or send the form on this page. We need only your postcode, your name and a phone number or email.
2. A free desktop review. Within a few days we look at your land, the planning position in Cambridgeshire and the routes open to it, and tell you plainly whether it suits us. The review is free and confidential, with no obligation.
3. Heads of terms and the option agreement. If it suits, we agree a price with you in writing, then the option agreement itself. We contribute to your solicitor's and land agent's fees, so it costs you nothing to get it done properly.
4. The planning work, at our cost. We pay for the surveys, the design, the planning application and any appeal. You carry on farming, grazing or letting the land as you do now.
5. Completion. If planning permission is granted, we complete the purchase and you receive the agreed price on completion. If it is not, you keep your land and owe nothing.

How selling land for development works, step by step gives the detail of each stage and how long it usually takes.

The Cambridge Green Belt

The Cambridge Green Belt keeps the city compact and protects the countryside setting that runs right into its historic centre. It covers land in the city and much of the ring of villages around it in South Cambridgeshire. Land has been released through local plans before, for example for Eddington and the Biomedical Campus, and the new plan proposes more. Policy S5 does not apply in the Green Belt, but land that does not strongly contribute to its purposes, which include the setting of a historic town, can be grey belt. Homes there need evidence of need, usually a supply short of five years or a result under 75%, and supply is counted council by council: the city's shortfall supplies it, South Cambridgeshire's figure does not. Our grey belt guide explains the test.

Water Supply

Cambridge, in one of England's driest areas, draws much of its water from the chalk aquifer that feeds local chalk streams. Since December 2022 the Environment Agency has objected to several large housing schemes in the county over water supply. Cambridge Water and Anglian Water are planning a pipeline from Grafham Water to Cambridge and a new Fens Reservoir, which is expected to supply water from the mid to late 2030s. Until then, water is one of the main things that decides how fast growth around Cambridge can go.

Flood Risk in the Fens

Large parts of Fenland, East Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire are former wetland, drained over centuries and kept dry by pumps and internal drainage boards. The Great Ouse, Nene and Cam and the Ouse Washes all shape flood risk. Land in Flood Zones 2 and 3 faces the sequential test. In Fenland, the council's flood risk guidance note usually weighs a site against other land around the same settlement, not the whole district. How that works is explained in our flood risk guide.

Cambridge Colleges and the Cathedrals at Ely and Peterborough

Cambridge's historic centre and colleges are of international importance, and Ely and Peterborough both have medieval cathedrals. Many villages have conservation areas. Heritage usually shapes the layout and height of a scheme rather than stopping it.

Transport

The A14, A1, M11, A428, A10 and A11 carry most traffic, and the East Coast Main Line, the lines from Cambridge to London, Ely and King's Lynn, and the guided busway serve the main towns. East West Rail is planned to reach Cambridge by way of a new station at Cambourne, and its 2026 consultation included a new Cambridge East station.

Few fields for sale in Cambridgeshire face all of these at once. Land around Cambridge is mostly judged on Green Belt and water, land in the Fens on its flood zone, and heritage tends to decide the layout rather than whether homes can be built at all.

No council is below 75%, but the five-year supply is a separate test. Under policy S5, a supply short of five years is evidence of unmet need to be weighed, not an automatic finding, and outside the Green Belt that applies in Huntingdonshire and Peterborough. Where both tests are passed, open fields mostly come through a local plan. The main routes are:

1. A planning application under policy S5. In Huntingdonshire and Peterborough, a field adjoining a town or village where roads, schools and drainage can cope.
2. Local plan allocation. The Greater Cambridge, Huntingdonshire and Peterborough plans are near submission, so an omitted site is argued at examination or kept for review. Fenland 50 is at an early stage. The route is set out in our guide to calls for sites.
3. Grey belt, inside Cambridge. Previously developed land and contained fields that do little to stop sprawl or merging can qualify while the city is short, subject to the Golden Rules.
4. Previously developed land. Old yards, depots and commercial sites, which national policy favours both inside and outside settlements.
5. Sites near stations. National policy now supports higher density homes within walking distance of well connected stations, depending on the station and its service.

In the Fens, a Flood Zone 1 field on a town edge can be worth far more than its neighbours; near Cambridge, the questions are Green Belt and water. A free land value review is the quickest way to find out where your land stands.