Forest City 1 has changed its proposed route to delivery after the Government concluded that the scheme did not meet the deliverability objective of the national new towns programme.
The promoters now say they will focus on the emerging system of regional Spatial Development Strategies. They have appointed a strategic planner and intend to publish what they call a "high-level Spatial Development Strategy" later in 2026.
This is a change of approach, but it does not give Forest City 1 planning status, Government backing or a route around local scrutiny. A private promoter cannot produce a statutory Spatial Development Strategy, and the Government's own guidance says these strategies cannot allocate individual sites.
The original route failed a key Government test
Forest City 1 applied to join the Government's new towns programme. Its preferred model ultimately depended on Parliament and central Government establishing a development corporation with the powers needed to plan and deliver a city of up to one million people.
That application did not succeed.
In a House of Commons debate on 23 June, Housing and Planning Minister Matthew Pennycook confirmed that officials had reviewed the proposal and found that it did not meet the programme's objectives, specifically its deliverability objective.
The Minister also said:
"The Government are not exploring creating a development corporation to take forward this speculative proposal."
He added that, to the best of his knowledge, the promoters had not yet produced a business case on which the Government could make a rigorous assessment. The Government's stated focus in the region is the separate Greater Cambridge Development Corporation.
This did not permanently prohibit the promoters from pursuing the idea. It did, however, close off the immediate Government-backed route they had sought.
We covered those statements in our earlier article, Government says Forest City failed key deliverability test.
What FC1 now proposes
On 7 July, Forest City 1 announced what it called "a revised route to delivery". It said the project would now focus on Spatial Development Strategies, or SDSs.
The promoters argue that a development of this scale should sit within a strategic plan for the East of England rather than being pursued site by site through local plans. They have appointed Bev Hindle, formerly director of the Oxford-Cambridge Arc Leadership Group, to lead this work.
FC1's updated website describes the intended sequence as:
- privately funded masterplanning;
- publication of a high-level SDS document in late 2026;
- engagement with the Government's strategic planning process;
- parliamentary approval for a Government-owned development corporation;
- infrastructure construction beginning in 2030.
The final destination has therefore not changed. FC1 still expects Parliament and Government to establish a development corporation. What has changed is how the promoters hope to build political and planning support before asking for one.
A private document is not a statutory SDS
Under the Government's published framework, the duty to prepare an SDS falls on combined authorities, combined county authorities, upper-tier councils, unitary authorities or statutory strategic planning boards. It does not fall on private companies or project promoters.
An SDS will be a high-level plan looking at least 20 years ahead. It can identify broad locations for growth and the strategic infrastructure that may be needed. However, the Government expressly states that an SDS cannot be site-specific or allocate particular sites. Detailed allocations remain a matter for local plans.
Forest City 1 also crosses a proposed strategic boundary. The Government's proposed geography places Cambridgeshire and Peterborough in one SDS area and Norfolk and Suffolk in another. Cross-boundary projects can be considered, but the relevant public authorities would have to cooperate.
FC1 can publish a masterplanning document, submit evidence and try to persuade those authorities. Calling its document an SDS would not give it statutory status or make it part of the development plan.
The revised route is therefore a lobbying and strategic engagement route. It is not an approval process controlled by FC1.
Four councils have jointly opposed the proposal
That difficulty became clearer on 10 July. West Suffolk Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, East Cambridgeshire District Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council wrote jointly to the Government, urging ministers to resist Forest City 1.
The councils said that development on this scale must be plan-led, evidence-based and prepared in partnership with local authorities and communities. In their view, those tests have not been met.
They also highlighted the lack of formal planning status, the absence of a clear masterplan and funding strategy, pressure on water and wastewater systems, loss of Grade 2 agricultural land, and infrastructure proposals they regard as unproven or unclear.
Those objections come from the authorities whose communities, services and existing plans would be most directly affected.
What happens next?
Forest City 1 says it will publish its own high-level strategic document later in 2026. When that appears, the important questions will be:
- Which public authority, if any, has agreed to consider it as part of an official SDS?
- How will a proposal spanning two strategic planning areas be handled?
- Will the document contain a defined site, delivery programme and integrated funding case?
- Will affected councils and communities be involved before any official support is sought?
- Has the Government's position on a development corporation changed?
FC1 has also published a 296-page document which it describes as a completed feasibility study. Our separate review finds that the report contains useful preliminary work, but repeatedly identifies the detailed business case, surveys, masterplanning and infrastructure studies as work for later phases.
Read our review of the Forest City 1 feasibility report.
Changing the route does not resolve the underlying deliverability questions. Until public authorities adopt the proposal into a statutory process, Forest City 1 remains a privately promoted concept without planning status, Government backing or an agreed delivery body.
Add your voice
If you believe decisions on the future of West Suffolk and Cambridgeshire should be evidence-based, plan-led and made with the communities affected, sign the Stop Forest City petition.
Sources
- House of Commons Hansard, Forest City: West Suffolk, 23 June 2026
- Forest City 1, July supporters' update, 7 July 2026
- Forest City 1, How This Process Works
- Forest City 1, Haverhill questions and answers
- Government consultation on Spatial Development Strategy areas
- West Suffolk Council, joint council response, 10 July 2026
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