Brownfield land in South Cambridgeshire: 205 sites on the register
Part of development land in Cambridgeshire — 627 sites across 6 councils.
South Cambridgeshire District Council has published 205 brownfield sites in South Cambridgeshire on its statutory land register — land the council itself has assessed as suitable for housing. Together they cover about 1244.0 hectares with an estimated capacity of 22,326 dwellings.
Rank these sites with constraints netted off →
Largest sites on the South Cambridgeshire register
| Site | Hectares | Max dwellings | Planning status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waterbeach Barracks and Airfield Site, Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire | 265.80 | 6500 | permissioned |
| Nothstowe Phase 3 - Land at, Oakington Barracks, Ramptoon Road, Longstanton, Cambridge CB4 | 194.93 | 4000 | permissioned |
| Bourn Airfield New Village (Policy SS/7) | 171.80 | 3500 | not yet |
| Nothstowe Phase 3 - Land at, Oakington Barracks, Ramptoon Road, Longstanton, Cambridge CB4 | 150.33 | 3500 | not yet |
| Cambridge East, Land North of Newmarket Road, Newmarket Road, Cambridge | 64.51 | — | permissioned |
| Land to the East of B1050 and Longstanton, West of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway (CGB) | 63.30 | — | permissioned |
| Northstowe Phase 2 - Bar Farm, Bar Road, Longstanton, CAMBRIDGE, CB24 3DX | 63.30 | 2450 | permissioned |
| Former CEMEX Cement Works, Barrington Cement Plant, Haslingfield Road, Barrington, Cambrid | 31.63 | — | permissioned |
Source: South Cambridgeshire District Council brownfield land register, published via planning.data.gov.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Figures are the council’s own. 4 sites in South Cambridgeshire record an area that cannot be right (the register's hectares column sometimes holds square metres) and are left out of the hectare total. 17 further entries repeat the area of a site already listed (councils often record a whole site's area against each phase), so that land is counted once. 99 of the 205 sites (48%) state no dwelling capacity, so the capacity figure covers the 106 that do — the real total is higher.
What a brownfield register actually is
Every local planning authority in England is required to keep a register of previously-developed land it considers appropriate for residential development. Part 1 lists all such sites; Part 2 sites carry permission in principle.
What it is not: an entry is not planning permission, and it is not an offer to sell. The council assessing a site as suitable says nothing about whether the owner wants to sell it or what a scheme would actually get approved. England has no zoning — the Local Plan and the Use Classes Order decide what is achievable.
The registers are public and free. They are underused mainly because each authority publishes its own separately, in its own format, so comparing more than one area by hand is painful.
Working the South Cambridgeshire register properly
- Net off the constraints first. Green belt, Flood Zone 3 and listed buildings kill more register sites than anything else. Check before you fall in love with a line on a map.
- Treat the dwelling figure as the council’s opinion. 22,326 is what the council thinks South Cambridgeshire’s register could take — your scheme, your design and the Local Plan will move it.
- Price it off recorded sales. HM Land Registry Price Paid gives you what actually sold nearby; work the residual land value from there rather than from an asking price.
- Find the owner. Register sites are rarely advertised. Ownership status is listed, and Land Registry title records do the rest.
Questions this page answers
- Brownfield land register South Cambridgeshire
- Development land in South Cambridgeshire
- How much brownfield land is there in South Cambridgeshire?
- Where can I build houses in South Cambridgeshire?
- South Cambridgeshire land availability assessment
GoSiteHunt is an advertising and analysis platform, not a real estate agent or planning consultancy. Everything here is indicative screening from public data — not a valuation, not planning advice, and never a substitute for the council’s own records or your own professional advisers.