Plans were unveiled this month by developer Capital&Centric to transform the Tebbutts Road Car Park into a new neighbourhood of up to 83 homes, set within two five-storey buildings, alongside a walled garden, a community pavilion and commercial space for independent businesses. The scheme is being brought forward with Huntingdonshire District Council, which named Capital&Centric its preferred development partner for regeneration in Huntingdon, St Ives and St Neots in July 2025. As things stand, the proposals would see the Tebbutts Road car park close to public use, with no public parking replacement yet confirmed.

Discover St Neots has a strong, positive working relationship with Huntingdonshire District Council and has supported a number of town centre projects and schemes that have brought investment into St Neots. We want to make clear that we were not involved in drawing up these proposals and, like most residents, only became aware of the detail shortly before it was made public. We strongly support investment in our town. Thoughtful redevelopment can breathe new life into underused areas, attract more visitors, encourage new businesses to open and create more reasons for people to discover everything St Neots has to offer. It’s encouraging to see a developer take a serious interest in this end of the High Street.

However, we also recognise that parking is already one of the biggest concerns for residents, shoppers and businesses in St Neots. Losing a well-used town centre car park naturally raises questions about accessibility and how people will continue to visit and support our High Street, particularly at the Tebbutts Road and Moore’s Walk end of town.

This matters more than most people realise, because of what already sits within a few minutes’ walk of the car park. Moore’s Walk is home to Argos, and to two health services that a great many St Neots residents rely on: the St Neots Health and Walk-In Centre at 24 Moore’s Walk, which sees patients into the evening and at weekends, and mydentist’s Tebbutts Road practice. Cedar House Surgery, on nearby Huntingdon Street, also relies on Tebbutts Road as its closest public car park. People attending a GP appointment, a dental appointment or the walk-in centre are often unwell, in pain, travelling with young children, or simply not able to walk a long distance from parking elsewhere in the town. For these services, losing this car park is not an inconvenience; it is a genuine access issue.

The area is also home to the Priory Centre, St Neots’ main theatre and events venue, whose main auditorium alone can hold over 450 people for a single show. Evening and weekend events there already rely on nearby parking, including Tebbutts Road, at times when much of the rest of the town centre is closed and alternative parking is harder to find. Any reduction in parking provision in this part of town risks making it harder for audiences to get to performances, with a knock-on effect on the venue and on the businesses around it that benefit from evening footfall.

This is not a town centre in decline. Independent MRI footfall data for St Neots town centre shows that, in every month from January to June 2026, year-to-date visitor numbers in St Neots have run ahead of both the East of England and UK high street benchmarks, in a period when footfall across the wider region and the country has generally been falling. By the end of June 2026, year-to-date footfall in St Neots was down just 0.1% on the previous year, compared with a 2.9% year-to-date fall across the East of England and a 2.4% fall nationally. In January alone, footfall was up 3.2% year on year in St Neots, against falls of 4.2% regionally and 3.3% nationally. St Neots is one of the town centres bucking the national trend, and that is precisely why getting this right, rather than simply removing parking, matters so much.

We stand in agreement with many in St Neots that this end of the High Street, Tebbutts Road and Moore’s Walk, has been in decline for some time and would benefit from investment. We support the principle of regeneration here. But growth and accessibility should not be treated as an either-or choice. If this development moves forward, we would like to see equal investment in practical parking solutions, whether that is replacement spaces, improved access to other town centre car parks, or better public transport links, so that the Health and Walk-In Centre, Cedar House Surgery, mydentist, the Priory Centre and the wider High Street remain accessible to the people who depend on them.

Capital&Centric and Huntingdonshire District Council are holding a public consultation event on Tuesday 18th August, between 4pm and 7pm, at Ferro Lounge, 21 Market Square, St Neots. Feedback closes on Friday 4th September, ahead of an expected planning application later this year. We would urge residents, patients, event-goers and local businesses with a stake in this part of town to attend, ask questions, particularly on parking, and make their views known before proposals are finalised.

“St Neots is one of the few town centres genuinely bucking the national trend on footfall right now, and that’s not an accident; it’s down to the people, businesses and services that draw people into the town. We welcome investment in St Neots and recognise that Tebbutts Road and Moore’s Walk need new life. But regeneration has to work for the people, patients and businesses already here, not just for the new homes going up. This is the part of town where residents go for a GP appointment, a dental check-up, an urgent walk-in appointment, or an evening at the Priory Centre. Losing that car park without a clear, credible replacement would make daily life harder for exactly the people this end of town exists to serve, and risks the very growth we’re trying to protect. We want to see this development succeed, but not at the cost of accessibility for the health services and venues that St Neots relies on.”

Richard Slade, co-founder, Discover St Neots.