Plans to replace an aging, post-war council housing estate in Cambridge with 134 new homes have been approved by Cambridge City Council.
Cambridge Investment Partnership (CIP), a joint venture between Cambridge City Council and The Hill Group, sought planning permission to redevelop the Ekin Road estate.
The plans were unanimously given the green light at a planning meeting on Wednesday October 7.
The redevelopment will replace 108 council homes, many of which are now boarded up, with 78 new council homes and 56 private sale homes.
This will include much-needed five-bedroom council homes, as well as four homes specifically designed for wheelchair users.
A total of 14 homes at Ekin Road will be spared from demolition.
The council says the 78 new council homes are likely to provide housing for around the same number of people as the existing 91 council homes, as it has prioritised the construction of larger council homes to address a shortage.
Tom Hill, Managing Director of The Hill Group, said: “Reaching planning approval at Ekin Road reflects the close collaboration we have through our partnership.
“This development will enable us to replace the existing properties with a new, carefully designed neighbourhood, which will provide more spacious, energy-efficient homes that respond to the needs of existing and future residents.”
The existing Ekin Road estate was built in the 1950s and 1960s and includes homes with a range of serious maintenance, structural and building performance issues.
Cambridge City Council says addressing these issues would be costly and complex, leaving many homes well below the modern living standards that tenants deserve, and that extensive consultation and engagement found that the council had no other option but to redevelop them.
In August 2026, the council announced it had been successful in its bid for £96.4 million of government funding to support its council house building programme.
It also revealed that it had been selected as one of only three local authorities for a strategic partnership with Homes England designed to accelerate council home delivery.
