Forest City · Villages
What happens to the villages on the land?
No one’s home needs to be destroyed. Existing villages like Cowlinge, Great Thurlow and Withersfield are protected — surrounded by trees and supported in keeping their own identity, becoming villages within a city, much like Hampstead in London or Grantchester in Cambridge.
These villages will, over the next 30 years, become like Hampstead is in London, or Grantchester is in Cambridge — a village within a city, keeping its own culture, identity and way of life.
On farmland: because a properly planned city fits far more people into a smaller footprint than sprawling village extensions, Forest City would actually save the East of England around 21,500 acres of prime farmland compared with building the same number of homes the usual way.
We set out what this means for the surrounding villages and countryside on our For Neighbours page.