The Federation of Cambridge Residents Associations recently invited Peter Freeman, chair of the Cambridge Growth Company to tell them about CGC’s plans for greater Cambridge. His talk, and in particular the long Q & A session which followed can be viewed on YouTube. It is worth the 2 hours viewing timesbecause the government’s plans for the greater Cambridge sub-region are an experiment, testing a prototype for future spatial growth; For example 150,000 new homes. Growth on this scale triples the size of Cambridge. It is big, at scale thinking in a popular area with growth pressure, which is precisely what we need.
CGC, a subsidiary of Homes England is backed with £10 million of government funding. They have appointed master planners. There is an Advisory Council which includes local political leaders and respected technical experts. These are all sound pre-planning steps. Peter Freeman delivered a sensible speech. He wisely admitted he could not yet answer all their questions. I fully support the thinking behind this testing the waters incursion. It is a necessary initiative but I worry too. There are big technical barriers to be overcome. There are highly volatile market pitfalls to be navigated, relating to the control of where, when and how spatial policies. Lottery money wins and democratic legitimacy turn on these critical danger areas. But identifying and overcoming these threats are not my concern today. Instead I want to focus on the attitudes of local residents revealed in the Q & A session.
Remember the government’s objective is to ‘propel sustainable growth in Greater Cambridge.,Remember local residents have not voted into power local politicians who have signed up to these massive changes.Actually the chairlady who controlled the questions fielded by Freeman made clear she did not want any rants by residents about doomsday on the one hand, or rants about spatial decisions about this or that bit of infrastructure. So in a sense Freeman was lucky. I was pleased and surprised.
This audience of residents leaders and informed activists were measured and mature, in the main. What the local media have made of Freeman’s speech I do not know. I fear either they ignored the event or have they gone into an orbit of anger? I do not know.
Either way full marks to the CGC team for an undoubted first win.This outcome is an encouraging start. Finding the key to winning local support is an absolute necessity.
Ian Campbell
29June 2025
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