It’s easy to forget sometimes that the next UK General Election isn’t officially due until January 2025, but it’s clear that battle lines are already being drawn over the housing crisis. Senior Conservatives are now urging the Prime Minister to consider an early election in 2024 when there is predicted to be an economic “sweet spot”.

One Cabinet member who isn’t hanging about is Michael Gove, whose housing crisis speech on 25th July finally confirmed DLUHC’s plans for Cambridge. Initial Government briefings indicated that the area had been earmarked for the development of 250,000 new homes up to 2040 with ambitions for it to become Europe’s next Silicon Valley. We now know that a new urban quarter is being planned for the city with Homes England given £5m to begin scoping work. Furthermore, the Government has allocated in excess of £24m to “bust planning backlogs” with £13m dedicated to Gove’s new planning ‘Super Squad’.

The remit and objective of the Squad has not yet been defined, but it has been decided that their first posting will be in Cambridge. It is a sensible decision given water supply concerns raised by the Environment Agency are already holding up the development of some 4,000 dwellings between Bourn Airfield and Darwin Green alone. With the additional 250,000 dwellings proposed by 2040 set to triple Cambridge’s existing homes, it is clear the Super Squad have their work cut out.

MP for South Cambridgeshire, Anthony Browne was quick to blast his party’s plans on social media citing extreme pressure on water reserves as a major block to development: “unless the Government can say where the water will come from, it’s plans are dead on arrival”. South Cambridgeshire Council also noted that they have not been consulted upon any plans for a new urban quarter, nor an additional 250,000 homes. The basis of this figure, or the specific geography it applies to, is also fundamentally unclear.

The story is somewhat different in nearby Peterborough, where the local MP Paul Bristow (Con) is concerned that his constituency has been overlooked and is inviting the new homes and infrastructure, to be shared between the two cities. Amongst the headlines and press coverage, there is also a clear absence of commitment for other key nodes, including the once hot Ox-Cam Arc.

What the Super Squad will be able to achieve in Cambridge depends on many variables, not least the final brief they are set by DHLUC and whether the Government’s own Members will try to foil their plan. Will the Squad be a box office hit, or another political flop? We’re staying tuned to find out…

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