On 14 May 2024 we published the latest information about our updated plans for the 122-home Ekin Road estate, to let people know that we had listened to feedback and would be proposing to retain 14 existing houses, alongside building 131 new mixed-tenure homes.  

These proposals were approved at Housing Scrutiny on Tuesday 18 June. 

Why we are doing this

Redevelopment of Ekin Road is part of the council’s wider programme of work across Cambridge to improve accommodation standards for people living in existing council homes; to build additional council homes to meet local need; and to address wider housing supply issues, including much-needed larger family homes. 

Doing nothing at Ekin Road was not an option for the council because some of the council homes have significant maintenance and structural issues and are well below the current standards the council applies to new developments.  

Next steps for Ekin Road residents

There are currently 108 households that will be required to move out of their current homes on the Ekin Road estate. 82 of these households are council tenants, nine are leaseholders, three are freeholders and the remaining are in temporary accommodation. 

All residents will be contacted directly with information about the dates of future Liaison Group Meetings, webinars, and visits to new developments, leading up to a planning application for the site being submitted in early 2025. Once submitted, the planning application will be subject to a consultation period during which people will have a further opportunity to feed into the proposals.  

The regeneration team is committed to working with each household on a case-by-case basis, and happy to review moving options within or close by to Ekin Road, depending on availability and personal circumstances. 

We hope our track record of supporting residents during previous regeneration schemes speaks for itself and some of the case studies that can be seen online should provide reassurance to current residents. 

Council tenants 

Council tenants will be given the highest priority on the council's choice-based lettings system ‘Home-Link’ to bid for a new council home. The emergency banding status will be applied to all existing secure tenant applications.  

Additionally, special consideration will be given to applicants where the council is aware of damp, condensation and mould in the property, to help speed up relocation for households currently living in poorer conditions.   

The process to support people to relocate from Ekin Road will allow sufficient time to ensure that all tenants can move to an eligible property of their choosing. This will include existing council stock and forthcoming new build developments which are due to complete later this year. 

We will contact all affected tenants to discuss these options, and will be offering to arrange visits to view new council developments to see new homes during the summer. It will take some time to complete the work to match all affected tenants with a suitable new council home, but support will be available throughout the process. 

Any residents who wish to return to Ekin Road once the site has been developed will have the right to do so, and in that scenario we will work to provide suitable interim housing until the new development is ready to return to.   

Financial assistance is provided with an initial payment of £1,250 to help with moving costs, or the council can make arrangements on the tenant's behalf, particularly if they are more vulnerable. A further statutory compensation payment is payable of £8,100. 

Leaseholders and freeholders 

The council will need to buy back nine leaseholder and three freehold properties.  

Homeowners would be supported through the process of selling their home back to the council and securing a new property, with independent market valuations and compensation of a further 10% of the market value to be paid, as well as legal costs, stamp duty, mortgage redemption fees and moving costs being covered.  

Leaseholders and freeholders also have a right to return once the estate has been redeveloped. We recognise that the sale prices of the new homes may be beyond the means of some current leaseholders and freeholders, so consideration will be given to a shared equity option for displaced leaseholders and freeholders where this would make their return possible financially.   

New homes to be built 

The estate currently has 122 homes. At the start of our work to investigate our options on the estate, 98 of these were council homes, and 24 were privately owned homes.  

The plans approved today will see a total of 145 homes on the site once the redevelopment is completed, with 131 new homes, and 14 existing homes being retained.   

Of the 145 total homes, 71 will be council homes. Seven of these are the existing council homes which may be retrofitted. 64 will be new, high quality, sustainable council homes.  

The overall number of council homes will be reducing from 98 to 71 because the council is prioritising the building of larger homes for people who desperately need the option to move their growing families from smaller council homes into larger family homes.  

When including East Barnwell, this will mean the council is investing in 251 new homes in Abbey with 73% –184 – being council homes, a net gain of 76 new council homes. Together, both developments would deliver a mixture of one, two, three and four bed homes to respond to local housing need. 

The Ekin Road redevelopment will also see 67 new homes be built for private sale. These new homes will contribute to the number of homes available to people looking to rent or buy privately in Cambridge, which is made harder by the acute shortage of housing in the city.  

How we got to this point

We identified the Ekin Road site as a potential site for redevelopment in September 2021, and launched a consultation with residents in June 2022, during which 77% of residents said they were in favour of redevelopment.  

In May 2023 we appointed independent advisors Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) to assess potential scenarios for redevelopment on the site on our behalf. In September 2023, councillors approved plans for JLL to refine their work to focus on three scenarios in greater detail.  

In February 2024 JLL published an updated report with their recommendations for the site. These early designs were consulted on during a public engagement programme between March and May 2024.  

At the end of the consultation the council published an update outlining plans to retain 14 existing houses, alongside building 131 new mixed-tenure homes. This is what has now been approved at this week’s Housing Scrutiny Committee.