Region: South East
Marleigh is a new community of 1,300 new homes in the north east corner of the historic city of Cambridge. Everyone will benefit from open, publicly accessible green space that is the equivalent in size to 44 football pitches plus an on-site Land Trust Ranger who will work out of the Community Centre.
The new community has been designed to encourage neighbourliness and interaction. This includes a woodland trail, cycle facilities, play areas, wildlife ponds and a market square with splashpad which is a cherished hub bounded by the community centre, a café, office space, a nursery school and a primary school. There are also plans for retail space, sports pitches and allotments to sit alongside the new homes.
More information on future phases is available here.
@ Marleigh Contact
For all enquiries, the Land Trust can be contacted 24/7 on 0300 365 9500 or marleigh@thelandtrust.org.uk
Open access
873 free spaces in the adjacent Newmarket Road P&R.
There are toilets inside the Community Centre, open with Centre opening hours.
(click here to find the nearest public toilets)
A café is expected to open adjacent to the Community Centre.
Free to use
There are both surfaced and unsurfaced paths. The land is flat and level throughout.
Please keep your dog on a lead when in the company of other people’s dogs or children or when you’re at the eastern fields where there are ground nesting birds (skylarks).
Walk, run, cycle, picnic, party, play, splash in the square, shop, read, type, meet for coffee, meander, pond dip, bird spot, plane spot, close your eyes, chill and chat. Be inspired. Get involved in developing this new community.
Chalky former agricultural land, young broadleaves and Scots pine in the shelterbelt, together with newly planted trees and shrubs provide good habitat for birds and other wildlife. Sustainable drainage ponds that extend for 500m provide shelter and food for a variety of wildlife including amphibians, insects, birds, bats and other mammals.
Cambridge Ice Rink (0.1mile), Fen Ditton Gallery (0.5miles) Dawson Nurseries & Farm Shop (1.0mile), Abbey Stadium and Leisure Centre (1.2miles), Quy Mill Health Spa (1.5miles), Cambridge Central Mosque (shortlisted for the 2021 RIBA Stirling Prize 2.1miles), Scotsdales garden centre (2.5miles), Gayton Farm camp site (2.9miles), The Backs in Cambridge (3.3 miles), National Trust - Anglesey Abbey (3.6miles).
Off Newmarket Road, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire , CB5 8AA
Site size: 109ha hectares
A couple of centuries ago, Marleigh was on the edge of the Fens; the walk to Ditton Lane would have been a walk down to the sea. If 300 years ago humans had not dug ditches around fields to drain the land of water, the Fens would still be lakes surrounded by marshland that would flood during high tides and heavy rain. So think swampy bogland and not so much sandy beachfront.
The northern-most edge of Marleigh follows a disused railway that once ran between Cambridge and Mildenhall in Suffolk. Built in 1884, a small station called Fen Ditton Halt was added in 1922 on the edge of Marleigh where it meets Ditton Lane. The station and the branch line were closed on 18 June 1962. The High Ditch Lane road bridge still exists and the sunken path to Ditton Lane makes for a lovely peaceful walk.
Developed by Marshall of Cambridge (Holdings) Ltd, the land at Marleigh was part of Cambridge Airport. With their aviation business moving to Bedfordshire, planes will cease to use this airport by 2030. The company and the airfield contributed greatly to aviation history not least because 20,000 pilots were trained here during World War II.
There is a pillbox in Marleigh dating back to WWII which appears to be on the General Headquarters (GHQ) line, the longest and most important of the defence lines, built to delay the Germans long enough for more mobile forces to counter-attack. The last line of defence, the GHQ line was to protect London and Britain’s industrial cities and Cambridge is one of few cities that stood directly on the line.
The Land Trust manages the public greenspace and community facilities at Marleigh in partnership with the developer Hill and landowner Marshall of Cambridge. The Land Trust aims to nurture this green oasis for the benefit of residents and visitors, businesses and wildlife.
Marleigh will provide contribute 1,300 new homes as part of the effort to build the 50,000 new homes needed in the greater Cambridge area by 2040. The homes are a mix of styles and sizes and are being made available for private sale, social rent and shared ownership.
As Marleigh continues to develop, more areas of formal and natural greenspace, playgrounds, sports pitches and allotments will come under the management of Land Trust Residential Services from Hill-Marshall. You can track which areas the Land Trust is responsible for now and which are planned for the future on the interactive map above.
To contact the Land Trust about this site or how we could help manage your space please click here .
To enquire about holding an event on a Land Trust site, please click here.
Download Land Trust Residential Services Privacy Notice Download Marleigh – Terms of Hire Download Safeguarding Policy
We are always on the look out for enthusiastic, committed people who want to make a real and lasting difference in their local community.
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