Heritage Appraisal
The Victorian Society to the College’s agent (26/02109/FUL)
PDF · 3 pages · Primary source · Dated 9 July 2026 · Published 24 July 2026
On 9 July the College’s planning agent sent the Victorian Society a rebuttal of its objection and asked the Council to upload it to the planning file. The Society replied the same evening, standing by its objection: “Our principal point still stands. Harm is attributed to this scheme, and this has not been mitigated in the resubmitted design.” The Society’s reply did not appear on the public file until 24 July, fifteen days later and two days after the consultation had closed.
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From: Director, Planning and Heritage, the College’s planning consultants
To: The Victorian Society; the Council’s case officer
Cc: Grafton Architects
Sent: 9 July 2026, 18:55
Subject: Christ’s College, Cambridge (26/02109/FUL)
To Whom it May Concern
We have recently seen comments made to Greater Cambridge Planning by Morgan Ellis Leah on behalf of the Society regarding Christ’s College’s proposed new library.
Please find attached our response to these comments and similar from Grafton Architects.
Dominic Bush, I would be grateful if these could be uploaded to the application website please.
With best wishes,
Director, Planning and Heritage
[the College’s planning consultants]
From: Morgan Ellis Leah, Southern Conservation Adviser, The Victorian Society
To: The College’s planning consultants; the Council’s case officer
Cc: Grafton Architects
Sent: 9 July 2026, 19:32
Subject: Re: Christ’s College, Cambridge (26/02109/FUL)
Dear [name redacted],
The submitted comments were revised within an hour of submission: a revised statement was updated to reflect new information.
Our principal point still stands. Harm is attributed to this scheme, and this has not been mitigated in the resubmitted design. It is important that alternatives be considered in line with the harm identified.
We provided extensive feedback at pre-app, as requested. The feedback was provided by our Southern Building’s Committee, a panel of Conservation Accredited architects and planning officers, who offered solutions to improve the design presented, which, by and large, remained unchanged by the time of submission. The feedback explained that the Committee did not consider this an overly contentious design. Rather, they felt that small adaptations could be implemented to mitigate any outstanding harm.
I thank you for taking the time to send your response.
Regards,
Morgan
Morgan Ellis Leah
Southern Conservation Adviser
The Victorian Society, 1 Priory Gardens, London W4 1TT
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.