The event was attended by over 100 people and began with a welcome and introduction by Patrick McMahon, Senior Partner at our host Bidwells. This was followed by independent consultant Steve Mallen giving an illuminating look at both the UK’s and Cambridge’s property market. Key for Cambridge Ahead was his endorsement of one of its messages to follow, namely that Cambridge may be undergoing a boom in construction, not least of houses, but it is failing to keep pace with demand.
Cllr Lewis Herbert, Leader of Cambridge City Council, then rose to explain the City Deal, and his presentation centred around two rhetorical questions. Firstly, he asked what are the challenges limiting future growth and shared prosperity in Cambridge, and then he posed the question as to how the city’s transport and congestion problems could be solved. With the population of Cambridge and South Cambs to rise from 275,000 to 345,000 by 2031, including an extra 40,000 jobs and 5m visitors every year, he emphasised how important it was to ensure there will be enough affordable housing and that the skills gap is closed.
His talk was of cooperation between key stakeholders across all political divides for the good of the city. Devolution is a sensible course of action, he argued, leading to a combined local authority which, while larger than the city region, recognises that “engine of the growth is still Cambridge.” How wisely and effectively the first £100m tranche of City Deal funding is spent will determine the size of the second and third tranches, each potentially of £200m. But he argued that this total of £500m up and beyond 2025 would not be enough. Further investment could unlock growth leading to greater tax revenue for central government – greater than the total investment.
This led timely to Cambridge Ahead's own contribution to the debate. Matthew Bullock, Master of St Edmund’s College and Member of Cambridge Ahead (CA), then presented a summary of the culmination of two to three years of work by CA and the Centre for Business Research at the University of Cambridge. He revealed that the data would be released in three phases, with only the first phase being released now. Phase I is the analysis of existing economy and recent growth; Phase II – a ‘bottom up’ forecast of growth and local barriers to growth; Phase III – a review of spatial growth options.
The presentation centred mainly on the methods of analysis and the sources of growth. Methods included identifying knowledge-intensive (KI) organisations from non-KI ones, and segmenting organisations according to whether they are registered in Cambridge, not-registered in the city but trading here, and public sector/non-corporates. The data showed that there are three drivers of Growth ‒ Cambridge-registered KI companies; University and other research laboratories; and outside companies, often large multinationals, acquiring locally or setting up their own operations.
The final speaker was Jane Paterson-Todd, Cambridge Ahead's CEO. Her message was clear – Cambridge is very successful but “this is an economy at risk of overheating, and as a net contributor to the economy this should be a national concern”. Investment into infrastructure and education should be increased but this could come via “innovative solutions”. This was not a plea for cash from central government – the city is able to attract its own investment if it is allowed to do so.
She continued that the need for this new funding framework will be central to The Case for Cambridge, which when formally presented to the government will provide a strong argument of Cambridge’s importance and the urgent need for investment in housing, rail, road, and schools.
The seminar ended with a Q&A session between the audience and the panel of speakers, moderated by Ian Mather, Chairman of CA. It was a great success and thanks go to hosts Bidwells who organised the event so well. The presentations can all be viewed here. Read also the write-up of the event by the Cambridge News. Cambridge Ahead will be posting a short video of the event on this page within the next seven working days.
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