An early start to attend a breakfast seminar this morning hosted by Turnstone Estates and Concilio at St Catherine’s College, Cambridge.
‘The Cambridge Manifesto for the next Government’.
I was excited to attend, and a lovely early summer morning too; my thanks to Tim Deacon
The panel were very engaging, and it was a pity that there was not more time with Cllr Mike Davey, Leader of Cambridge City Council, who was particularly keen to emphasise how important a collaborative approach with the city’s stakeholders was to ensure growth.
Whilst sustainable transport was a much-debated topic, when it came to the issue of housing, the concern of creating a city hollow with its past only and not accommodating its workers and service industry, was a point well made by the panel.
My business has operated advising investors and landowners in the Cambridge area for over 10 years, a blink of an eye, in terms of the city’s history. With the cost of capital now returning to a more representative rate to reflect risk, my clients, who are developers and investors, desperately need a pathway to be shown to maintain their confidence in future returns in the city.
Cambridge has the opportunity to grasp its “Manchester moment” which during the 1990s under the leadership of Sir Howard Bernstein the North West underwent considerable change and investment transforming its status. Its bold approach provided investors with the confidence to commit.
The Government, with its recent Case for Cambridge publication, is supportive, and so it must be with the city’s highest productivity rate in England outside London. However, Cambridge needs the private sector to help implement this change more speedily with the direction and ambition of an industry figurehead. Please send suggestions on a postcard…
