What we know: Forest City 1, between Haverhill and Newmarket

What is Forest City 1?

Forest City 1 is a proposal for a new city in Suffolk, between Haverhill and Newmarket, spearheaded by Shiv Malik and Joseph Reeve/ Albion City Development Corporation (ACDC).

The city would see up to 400,000 homes built on around 45,000 acres of land, including a 12,000-acre nature reserve — the single largest land-based nature reserve in England.

The development would also see four new hospitals, a local tram network, and a new railway station at Haverhill connecting to Cambridge and London.

The first detailed reports emerged in November 2025, immediately sparking concerns from Suffolk MP Nick Timothy.

What are people concerned about?

Nick Timothy MP has been the most high-profile opponent to the plans, citing concerns around scale, harm to productive farmland, and the erasure of ancient villages such as Cowlinge and Withersfield.

He set up the No to Forest City petition in January.

Tom Foakes, Director of the Suffolk Preservation Society, said: “Development on this scale would fundamentally transform the character of West Suffolk, East Cambridgeshire and the wider region forever.”

Mr Foakes also said the proposal has significant implications for transport and infrastructure.

Jane Williams, a volunteer from Campaign to Support Rural England (CPRE), said: "If Birmingham, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, remains the industrial heartland of England, this historic tract of England’s countryside is the beating heart of agriculture.

Government rejection

In June, the government said the project will not be included in Labour’s flagship new towns programme due to “deliverability” concerns, housing minister Matthew Pennycook confirmed in Parliament.

Mr Pennycook said: "The Government are not exploring creating a development corporation to take forward this speculative proposal."

He did, however, suggest that the developers could try to advance their proposals through local planning systems, without backing from Westminster.

What's next?

Shiv Malik said the mission remains to get regional and governmental support for the project.

In response, Shiv Malik, co-founder of Forest City 1, said: “If you project the housing allocations forward for the next 30 years, we'll have to build 340,000 homes. So, the real question is, where do you want to build them?

“The current status quo is to just build them everywhere on the edges of towns and villages, and everyone knows that doesn't work.

“So, this is a far more rational plan where you actually get the infrastructure along with the homes as well.”

Planning Permission has not yet been formally submitted.

Mr Malik said: “Nick Timothy talks about the need, rightly so, for Haverhill to have a train station and to dual the railway between Cambridge and Newmarket, and yet politicians, including himself, have no idea how to deliver this in a way that is funded. We do.

“We have a plan, and these are the trade-offs that need to be made in order to progress the country and the region and draw in tens of billions in investment.”