Christ’s Lane Action Group (CLAG)
The campaign, date by date
Every development in the fight for Christ’s Lane, newest first: from the first application in June 2025, through the judicial review and the consent order, to the second application now open for objection. Each entry links to the primary document or the coverage. CLAG’s newsletters are collected here as they are published.
Newest first
July 2026
- Alec Forshaw’s updated heritage report submittedThe conservation expert’s addendum for the second application: “The scheme has not been altered physically in any way; the proposals are identical.”
- The Development Control Forum is reinstatedA day after the Forum was cancelled, the Council’s Senior Planning Lawyer reinstates it, citing the petition’s strict compliance with the requirements.
- Cambridge Past, Present & Future objectsThe charity finds “multi-layered harm to highly sensitive designated heritage assets”, urges the College to “negotiate a lower and less bulky design”, and warns that the Council “cannot ignore the deep local opposition from residents, and everyday users of Christ’s Lane”.
- The College refuses the public Forum; the Council cancels itThe College declines to attend the Development Control Forum requested by 75 petitioners, assuring the Council that a meeting “will not generate any new information”. The Council cancels the Forum the same day.
- Historic England: the proposals “remain unchanged”Historic England confirms the second application is effectively a resubmission of the scheme it found harmful in 2025, re-encloses its 2025 letters, and maintains its no-objection bottom line.
- The College holds its open meetingCLAG’s minute, prepared from the complete audio transcript, records the abandoned Mather scheme, paragraph 3.16, “one of the 22”, and “I am now going to talk over you deliberately.”
- The Victorian Society maintains its objection“The same submitted scheme cannot improve its level of harm… Advice ignored.”
- The Observer: “town v gown” over the libraryRowan Moore’s architecture column covers the dispute. CLAG publishes a fact check setting three of the article’s factual statements beside the primary documents.
- 75 signatories petition for a Development Control ForumResidents petition the Council for the formal public meeting they are entitled to request, setting out six grounds of objection to the second application.
Upcoming
- The judicial review is heard in LondonListed on 28 May 2026 for a one-day, in-person hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice. The court will give a reasoned judgment on all four grounds.
- The reinstated Development Control ForumThe formal public meeting the Council cancelled and then reinstated on 9 July 2026. A new date is awaited.
- Deadline to object to the second applicationConsultation responses on application 26/02109/FUL are due by 22 July 2026.
June 2026
- The Bursar writes to all 42 councillorsThe email assures councillors nothing has changed, describing the judicial review as a “pending challenge” and omitting the signed consent order. The College’s “Dear Neighbour” letter goes out the same day.
- The second application is filedApplication 26/02109/FUL resubmits the same building. The College’s own covering statement: “the material submitted is almost entirely the same.”
May 2026
- The judicial review is listed for 20 OctoberThe Planning Court lists AC-2025-LON-004656 for a one-day substantive hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
April 2026
- The consent order: permission to be quashedChrist’s College and Cambridge City Council sign a draft consent order conceding that the November 2025 permission should be quashed on all four grounds, with CLAG’s costs paid.
March 2026
- Permission granted on all four groundsJudge Kimblin KC finds all four grounds “strongly arguable” and refuses the College’s request to expedite: “The College has been educating students since 1505.” The order is served on 9 March.
December 2025
- CLAG files for judicial reviewThe claim against Cambridge City Council’s grant of permission is filed in the High Court on four grounds.
November 2025
- Planning permission is issuedThe decision notice for the first application, 25/02161/FUL, is issued: the permission later quashed by consent on all four grounds.
- Councillors approve the schemeCLAG responds in Varsity: “This isn’t the end… the planning process may be broken, but our resolve is not.”
October 2025
- BBC: college library “slowly falling down”Roger Hepher of CLAG calls the design “unnecessarily tall, bland and uninviting”.
- eb7’s daylight and sunlight reviewAn independent review for CLAG. Using the applicant’s own report, it sets out the daylight losses along Christ’s Lane.
- Alec Forshaw’s independent heritage appraisalThe former conservation chief of Islington finds harm “at the upper end” of less than substantial.
- Create Streets publishes an alternative designAn independent critical review and a viable, lower-bulk alternative proposal for the site (PDF).
September 2025
- The first Development Control Forum is heldResidents put their objections to the College and the Council at the formal public forum on the first application.
- Historic England looks again: the harm remainsAfter the College’s modifications: “the overall massing of the building remains unchanged.”
August 2025
- The Victorian Society: halve the heightThe national amenity society’s remedy is blunt: halve the height, align each floor with Bodley’s oriel window, and drop the brutalist styling.
- CLAG launches its objectionVarsity reports CLAG’s objection, citing Historic England’s finding of harm from the building’s excessive bulk.
July 2025
- Historic England’s first advice: harm from excessive bulkHistoric England finds harm “primarily as a result of the excessive bulk” of the proposed building.
June 2025
- The first application is lodgedChrist’s College applies to demolish and rebuild the library on Christ’s Lane: applications 25/02161/FUL and 25/02162/LBC.
The CLAG newsletter
CLAG’s newsletter for residents and supporters. New issues are posted here as they are published.
