A 281-home car park scheme has split the council. Wednesday's vote could end it.

What has Capital&Centric actually proposed?

Developer Capital&Centric has been working with Huntingdonshire District Council since 2025 on early-stage ideas to turn three council car park sites into housing. Combined, the three schemes would deliver 281 homes: 78 on Huntingdon's Princes Street car park and bus station, 120 on St Ives' former cattle market square and gatehouse, and 83 on St Neots' Tebbutts Road car park. All three are pitched as mixed-use neighbourhoods, with shops, cafes and green space alongside the new homes, rather than housing-only schemes.

Drop-in consultation events ran across all three towns from 17 to 19 August, each moved to a larger venue after strong public interest. Huntingdon's session shifted to Market Square, and St Neots' to its own Market Square, while St Ives kept its slot at the Corn Exchange. The public consultation closed on Friday 4 September 2026. The sticking point at every session was the same: residents value the parking these sites currently provide, and are not convinced the housing gain is worth losing it in town centres that already rely on it.

Why did the council's coalition collapse over this?

The row outgrew the consultation itself. Huntingdonshire District Council's Liberal Democrat-led coalition lost its two Green councillors, Lara Davenport-Ray and Stephen Ferguson, who said they had "lost confidence" in how the administration had handled the proposals. Their departure ended the joint administration and triggered a no-confidence vote at the council. Separately, St Neots Town Council voted at an extraordinary meeting to formally oppose the Tebbutts Road plans.

It lands at an awkward moment for the council on housing. Its own housing land supply sits below the five-year minimum, which keeps the district in what planners call "tilted balance", meaning refused applications are more likely to be granted on appeal. A council under pressure to demonstrate it can deliver homes is now also the one arguing publicly with a developer over whether these particular 281 should go ahead.

What happens at Wednesday's vote?

A motion from Councillor Ryan Coogan goes to full Huntingdonshire District Council on Wednesday 9 September, asking the authority to end its involvement in the car park regeneration proposals altogether. If it passes, the council withdraws its backing and Capital&Centric's schemes lose the local authority partner they were designed around, though the developer could in principle pursue planning permission independently. If it fails, the schemes continue toward a formal planning application on the current basis. Either way, this is a decision point, not the final word: no planning application has been submitted for any of the three sites yet.

What does this mean for buyers and sellers in Huntingdon and St Ives?

For Huntingdon and St Ives specifically, both directly named sites sit inside our patch, so it is worth watching closely if you own or are considering property near either town centre. New homes on under-used car park land can be a genuine plus for a town centre, provided residents keep the parking they rely on for the school run, the shops and the station. Until Wednesday's vote (and any planning application that might follow it), treat these as proposals, not commitments. If you are selling near either site, be upfront with buyers that this is live and unresolved rather than let them find out from a neighbour.

St Neots sits just outside our patch on the A1 corridor, but as the third site in the same scheme, its fortunes are tied to Huntingdon and St Ives here: whichever way Wednesday's vote goes is likely to go the same way for all three.

Our practical advice for now: if a purchase or sale near one of these three sites is already in motion, keep it moving rather than pause it on speculation, since nothing changes on the ground before a planning application exists. If you are weighing up a move to Huntingdon or St Ives town centre in the next year and want a clearer read on how a scheme like this typically affects asking prices nearby, that is exactly the kind of question worth putting to a local agent before you view.

Sources: The Hunts Post reporting on the Capital&Centric proposals, the August consultation events, the Green councillors' resignation and the scheduled 9 September full council motion; Huntingdonshire District Council democracy pages.