Huntingdonshire has elected its final District Council. A government decision this summer will set the planning structure for the patch to 2028 and beyond.

The election on 7 May 2026 returned all 52 members of Huntingdonshire District Council. It also marked the end of an era. Under the government's programme of local government reorganisation, this is the last council to be elected under the current two-tier structure. The government will decide which of the proposed unitary authority options takes over by summer 2026.

For buyers, sellers and landlords across the 56 villages and towns of the Villager Homes patch, the practical question is simple: what does this change, and when? The answer on both counts is reassuring in the short term, and worth understanding for the medium term.

What is being decided and when.

The government's Devolution White Paper, published in December 2024, set out a national plan to replace two-tier local government with single unitary councils. In Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, seven existing councils submitted four competing proposals to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in November 2025. A statutory consultation ran from February to March 2026, and the government's announcement is expected before the summer is out.

Huntingdonshire put forward Option E: a standalone Huntingdonshire unitary council, sitting alongside a South Cambridgeshire and Cambridge City council to the south, and a Peterborough, Fenland and East Cambridgeshire council to the north-east. Other options would see Huntingdonshire merged with different neighbours. Shadow elections to the new authority are expected in May 2027. The new councils take on full responsibility from April 2028.

What happens to the Local Plan 2046.

This is the question that matters most directly for property in the patch. HDC's Local Plan to 2046 is running on a tight timeline alongside the reorganisation. The Preferred Options (Regulation 18) consultation closed in December 2025. The council is now processing the responses and working towards a Regulation 19 Proposed Submission consultation in summer 2026, with submission to the Planning Inspector expected in December 2026.

The local plan must keep moving, regardless of which unitary option the government chooses. Legislation requires HDC to complete its plan-making obligations. If Huntingdonshire becomes a standalone unitary (Option E), the plan transitions directly to the new authority. If the area is merged with neighbours, the successor council inherits and integrates the plans in due course.

The housing allocations currently being debated, including the Lattenburys urban extension near Godmanchester and the Hemingfords (around 3,800 homes across two proposed new villages) and the numbers assigned to villages across the patch, will shape planning decisions well into the 2030s regardless of the governance structure above them. The summer 2026 Regulation 19 consultation will be the last meaningful public input on those numbers before the plan goes to the Inspector.

Day-to-day planning: nothing changes until 2028.

If you are buying, selling, extending, or submitting a planning application in Brampton, Huntingdon, Godmanchester, Sawtry, Kimbolton or anywhere else in the patch: nothing changes until at least April 2028. Huntingdonshire District Council remains the planning authority. Applications are assessed and decided by the existing committees. Neighbourhood plans stay valid. Any permission granted today is fully enforceable and will be honoured by the successor body.

The practical implication is that the next 22 months are business as usual for planning decisions in the patch.

What buyers and sellers should watch.

The unitary transition is background information, not a trigger for any immediate action. Three things are worth tracking over the next 12 months.

First, the summer 2026 Regulation 19 Local Plan consultation will be the last opportunity to comment on housing numbers for the major sites. If you are interested in land near an allocated development, or considering a purchase close to a site with outline planning permission, the consultation documents will be worth reading when they are published.

Second, the government's unitary announcement will signal how planning priorities might shift over the medium term. A standalone Huntingdonshire unitary is most likely to continue the existing approach. A merged council with Peterborough or South Cambridgeshire would bring different housing pressures and different priorities into the same authority.

Third, infrastructure delivery, particularly schools, roads and utilities linked to larger sites, may be shaped by how the successor council organises investment. That is a question for 2027 and beyond, not for transactions happening today.

For most buyers and sellers in the patch right now, the right approach is to transact on the current market conditions and the current planning rules, which are clear, unchanged, and will remain so through 2026. If you are curious where your property stands within the emerging Local Plan allocations, a free valuation conversation is a practical starting point.