The Cambridge Growth Company to speak at our Wellcome Genome Campus-hosted forum

Image courtesy: Peter Freeman, CBE, Chair of The Cambridge Growth Company

Future Cities Forum welcomes back Peter Freeman, CBE, Chair of the Cambridge Growth Company, to our New model innovation districts and the future of Cambridge' discussion event this month hosted by the Wellcome Genome Campus at Hinxton.

This past week the UK government announced its decision to establish a centrally led Development Corporation for Greater Cambridge.  You can read the full government response here. 

Peter Freeman has welcomed the decision saying

'As we set out in our publication in October 2025, we believe a Development Corporation is the right body to provide the long-term certainty, coordination and delivery focus needed to address Greater Cambridge's infrastructure challenges and support sustainable economic growth.

'The Government will now take forward the Parliamentary process required to establish the new body before any Development Corporation is formally created.

'The Government's response to the consultation provides greater clarity about how it intends the Development Corporation to operate as a joint national-local endeavour, working alongside local partners to deliver the infrastructure needed to support Greater Cambridge's future success.

'While I recognise that there may continue to be different views about the proposed arrangements, I know we all share a common ambition: to ensure Greater Cambridge is the best place it can be to live, work, study and innovate.

'Over the past few years, I have seen first-hand the depth of commitment that exists across Greater Cambridge. The success of this region has been built through decades of leadership, collaboration and hard work by local authorities, businesses, the universities, community organisations and many others. We must build on those strong foundations and continue to draw on local knowledge, expertise and leadership.

'Today's announcement on Cambridge East by Homes England and The Hill Group is an exciting example of the opportunity that lies ahead. Cambridge East is a once-in-a-century chance to create an exceptional new neighbourhood for the city, and we look forward to continuing to work with partners to support its successful delivery.'

Peter will also be speaking at our event this June on how delivering infrastructure at scale is complex and how in the Cambridge Growth Company's view, it requires long-term planning, significant upfront investment, with complex negotiations and coordination across multiple organisations.

It adds:

'Greater Cambridge already has a strong tradition of high-quality design, placemaking and delivering good growth. We must build on that foundation. That means well-designed, mixed-use neighbourhoods, with a genuine diversity of tenures, where green spaces, schools, GP practices, community facilities and rich cultural and sporting offerings are just as important as the number of homes and workplaces. It means strengthening and extending the sense of community that already defines Greater Cambridge, so that more people can share in it and feel they belong. It also means ensuring that, as the area grows, we embrace and support everything that makes Greater Cambridge special.

'The Cambridge Growth Company (CGC) and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) have launched the preparation of a Project level Strategic Outline Business Case for a potential Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system for Greater Cambridge. This marks an important step forward in developing long term, sustainable transport solutions that can support one of the UK’s most economically significant regions.

Peter spoke at our September forum last year, hosted by the Cambridge Science Park at the Bradfield Centre, about how the UK can deliver growth at a strategic scale when there is a continued reliance on the market housing model - with many thousands of homes consented but unbuilt.

Peter responded:

'It goes back to who controls the system and who gets the land. If the starting system of who promotes land via local plan is a land owner, their planning consultant or their promoter it is always written by highest price of land, then government has to go one better. Whether it acquires the land or designs the master-plan it has to be absolutely clear that the development is mixed-use and mixed-tenure by default.

'Over the last 30 years there has been an acceptance by developers and land owners that CIL (community infrastructure levy), social housing allocation, Section 106s and so on, are part of the development package. If you look at the gross value for pure housing an acre of land in Cambridge would be going for two million pounds but in fact it's more likely to trade at around £300,000 to £400,000 as the mixed-use tenure is built in, with the Section 106 requirements and so on. The pressure to provide the infrastructure and social amenities for development, which contributes to making a place, is a very good thing.'