Land in Cambridge is expensive. Around the city are large areas of green belt land. Building new houses on this land is not allowed. Because of this, a proposal was made in 2000 to move the airport to a new site away from the city. It would have freed up of land so that several thousand new homes could be built there instead. Cambridgeshire County Council did a study for a new airport. The council asked for permission to plan the new airport, but they withdrew the request later.