Since 1948 planning permission has been required from the Local Planning Authority for any development of land. There are no planning records from before 1948 and everything built before this is treated as an existing/original building for the purposes of planning.
How to request historic files
You can request historic planning files pre 2007 from South Cambridgeshire District Council, and pre 2004 for Cambridge City Council. Historical data pre 2007 may still be available online, so please search our Public Access System before submitting a request.
If you are unable to find the required documents, please complete our Historic File request form. You will be charged an admin fee of £52 per application.
You will need to create a South Cambridgeshire customer account, even if you live outside the district. This is to ensure we have a streamlined application process and can capture essential details for the request. You can also track the status of your application and see any previous requests.
Retention policies
Please be aware that some documents that were part of the original file will no longer be available due to the requirements of our retention policy.
- South Cambridgeshire District Council - Corporate Policy - Document Retention and Record Management [PDF]
- Cambridge City Council - Cambridge City Council - Retention Policy [PDF]