A new lakeside community hub for Northstowe; shaped by prayer, hospitality, partnership, and Northstowe Church Network's vision to “stretch wide the tent”.
- More details on the proposal can be found at www.northstowe.church/centre
A new lakeside community hub for Northstowe moved a major step closer this morning. South Cambridgeshire District Council’s Cabinet agreed to progress the award of a 999-year lease to Northstowe Church Network for the first of Northstowe’s four Faith and Community Land sites. These were set aside through the planning process to help local charities develop provision for Northstowe’s growing and diverse community.
The collaborative, community-led scheme is designed as a series of “small and beautiful” spaces, including shared rooms, bookable meeting pods, reflective gardens, the Chapel by the Lake, the Network’s offices, and dedicated provision for Islamic prayer and education. Together, these spaces will support community connection, quiet reflection, worship, youth work, wellbeing, and new opportunities for young people, including young women through Turtle Dove Cambridge.
The proposal has grown out of everyday life in Northstowe: deckchair conversations, school partnerships, youth voice, Carols, Eid celebrations, Midsummer and Running Festivals, Remembrance, Little Explorers, Pathfinder Church, interfaith friendship, and years of listening to what residents say this growing town needs.
Revd Dr Beth Cope, Northstowe’s Pioneer Minister, said:
“One of the most encouraging things about this process is that Northstowe already has residents, faith groups and community organisations ready to put time, imagination and love into the future of the town. As we take forward the first Faith and Community Land site, we recognise the hope, passion and local commitment brought by others, including Hindu Samaj Northstowe and local Hindu residents, and look forward to ongoing friendship and practical collaboration.”
The lease relates to the land itself: building costs will be met through the Network’s own fundraising, not council spending, and detailed design, planning and construction will take several years. However, the Network hopes the first signs of life on the site can begin much sooner. Subject to permissions, legal agreements and practical arrangements, it is hoped Turtle Dove Cambridge will soon be offering mentoring, hospitality training, alternative learning support, and supported pathways towards education, training and employment for Northstowe’s young women through temporary on-site facilities.
Kate Nation, Managing Director and Co-founder of Turtle Dove Cambridge, said:
“Turtle Dove is a catering, events and hospitality organisation that exists to support young women to grow in confidence, gain work experience, and build pathways into education, training or work. We are excited by the possibility of beginning that work in Northstowe as part of a thoughtful, community-rooted response to a growing town.”
Turtle Dove are now helping guide the designs of the ground-floor café and hospitality space. Christians from various denominations are shaping the first-floor Chapel by the Lake as a quiet and beautiful space for worship, reflection, life-event services, music, arts and cultural events.
Dr Ben Grey, bid committee chair, explained:
“We see the Chapel by the Lake as the beating heart of the site. It will give the Centre its rhythm of prayer, worship and reflection, while the life of the wider site flows out through hospitality, youth work, community activity and shared life, and then returns enlivened by the stories and hopes of the town.”
A dedicated Qibla-aligned Islamic prayer room is being developed with Northstowe Muslims who will also hire shared spaces for wider community life and interfaith collaboration.
Jawad Nawash, Chair of Northstowe Muslims, said:
“While our communities are still growing, sharing space is a powerful way to deepen trust, learn how to serve the town together, and build friendships that can continue as Northstowe grows.”
Dr Ateeq Nasir, the bid committee’s Muslim representative, added:
“It takes energy to work well across difference, and that is what is happening here. In science, entropy teaches us that things tend towards disorder unless work is done. If we want trust, friendship and cooperation, we have to put the work in. This project is about choosing to do that work together, so difference becomes a source of strength for Northstowe rather than distance.”
Shared rooms and gardens will be available to locally-rooted community and faith groups through community-centre-style hire, where activities fit the scale, setting and residential context of the site. The council’s wider Faith and Community Land approach complements Northstowe’s planned community centres, shops, schools, health facilities and civic spaces as Northstowe continues to grow.
Beth concluded:
“Good collaboration does not require communities to become the same. It works best when each community has space to be fully itself, and when neighbours also have shared places to meet, listen and serve together. We hope this site, alongside the other three planned Faith and Community sites and other civic spaces, will help our growing, diverse and still-forming town do just that.”
Peter Leech, the Director of Mission and Ministry comments:
"I am delighted to hear this news. It is good news for the community of Northstowe and good news for us as the Diocese of Ely. The decision comes after months of hard work and is a reflection of the partnerships that Beth and her team have developed and cherished over the years. As a Diocese, we are pleased that we are able to continue to support and work with Beth, Pathfinder Church, and our ecumenical partners as they step into the next chapter of their life together."
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*Supporters and professional advisers*
Northstowe Church Network thanks local residents who have already pledged support, the Eastern Synod - United Reformed Church for its substantial capital pledge, the Diocese of Ely for ongoing support, and Churches Together in Cambridgeshire, including the Eastern Baptist Association UK, for years of ecumenical guidance and encouragement.
The Network also thanks the professional advisers who helped shape the bid, including ArchAngel Architects, Allen Pyke Associates, Millcam, Stantec, Lo Marketing, VAT Advice Services, and the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants.
For further information: contact@northstowe.church
Pictures: Revd Beth Cope consulted at length with the Northstowe community to help shape the bid; Bishop Sarah with Beth and the Pathfinder Church team.
