Draft Greater Cambridge Local Plan for consultation

Comment

Representation ID: 211866

Received: 30/01/2026

Respondent: Hilton Cambridge City Centre

The draft Local Plan adopts a restrictive approach to changes of use involving visitor accommodation,
particularly where this would result in the loss of existing hotels. At the same time, the Plan states that the
conversion of existing residential properties to hotels will only be supported in exceptional circumstances, in
order to maintain housing supply and protect residential amenity. While this objective is understood, the
policy position is internally inconsistent and undermined in practice by the widespread growth of short-term
lets. This inconsistency weakens the credibility of the policy framework and highlights the need for a more coherent and enforceable approach to use change. Introducing a registration requirement, supported by the
designation of controlled zones in areas of highest housing pressure, would allow the Local Plan to draw a
clear and enforceable distinction between genuine residential use, incidental home-sharing, and commercial
short-term accommodation. This would significantly strengthen the Plan’s ability to protect housing stock,
while restoring parity between informal accommodation and professionally managed hotels.

Comment

Representation ID: 211867

Received: 30/01/2026

Respondent: Hilton Cambridge City Centre

The Local Plan also retains a highly onerous process for changing existing hotel use to alternative uses,
including residential. Development resulting in the loss of visitor accommodation will not be permitted unless
applicants can demonstrate that the use is no longer economically viable and that the property has been
actively marketed for at least 12 months with no interest for continued hotel use. In practice, this approach is
slow, resource-intensive and poorly aligned with real-world market conditions. It prevents buildings from
responding efficiently to economic signals, locks in underperforming uses, and delays the delivery of
potentially more beneficial outcomes, including housing.
The CHA therefore calls for the Local Plan to acknowledge commercial realities for hotels wishing to
complete a change to more economically viable use classes.

Comment

Representation ID: 211876

Received: 30/01/2026

Respondent: Hilton Cambridge City Centre

These issues point to the need for a more integrated, proportionate and enforceable approach
to visitor accommodation within the Local Plan – one that recognises the full spectrum of accommodation
provision, aligns regulatory requirements more closely across uses, and allows market forces to operate within
a clear and consistent planning framework. The Local Plan offers a timely opportunity to begin addressing the
impacts of short-term lets through the planning system, including through compulsory registration, clearer
change-of-use triggers and the removal of exemptions that undermine housing protection. While planning policy alone cannot resolve all aspects of short-term let regulation, these measures would represent an important first step in establishing greater oversight, fairness and consistency.