Cambridge college faces legal challenge over proposed four-storey library
Christ’s College, Cambridge, wants to replace its ageing 1970s library with a modern, four-storey building around a three-storey reading room. University physics professor Suchitra Sebastian is supporting a campaign group that says the design is too large and would damage the historic character of central Cambridge.
The dispute reached the High Court after the group challenged how Cambridge City Council approved an earlier application. The judge quashed that 2025 permission, finding the council’s decision-making was flawed. Historic England had raised concerns about the building’s bulk, though it did not formally object. A similar new application was approved by the council last week, but its decision is on hold while Housing Secretary Angela Rayner considers whether to call it in.
- Christ’s College plans a four-storey replacement library.
- A campaign group says it would harm Cambridge’s historic centre.
- The High Court quashed the earlier planning permission.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “Cambridge University battles one of its own professors in court over plans for state-of-the-art library she calls a ‘coarse megabuilding’”.