Newsletters
"10am Guildhall: the public hearing the College tried to avoid": our newsletter of 28 July 2026
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Our newsletter of 28 July 2026.
The document in full
Page 1
Dear friends,
Tomorrow, Wednesday 29 July at 10am, in the Small Hall at the Guildhall (enter via Peas Hill), the only public hearing on Christ's College's library scheme takes place. It very nearly did not happen: 75 residents petitioned for it, the College told the Council a meeting "will not generate any new information", the Council cancelled it, and residents forced it back within a day. It happens once, and whoever fills the room is the public voice this application gets.
The stakes are plain. In April the College and the Council conceded in the High Court that the permission was unlawful on all four grounds, and the Council paid residents' costs. The same building is now back, "unchanged" in the Bursar's own word to all 42 councillors, with the harm every heritage body found to the setting of the Grade I Bodley Library framed as a benefit. The committee is expected to vote on 2 September. The High Court hears the case on 20 October. Demolition could begin in the seven weeks between, and tomorrow is the only time residents speak to the councillors who will decide, all of whom have been invited.
Ninety minutes is all it takes. Arrive by 9.50 and bring a neighbour: every person in the room tells the committee the city is watching.
If you cannot be there, watch it live. The Council streams the hearing from its agenda page, and the link sits in the banner at the top of christslaneactiongroup.org, marked agenda and livestream. Do forward this email: neighbours, local groups and the press are all welcome.
You can still be heard. If you haven't already, please leave an objection: the objection portal is reached via christslaneactiongroup.org, or email the case officer Dominic.Bush@greatercambridgeplanning.org, quoting 26/02109/FUL. Every relevant document is on our website.
See you at 9.50am.
Christ's Lane Action Group
The first permission is quashed. The second is frozen.
On Tuesday 20 October 2026 the High Court quashed the first approval, 25/02161/FUL, on all four grounds of our claim. The Secretary of State has frozen the permission. On 13 October she directed the Council not to grant it without her authorisation while she considers whether to call the application in, six days after the identical application 26/02109/FUL was controversially approved. If you would like to support a call in, write to us and we will tell you how.
Email residents@christs-lane.com.