Northstowe is a new town that will eventually have up to 10,000 homes, with an anticipated population of 24,400 in Cambridgeshire, England, UK. On 1 April 2021 Northstowe became a civil parish, the parish was formed from Longstanton and Oakington and Westwick, with the first town council elected on 6th May of that year. Northstowe has been in development for around 15 years and through varying political administrations. Originally proposed to be "an exemplar of sustainability in the use of renewable energy resources and reducing carbon emissions", Northstowe will still have many exemplar features including a Sustainable Urban Drainage Scheme (SUDS) and bus, bicycle and pedestrian only links. The Northstowe site is northwest of the city of Cambridge, between the villages of Oakington and Longstanton. The Northstowe development is being led by Homes England, the successor body to the Homes and Communities Agency, and the developers Gallagher Estates (part of L&Q). In January 2008, Yvette Cooper, Minister for Housing and Planning Department for Communities and Local Government at the time, confirmed in Parliament that Northstowe had not been adopted as an eco-town because the 2007 planning application submitted "predate[s] the eco-towns programme", and because it would not be zero-carbon. Northstowe is linked to Cambridge and St Ives by the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway which was opened in 2011. In 2012 outline consent was given to Gallagher to progress with the first phase of 1500 homes, a primary school, road improvements and a local centre. The primary school, The Pathfinder Church of England School, opened its gates to pupils in September 2017, initially taking pupils mostly from Longstanton for a year to allow redevelopment of Hatton Park Primary School. In 2015 outline consent was also agreed in principle to build a further 3,500 homes, a town centre, 3 more schools including a secondary school education campus and a link road to the A14, plus a road linking the town to the Guided Busway. The homes in phase two could not be occupied until a major A14 upgrade is completed which started in 2016 and was completed in early 2020. The first new homes at Northstowe were occupied in April 2017. In May 2020 the outline planning applications for the third and final phase were submitted for 5,000 homes, consisting of 4,000 homes on phase 3a and 1,000 homes on phase 3b. History The site covers Oakington Barracks on the former RAF Oakington,