Forest City 1 (FC1): What Is It?

Forest City 1—also branded Forest City One and commonly abbreviated FC1—is a proposed privately led new city on up to 45,000 acres of rural land east of Cambridge, between Newmarket and Haverhill. Developers describe it as Britain's first new city in over 50 years, with up to 400,000 homes for around 1 million people and roughly 12,000 acres of new woodland. The public record shows it remains at a proposal and lobbying stage: the government has received proposals and will meet promoters, but has stated it has no current plans to establish a development corporation for the scheme. View the map.

What is Forest City 1 (FC1)?

The developer-facing site (forestcity.uk) presents Forest City 1 as a proposed new city on a large rural site east of Cambridge, described as between Newmarket and Haverhill. The scheme is repeatedly framed as "Britain's first new city in 50 years", emphasising scale (up to ~1 million residents, ~400,000 homes, ~45,000 acres) and a surrounding woodland belt (often described as ~12,000 acres). Developers position the delivery model as a combined Special Economic Zone (SEZ) plus Community Land Trust (CLT) structure, claiming this enables very large discounts to market housing costs—for example, "60% below market rates" is explicitly claimed—while attracting employers through a special economic and regulatory package.

Where is it proposed?

The proposal targets land east of Cambridge, in a footprint roughly equal to Bristol. The area spans Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with villages such as Cowlinge, Great Thurlow, and Withersfield at risk of being subsumed. West Suffolk MP Nick Timothy has warned the proposal would "erase ancient villages … destroying vast tracts of irreplaceable countryside and productive farmland." No official boundary has been released by the developers. For scale context, 45 000 acres is over four times the size of Cambridge, larger than Bristol, and roughly 10% of Greater London. See the map and comparisons.

What is the delivery model?

The developers propose a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to attract employers with regulatory and tax incentives, combined with a Community Land Trust (CLT) model where residents buy homes but the city retains land ownership. They claim this dual structure keeps housing permanently affordable and enables prices like "four-bedroom family houses for £350,000". The project relies on parliamentary legislation to grant development corporation powers—including compulsory purchase—and compares this approach to well-known UK delivery models. For more on how these claims stack up against the evidence, see our claims section.

What is known vs unknown

The developer makes confident claims; the public record is more limited. Here is what we can separate:

Key concerns

Local residents, politicians, and critics have raised serious concerns about the proposal:

• Water stress: East Anglia is classified as an area of serious water stress. Delivering water and wastewater for 1 million people would be a colossal undertaking. Learn more about water
• Farmland: The proposal covers largely grade 2 (best and most versatile) agricultural land. Farmland and planning policy
• Governance and democracy: Development corporation powers would override normal planning and local democratic control. Development corporation claim
• Affordability claims: The "60% below market" promise relies on CLT/SEZ mechanisms that have not been proven at this scale. 60% below market claim

For a fuller overview, see our key concerns page.

Who is behind Forest City 1?

The entity behind the proposal is described as Albion City Development Corporation (ACDC). Companies House records show who is behind it—founders, advisers, and corporate registration. Our sources page lists every primary document we cite.

What you can do

When a formal application is submitted, there will be a consultation period. Signing our petition and joining our updates list helps us coordinate and keep you informed. Every voice matters.