£170m housing deal sweetens devolution for Cambridge and Peterborough

Councils in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough are set to agree a revised devolution deal after the government included extra funding for affordable housing development.

Earlier this year, Cambridge City Council rejected a proposed wider deal that included Norfolk and Suffolk, partly due to its concerns over the provision of affordable housing.

If approved on Monday, the new proposal, excluding Norfolk and Suffolk, would see the creation of a £170m package for affordable housing.

Kevin Price, deputy leader of Cambridge City Council, said: “In our discussions with government we have always been clear that the city council’s priority is to have the freedoms and funding to tackle the housing affordability crisis that threatens to limit Cambridge’s future growth and success, and secure the future viability of council housing for our tenants

“Our detailed analysis of the housing market in Cambridge has enabled us to provide the government with convincing evidence of the important role social rented housing can play in addressing the housing needs of the city, to enable and sustain its growth, which is also vital to the national economy.”

He said the fund would enable the city to embark on its largest housebuilding programme for 40 years.

A new £100m fund would provide affordable rented and shared ownership housing across the whole of Cambridge and Peterborough.

A further £70m would allow the council to use its housing revenue account to provide at least 500 new social rented homes over five years.

£10m of this pot would also be available to the city council to replace any of 500 homes subsequently sold through the Right to Buy.

The homes would be provided on land owned by the council or through section 106 agreements on private housing developments.

The deal would also mean that a newly created combined authority for the two council areas could increase business rates, with the agreement of local businesses, to fund infrastructure.

Councillor John Holdich, leader of Peterborough City Council, said: “Our proposed deal builds on, and is better than, the original offer from the government. It now also has the support of local business.”

A separate deal will cover Norfolk and Suffolk.