Alex's Blog Archive

Please select the year you would like to view: 2009

24/12/2009 - Yuletide blog

It's Christmas Eve and everyone in the office is getting ready for their Christmas holidays. Sue Beecroft and Gill Barker have entered into the festive spirit by dressing in suitably sparkly attire.

It's been quite a year! We've had some great successes, such as the deal that allows Trumpington Meadows to come forward, but also some real disappointments, such as the reduction in our Housing Growth Fund allocation for 2010-11. However, throughout the year I have been heartened by the way in which all our partners have pulled together in the face of adversity and remain committed to the principles of delivering sustainable new communities for Cambridgeshire.

The future public funding scenario is going to be ever harsher, and we will need to work in collaboration across the public sector to minimise the negative impacts of this. The work we have been doing as part of Making Cambridgeshire Count gives me hope that the creativity, energy and commitment to public service that exists across the public sector can be harnessed to good effect in the difficult years ahead. If we can also strengthen our links with the voluntary and private sector, and with residents across the county, then 2010 may be a brighter year.

Happy Christmas to you all!

16/12/2009 - HGF Cuts announced

Late yesterday afternoon, Government confirmed that cuts to Housing Growth Fund capital allocations for 2010/11 will go ahead as proposed across the country.

The scale of Cambridgeshire's challenge, and our previous success in arguing for higher levels of support, means that now the axe has fallen we are the worst affected of all the growth areas in terms of the level of cut, with a £6 million - or 43% - reduction to our allocation for the next financial year.

This will have an immediate negative impact on a number of key projects which would otherwise have been supporting the development of our well established plans for the delivery of sustainable new communities across the County.

What's particularly disappointing is that the Government have decided to go ahead with an across the board, pro rata cut. Whilst this is clearly easier for Government to do, it ignores the fact that different parts of the country which have differing levels of need. Therefore, the consequences of the decision made will have more damaging effects in those areas, than would have been the case had they listened to our argument and allocated on more of an outcome based approach.

However, our job now, despite this unhelpful development, is to re-focus on delivering priority projects and moving forward with our shared plans to deliver much needed new homes and facilities across the County.

Read our press release here.

09/12/2009 - Pre-Budget report

Following on from this morning's Cambridgeshire Horizons Board meeting, I caught up on some of the detail of the Pre-Budget Report.

It was good to see a commitment to continuing work "to examine the framework that would be needed to implement Tax Increment Financing", but disappointing at the same time that we are not yet at a stage where a pilot, either in Cambridgeshire or elsewhere, has been identified.

We will continue to engage with Government colleagues to try to move these proposals forward.

03/12/2009 - Green Infrastructure Summit

Yesterday, John and David from the Horizons team attended the Natural England Green Infrastructure Summit in Hampton, Peterborough. The event reinforced the strong linkages between green infrastructure and not just the environment, but also to wider health and economic benefits for the local community.

Green infrastructure provides us with the opportunity to deliver a range of benefits for residents at a relatively low cost (compared to other types of infrastructure, such as roads), which is why we will be working with our partners in the New Year to review our own Green Infrastructure Strategy.

01/12/2009 - Ministerial announcement

We have received some very welcome news today. The Housing Minister, The Rt Hon John Healey, has today announced that Northstowe may be included in the second wave of eco-towns proposals. This is a positive response from Government to representations that horizons, working jointly with local authority partners, had made earlier this year.

In total nine local authority areas have put forward 14 schemes, all of which could potentially share £10 million worth of funding.You can read the views of our chairman Sir David Trippier and leading local Councillors in our press release here, and view John Healey's statement here.

30/11/2009 - The Leaders Network

On Friday I attended the annual conference of The Leaders' Network, which is facilitated by the Homes and Communities Agency Academy, and draws together leaders in growth and regeneration from across the country.

Sir Bob Kerslake, Chief Executive of the HCA, was keynote speaker, and in addition to listening to his thoughtful presentation, I managed to grab ten minutes with him to talk about his continuing personal efforts to move Northstowe forward, and to discuss some possible developments from Government (see blog above), all of which was extremely helpful.

The most unusual speakers of the day were Colonel Felix Gedney, OBE, and Flight Lieutenant Chris Skaife RAF. Colonel Gedney has extensive experience of conflict zones across the world, and Chris Skaife has just come back from Helmand province in Afghanistan. They shared their experiences of stabilisation work in Helmand province and elsewhere. Whilst on the surface, these problems may seem to be a million miles away from the day to day work we all carry out in growth and regeneration, there were a number of similarities in their approach to such work. Most tellingly, they both stressed how vital it is to work in genuine collaboration with the local community from the start, to ensure that projects are seen to be owned locally.

What really struck me whilst listening to the wide variety of speakers, from both the public and private sector, was how well the principles of our Quality Charter dovetail with the advice and examples of best practice that the speakers referred to. For me, this further reinforced the importance of the Quality Charter principles, and also opened my eyes to a range of national examples we could draw upon in the future.

26/11/2009 - Total Place

On Thursday, colleagues from around the East of England region and a range of Whitehall colleagues joined together to focus on Total Place - a new initiative to look at how a "whole area" and citizen-focussed approach to public services could lead to the delivery of better services at a lower cost.

As readers of the blog will know, we are heavily involved, along with the local authorities, and health, Police and Fire service colleagues, in Cambridgeshire's Total Place work, "Making Cambridgeshire Count".

Sir Michael Bichard, KCB, Executive Director of the Institute for Government and Chair of the Total Place high-level officials' group, delivered an inspiring keynote speech that reinforced the need for and importance of Total Place for the future of the public sector.

Sir Michael stressed that the public sector had to deliver innovation through genuine collaboration, and to make the best possible use every pound of public spend in the future.

Productivity and efficiency are important elements of this, but they are not enough on their own. Instead Central and Local Government must work far closer, and better, together. In other words, our job as public servants is to help lead a place, not to lead an organisation, and to focus hard on outcomes for the people who live in the place we are working for.

It was striking to see how colleagues from local, regional and national government share the view that we need to make Total Place work in order to minimise the impact on citizens over the coming years when public funding will inevitably be much reduced. I very much hope that the work we are doing through Making Cambridgeshire Count can make a real contribution to this and help deliver better public services, with greater levels of local control, whilst also reducing public spending.

20/11/2009 - Cambridge Regional College - Opening of new buildings

Yesterday evening I attended the opening of the new catering and hair and beauty blocks at Cambridge Regional College, in my role as Governor of CRC.

The event gave students the opportunity to show off their fashion and theatrical make-up skills prior to the Charity Gala Dinner, in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust.

The preparation of the meal itself was undertaken by student chefs who had been given the opportunity to work with some of the top chefs in the area to produce a truly delicious meal.

The whole event was a great success, and it was fantastic to see so many young people excelling in their chosen fields.

The facilities at CRC are amongst the best in the further education sector in the UK, and are a real asset to the area. I am sure that they will provide an excellent base for delivering high quality vocational education and training for many years to come.

19/11/2009 - Viability workshop

Development viability is an increasingly important part of the planning and delivery of major new developments, particularly during the current economic climate.

To increase our collective understanding and engagement with this challenging topic the Horizons team ran a tailored workshop yesterday, in conjunction with the DVS (the commercial arm of the Valuation Office Agency) and local authorities.

The workshop was attended by over 30 delegates including planners, housing officers, project managers and a lawyer, and covered the principles of development viability and the different approaches to tackling this challenging subject.

Throughout the half-day session there was excellent debate, and feedback from our partners has been very positive, We will now continue to review and enhance our workshop programme to deliver future training opportunities for our partners.

12/11/2009 - Wicken Fen

Yesterday, whilst I was going through my induction process as a non-executive Director of NHS Cambridgeshire, the rest of the Horizons team were out on Wicken Fen learning more about the area and carrying out volunteering work.

Throughout the day the team worked hard to clear some large areas of scrub to allow for the rotation of footpaths around the site to protect the peat underfoot, whilst also hearing more about the part Wicken Fen plays in the wider Green Infrastructure strategy.

09/11/2009 - Cambridge Enterprise Conference

Following on from the Cambridge Enterprise Conference, I was invited by the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) to participate in a policy morning to discuss how we can best create an environment that will allow local companies to flourish and help to lead the UK out of recession.

The Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke, MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Business, provided a keynote presentation. Among the main points he made were the need to foster business clusters, in particular those based in and around Cambridge, and some thoughts on what interventions central and local government need to make to support them. His speech was then followed by a lively and insightful group discussion session, where we covered a broad range of topics, including the important relationship between the delivery of new homes and infrastructure and the ability of companies to continue to recruit the best talent and thus to grow. 

Whilst I was at the GCP event, John, Laura, and Michelle were in Ely running a training session for various local authority and public sector delegates to teach them more about the Cambridgeshire Quality Charter for Growth. I hear the event was well attended, and the presentations can now also be viewed online here.

06/11/2009 - JSGIC

On Wednesday morning our Joint Strategic Growth Implementation Committee Meeting (otherwise known as JSGIC) took place at Murray Edwards College in Cambridge. The meeting was a very useful opportunity to discuss progress on major development sites to date, and the anticipated work going forward.

We also had an informative presentation from Alison Mallows from Halcrow, who we have instructed to carry out Phase Two of the Water Cycle Strategy for Cambridge and the surrounding areas. Water is a key issue for all major new development sites, and the Water Cycle Strategy gives us the opportunity to not only review water supply issues, but also flood risk and water management opportunities. You can find out more about our work within this field here.

02/11/2009 - Trip to the Treasury

This afternoon I am heading to London at the invitation of the Permanent Secretary for a discussion with a range of former HM Treasury colleagues. The discussion will focus on lessons from the UK's Presidency of G20 now it nears its end.

I am also planning to raise questions about how a "Total Place" approach to public services, and management of capital assets, could potentially expand in the future and provide a means of responding to the need for public funding reductions which mimimises the negative impact on  citizens.

30/10/2009 - Sustainable Buildings on the agenda

On Thursday morning I chaired the first Horizons' Sustainable Buildings workshop at Murray Edwards College in Cambridge. The event was attended by a range of local authority and public sector colleagues who are involved in the procurement of what will be a large number of new public sector buildings linked to the growth agenda.

Throughout the morning we heard from public sector colleagues and private sector consultants who have delivered a range of interesting low-carbon developments across the UK. Taking this learning into account, we then had the opportunity to discuss how we could deliver such projects in Cambridgeshire, with general agreement that public buildings could show the way in terms of low carbon outcomes. You can see all of the presentations on our website here.

29/10/2009 - The BIG Debate - How do you deliver a low carbon economy?

The Quality Charter sets out key principles for the Growth Agenda including the importance of tackling Climate Change as we begin to deliver major new communities that will be with us for decades to come. To describe the scale of the climate challenge, and to set out some pointers as to how to achieve success, we invited David Birkbeck, from Design for Homes, to chair an evening session for Councillors, local authority officers and businesses about how Cambridgeshire could deliver a low carbon economy. 

We began by watching a short film about Hammarby, an urban extension of Stockholm, and one of the best examples of low-carbon development in Europe. This was followed by comments from a panel comprising myself, Gustaf Landahl (Head of Dept Planning and Environment at the City of Stockholm), Steve Carr (Head of New Business Economics and Growth at the Homes and Communities Agency), Dr Chris Hope (Reader in Policy Modelling at Cambridge University's Judge Business School), and Mike Youkee (Head of Housing Initiatives at Quintain Estates and Development plc). The panel shared their experiences of low-carbon developments and low-carbon living before opening up for questions from the audience.

In summarising the event, I said that for me it had brought to mind four new C's, in addition to those from the four in the Quality Charter, that should be the focus of our work going forward:

• Creativity -  allowing innovative solutions to be developed, in part through using competition among architects and developers to yield good ideas.
• Carbon Pricing - agreeing on the costs of carbon pricing to provide a level playing field for all.
• Collaboration - between partners, stakeholders, and government to deliver the best possible results.
• Continuity - ensuring knowledge is retained to keep the delivery of long-term visions alive.

Four L's also came to mind:

• Localism - to unlock our local potential.
• Land - to identify where we have control of land and use this positively.
• Long term - to understand discount rates for new projects to help them secure financing.
• Leasehold - Sweden applies a different housing model to that of the UK, which could contribute to their ability to deliver such successful projects.

In addition to these general themes, I also concluded by suggesting that there are a number of practical ways we can take this forward as we consider future growth in Cambridgeshire. 

For Northstowe, we need to identify alternative infrastructure funding streams, such as ground rents on leasehold properties to generate revenue, and using publicly-owned land as a means of generating investment income, and through these mechanisms, consider how we can nurture an exemplary low-carbon community. 

For North West Cambridge all partners have an opportunity to work with the University to develop innovative low-carbon solutions in a unique environment, and in other major developments site we have the time to plan for low-carbon living upfront to guarantee best results.

And we can also play these issues into the emerging findings from Making Cambridgeshire Count, particularly in relation to the development of a better way of managing capital assets across the public sector.

23/10/2009 - Housing starts up

The National House Building Council has announced that in the third quarter of this year housing starts are up 4% - or in real terms, they received 24,136 applications to start building new homes across the country. Most notably, applications from private sector developers increased the most.

It is good to hear that housing starts are slowly starting to increase again, and this is something that Horizons and our partners monitor closely throughout the region. Demand for new and affordable homes is still strong, despite the current economic downturn, and therefore an increase in new starts, however small, is a step in the right direction to help us meet the requirements of local people.

16/10/2009 - Creative Exchange

Congratulations to the Creative Exchange in St Neots for winning the British Construction Industry Award for best Local Authority Building this week.

The Creative Exchange is an innovative building that provides shared workspaces for emerging creative workers and innovators. The project was part-funded by Growth Area Funding (GAF2), provided by Communities and Local Government and allocated by Cambridgeshire Horizons.

16/10/2009 - TCPA Workshop

Yesterday I travelled down to London to give a talk to planning colleagues from North London about the wide variety of work we carry out here in Cambridgeshire and how this might be helpful to their emerging plans for closer working across their respective boroughs. The workshop, organised by the TCPA, focussed particularly on how best to carry out infrastructure planning, and finding means of delivering against those plans.

At the event, I had the chance to catch up with Gideon Amos, Chief Executive of the TCPA, and Keith Holland, Interim Head of Profession at the Planning Inspectorate. It was heartening that they publicly complimented the work we have been co-ordinating in partnership with our local authority colleagues around joined-up infrastructure planning through our Integrated Development Programme and our focus on quality through the Quality Charter. We all strive to be leaders in our field, so it is good to hear that our work is being heralded as good practice for other parts of the country.

14/10/2009 - Mediatheque opening

Last night my colleague, John Onslow, made a trip to the new Cambridge Central Library to witness the launch of the East of England's Mediatheque - an excellent new cultural facility that provides free public access to over 1,500 complete films and TV programmes from the British Film Institute's National Archives.

The new Central Library is a fantastic cultural resource for the City and surrounding area. As well as its extensive collection of fiction and non-fiction books, music and films, it also offers a hi-tech learning centre, plays host to the Cambridgeshire Collection (a world renowned archive), and will also be host exhibitions, author talks, workshops and educations events throughout the year. You can find out more about the library here.

13/10/2009 - Council votes in favour of TIF bid

Today we have received the welcome news that Cambridgeshire County Council's Cabinet has voted in favour of a proposal to bid for Transport Innovative Funding (TIF) from the Department for Transport (DfT), following recommendations from the recent Transport Commission.

It is critical that we have means of upgrading public transport to enable people to easily access and use forms of transport other than their car, if we are to achieve of aim of delivering truly sustainable growth, particularly in and around Cambridge.

The bid to the DfT could mean over £500 million worth of additional funding for Cambridgeshire, to put towards local transport improvements to help ease congestion in the City. As a part of the agreement, congestion charging could be implemented should congestion levels reach an agreement level after improvements have been made to local transport infrastructure. You can read more about the proposal here.

13/10/2009 - Trumpington Meadows moves another step closer

Trumpington Meadows, a major new development on the Southern Fringe of Cambridge, has moved a step closer after it was granted outline planning permission by the Joint Development Control Committee on Friday.

This development is significant in two ways. The first is its ability to deliver a high quality new community of 1,200 new homes (of which 40% will be affordable), community facilities, a primary school and a 60-hectare country park. The second is the landmark deal that has been struck between Horizons, bpha (representing Cambridgeshire Partnerships), and the developers/ owners of the site - Grosvenor and the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS).

The agreement, put in place by the team here at Horizons, provides Grosvenor and USS with a £4.5 million loan from Housing Growth Fund monies, to ensure an agreed rate of home building and the delivery of a new primary school with community facilities in the first phase of the development. Most importantly of all, the loan will be repaid (with interest) when homes start to be sold, which will allow us to reinvest the money in future developments. I believe that this flexible approach to the use of Housing Growth Funds is the first of its kind in the country, and is a testament to the innovative work being carried out here at Horizons to ensure the delivery of much-needed new homes and facilities in the local area.

Subject to the submission of a reserved matters planning application, work could start onsite in mid-2010.

08/10/2009 - City Scrutiny

On Tuesday morning I was at the Guildhall in Cambridge city centre to speak to the City Council's Scrutiny Committee about the work of Horizons, and specifically about innovative financing proposals that could help to bring forward work to improve the Station Road and Hills Road area of the City, and to create better links between the station and the City Centre which would benefit local businesses, residents and visitors.

The proposed scheme, which we are working on with the Joint Urban Design Team, could potentially be funded by a Tax Increment Financing pilot. Members showed great interest in the scheme, and asked a number of challenging questions which will help to improve the proposals.

Later that day I travelled to Wisbech to discuss a new project at Fenland District Council known as Shaping Fenland, which focuses on planning for the future of the district, working in partnership with other organisations to ensure a good quality of life is available for Fenland residents. It was a very useful meeting, and we look forward to working further with Fenland District Council on this project in the near future.

07/10/2009 - Health on the agenda

This Monday I joined colleagues from across the East of England at a joint GO-East/NHS event entitled 'Quality of Life and the Built Environment: Health, Planning and Transport Working Together'.

After an inspiring introduction from Barbara Follett, Regional Minister, a group of professionals from a wide range of sectors tried to come up with ways in which we can better work together to improve quality of life for people across the region.

As a part of the day I helped to facilitate a workshop on "active transport" and how this can be part of the solution to healthier lifestyles. I suggested that initiatives such as the Cambridgeshire Quality Charter for Growth could help to join up these agendas, and that such issues should also be part of the wider initiatives across the region looking at how to make best use of available resources as we face a more challenging funding environment. It was good to hear different perspectives on this issue, in particular from NHS professionals, to help us continue to refine our plans for the future.

06/10/2009 - From Finland to Fenland

Fenland District Council were keen to find out more about the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and related Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) work that we have been carrying out here at Horizons, so I made a trip to March with Project Manager Anna Keyes to meet with the Corporate Management Team to discuss these with them.

It was useful to spend time with Fenland Chief Executive Tim Pilsbury and his team, and we received lots of support for the principle of the CIL/ Tariff approach. We look forward to continuing to work with Fenland District Council colleagues on the Shaping Fenland project in the future, which will link into the IDP and the CIL work as it develops.

You can find out more about the IDP here and the CIL here.

02/10/2009 - Finnish visitors

Earlier this week I had a very interesting meeting with Dr Marti Launonen and Dr Jukka Viitanen from the Finnish Agency for Technology and Innovation (Tekes). Marti and Jukka are over in the UK to research what makes high-tech clusters, such as Cambridge, work. They were particularly interested in what Horizons is trying to do to ensure the delivery of new homes and infrastructure, recognising that this is critical for the continued growth of the Cambridge phenomenon and the related economic prosperity this brings.

Marti and Jukka have knowledge of clusters around the world, including Silicon Valley, Boston and Bangladesh, so it was good to exchange ideas and views about high-tech clusters, and discuss the future of Cambridge in the context of growing clusters from other parts of the world.

It was clear that their research shows that perceptions of quality of life, and the ability to live in an affordable home close to places of work are key factors driving the location decisions of highly skilled workers in these industries, and that "Silicon Fen" needs to enhance its offer if it is to remain competitive in an increasingly globalised industry.

25/09/2009 - Horizons Board meeting

Thursday called for an early start as I spent the morning warming up the crowd at the CLG and Government Offices Planners Conference at Christ's College in Cambridge in a joint presentation with Paul Mumford, our Lead Project Manager here at Horizons. We provided an overview of the growth agenda in Cambridgeshire, including the wide variety of work we carry out here at Horizons to move forward the delivery of sustainable new communities, and shared some of the ideas we have been developing about different options for funding the infrastructure we need to support new homes, likely to be particularly important over the coming years as public funds will be very tightly constrained.

After a few questions I rushed off to Cambourne for the Cambridgeshire Horizons Board Meeting. As ever, it was extremely useful to gain feedback from our Board Members, particularly on the progress we have made with the Integrated Development Plan and Variable Tariff proposals. We will now continue our work on these areas, with a view to taking the final proposal document for approval at our next Board meeting.

17/09/2009 - Symposium on regional development

This morning I was up bright and early to attend a symposium on regional development, hosted by Cambridge Past, Present and Future (formerly the Cambridge Preservation Society), and part sponsored by Horizons, at the Centre for Mathematical Sciences in Cambridge.

The symposium took place under the title of "Developing the East of England: How to avoid throttling the goose", and I was happy to talk, alongside a distinguished range of speakers, about the Cambridgeshire Quality Charter for Growth, and the role it plays in ensuring new developments consider, and deliver, the vital four C's: Climate, Community, Connectivity and Character.

The event was well attended by around 100 delegates from across the East of England, and forms part of Urban Design Week. This evening a Tall Building's debate is taking place at the same venue, and I look forward to hearing more about the debate from colleagues who are attending.

16/09/2009 - National Planning School

Last week I travelled down to Exeter to take part in the National Planning School. Along with representatives from the Homes and Communities Agency and Swindon Borough Council, I took part in a panel debate focussing on the delivery of new homes and infrastructure in the current difficult economic climate.

We took plenty of questions from the floor, with a number focussing on Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) - an area of great interest to us here at Horizons.

Overall it was a very well attended event, with delegates from across the country, and I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to take part.

08/09/2009 - Cambridge Past, Present and Future (or Cambridge PPF).

I was honoured to be asked to speak at last night's relaunch of the Cambridge Preservation Society at the Guildhall. The Society will now be known as Cambridge Past, Present and Future (or CambridgePPF).

This name change is important, as the Society is not anti-growth, but  is rather seeking to influence positively the way that the Cambridge  area will grow and develop, to ensure it remains the special place it is today.

My fellow speakers and panel members were Nigel Brown, Chairman of the Greater Cambridge Partnership and President of CambridgePPF, Antoinette Jackson, Chief Executive of the City Council, and Jonathan Nicholls, Registrary of the University of Cambridge, and the event was very well chaired by Robin Pellew, Chair of the Society.

I tried to give an overview of the growth plans for the Cambridge area in my comments, picking up the underlying spatial strategy that was agreed by our local politicians in the 2003 Structure Plan, and also stressing the focus on quality that we have set out through the Quality Charter for Growth, with its focus on the 4 "Cs" of Community, Character, Climate and Connectivity that I believe are the key ingredients for delivering high-quality, sustainable communities where people want to live and work.

The event was very well attended (over 250 people) with some interesting and challenging questions from the floor. I was left with the feeling that people generally accept the need for growth, but are rightly concerned that the quality of new developments must be improved, that the infrastructure to support the level of growth expected needs to come forward, and that some of the knottier issues, such as how to resolve the transport problems within the city centre need a lot more work to get right.

The challenge before us is not easy. But it is one that I believe we can rise to in this area, not least through working as effectively as we can across the public sector to shape the new developments that will come forward, and I believe that the constructive, but challenging, views that CambridgePPF will feed into this process can help us to achieve our shared objectives of making sure that the Cambridge area is an even better place in which to live and work in the future. "

03/09/2009 - Meeting the new graduates

This morning I had the opportunity to meet with the new intake of graduates working for Cambridgeshire County Council.

This was their third day, and they are in the middle of a comprehensive initial training period where lots of information will be hitting them, so I just hope some of the messages I was trying to give them about the growth agenda and its implications for public services have stuck!

It was an enjoyable session, ranging across the issues of population growth and demographic change, the costs and difficulties of delivering infrastructure, the strong demand for housing at all levels of the market, the importance of strengthening partnership working, and a discussion on how innovative financing options could help us to meet the challenges of a tighter public funding position in the future. There were some good and insightful questions from the group at the end of my talk - all bodes well for the future of the County Council!

28/08/2009 - In the news this week

My first week back from holiday has been as busy as expected. In addition to attending various meetings and writing and reviewing papers for Board and JSGIC, I have been taking time to catch up with the latest news, and two stories in particular have caught my eye.

The first was the news from Nationwide and the Land Registry, who both announced that average house prices have increased for the fourth consecutive month. Whilst prices are still much lower than this time last year, a small, but steady increase in average house prices may add some stability to the housing market overall and improve the prospects for development moving on.

The second piece of interesting news came from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), who announced population growth figures for the UK, which have exceed 61 million for the first time. Overall the population of Cambridgeshire has increased at almost twice the rate of the UK average, growing 1.3% between mid 2007 and mid 2008 compared to 0.7% nationally. Figures across the districts vary from a 2.3% population growth in Cambridge and around 1.5% in both South and East Cambridgeshire through to 0.43% growth in Fenland.

These figures underpin research we have carried out into housing need, which proves that there is still a high demand for housing, in particular affordable housing, across the county. This is why, despite the economic downturn, we must remain focussed on our to work to help drive forward the delivery of sustainable new communities across the county, and particularly in the areas of most acute need.

24/08/2009 - Back in the office

It's my first day back in the office after two very pleasant weeks away in Kent and then Derbyshire, finished off nicely by a day at the Oval yesterday seeing England regain the Ashes! Ploughing through the usual mountains of email now and catching up on developments with colleagues in the office. September looks likely to be a particularly busy month.

06/08/2009 - A varied day

Today is my last day in the office before my summer holiday, and it has been a busy day.

This morning I had the opportunity to catch up with URBED, the organisation that helped Horizons and the local authorities to create the Cambridgeshire Quality Charter for Growth. We have been running a series of Masterclasses to share the experiences of others who have delivered exemplar new communities across Europe with colleagues from local authorities, housing associations and other interested partners. The meeting was a good opportunity to review this ongoing work of embedding the Quality Charter, and to reflect upon new ways to spread the message!

I also chaired two important meetings: the second to discuss progress on Cambridge East and the ongoing consideration of options for the relocation of Marshall Aerospace to enable that development to proceed, and the first concerning the position in relation to the developments planned for the Southern Fringe of Cambridge.

I am now busy replying to some final emails before heading off to Kent on holiday. I will be back and blogging in two weeks time.

03/08/2009 - NHS Cambridgeshire

Over the weekend I received the good news that after a recent selection interview process, I have been appointed as a Non-Executive Director of NHS Cambridgeshire.

I hope that my previous positions in central and local Government, and knowledge of the proposed population growth for the County, will also be of assistance to NHS Cambridgeshire going forward.

This new role will also help Horizons to continue to build stronger links between NHS Cambridgeshire, the six Cambridgeshire local authorities and other organisations associated with the delivery of sustainable new communities across the County. In addition to providing me and the team with a better insight into this key partner.

The post starts immediately, and I will be working for NHS Cambridgeshire for approximately two days per month going forward. I am now looking forward to attending my first meeting when I return from my summer break.

27/07/2009 - Investment in rental market

It appears that the financial markets are starting to experience an awakening of sorts to the opportunities that housing can offer as an investment, as today Aviva announced plans to set up a £1bn to purchase rental properties.

Aviva, in conjunction with CB Richard Ellis, are looking to purchase and rent out purpose-built residential blocks of 100 or more units in the south-east, close to major transport routes and on regeneration sites that may have stalled in the current economic downturn.

This kind of institutional investment offers a great opportunity for developers to sell on large numbers of new built properties to a single purchaser, whilst the investor potentially benefits from block purchasing discounts and income from the currently buoyant rental market.

I will continue to watch such developments in the investment market with interest, particularly as I believe, and indeed noted in my speech at our conference earlier this year, that Cambridgeshire could be another prime area for such an investment opportunity.

21/07/2009 - £6m cut to funding

On Friday last week we received the shocking news that the Cambridgeshire Housing Growth Fund (HGF) capital allocation for 2010-11 will be cut from £13,772,524 to £7,794,623 - a loss of £6 million.

The fund, which is administered by our team here at Horizons, is used to support the delivery of much needed new homes and infrastructure across the county and significant cutbacks could now need to be made as a result of this considerable reduction in funding.

Our Chairman, Sir David Trippier, neatly sums up what this means for Cambridgeshire: "I am shocked and disgusted that money allocated to the delivery of new homes in Cambridgeshire now looks as if it will be taken away at this late stage by CLG to fund other initiatives across the country. We have an excellent track record in helping deliver government targets for new homes, and facilities, and this withdrawal of funding puts these plans in jeopardy."

"Much of the money we had been allocated for 2010-11 has already been ear-marked to a range of vital schemes which are due to deliver significant numbers of new homes over the coming years, and we must now go back to the drawing board if CLG carries through its proposal to cut our funding by £6 million."

We now await details of a short formal consultation exercise, and will continue to work in partnership with the six Cambridgeshire local authorities to ensure our voices are heard loud and clear on this matter.

17/07/2009 - BRE visit

On Thursday 16th July Cambridgeshire Horizons organised a visit to BRE Innovation Park in Watford and New Hall in Harlow. Watch our video to find out more.

14/07/2009 - Going back to University

Yesterday I was at Cambridge University to speak to students undertaking a Masters in Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment (IDBE), a course run by Sebastian MacMillan. I doubled up with Peter Studdert, the Director of Joint Planning for the Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire major growth sites, to give an overview of the growth story in Cambridgeshire.

Peter's session gave an overview of joint planning arrangements and the strategy for the growth of Cambridgeshire. My session focussed on how we will deliver the planned growth, whilst maintaining our quality aspirations, in the light of a much changed economic climate.

At the end of my talk, the students asked some very interesting questions, and I hope Peter and I gave them an insight into the "real world" issues we are dealing with, which will help them as they continue their studies.

12/07/2009 - CPRE AGM

On Thursday night I had the pleasure of travelling out to Milton Country Park to speak at the Cambridgeshire branch of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England's (CPRE) AGM. It was good to talk to people who are working hard to preserve the quality of our countryside - something that Horizons also cares greatly about, and hopefully this came across in my presentation.

The CPRE group were very welcoming, and kindly gave me some good feedback, as well as keeping me on my toes by asked me some interesting questions on a range of topics at the end of the presentation.

09/07/2009 - A visit from the Chancellor

Today, Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, took time out of his busy schedule to visit Cambridge for a lunchtime meeting with a select bunch of business and public sector representatives.

Over lunch, Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of Cambridgeshire County Council, and I took the opportunity to stress the importance of two key issues to the Chancellor. Firstly, the importance of Government as a whole supporting the Homes and Communities Agency in the development of Northstowe, and the opportunity we have to deliver an exemplar new low carbon community there. Secondly, the work we have carried out in relation to Tax Increment Financing as a new means of funding infrastructure which is critical to sustainable growth, and which we are keen to take forward as a pilot in Cambridgeshire.

I was lucky enough to be invited to the lunch, and then facilitated one of the roundtable discussions that followed at the Town Hall Meeting, hosted by the Chancellor and the Minister for the East of England, Barbara Follett. Our roundtable discussion focussed on the importance of investing in vocational skills training during the recession, in particular Further Education Colleges. Via the feedback session we urged the Chancellor to look for ways in which capital programmes for places such as the College of West Anglia (COWA) and Hunts Regional College (HRC) could be reinstated to ensure the continued development of skills within the county.

07/07/2009 - Tariff talks

Two events to discuss our tariff proposals this week, the first in London on Monday with the Planning Officers' Society, the second at the National Housing Federation's Regeneration and Development Conference at the University of Warwick today.

At each event, I had been asked to speak about the work we have been doing on a Variable Rate Tariff on new developments, how this might link with the government's proposed Community Infrastructure Levy, and what the implications are for section 106 and the delivery of affordable housing.

Both events were well attended. The first was naturally made up of planners, the second drew representatives from housing associations and others involved in the industry.

What I found most useful was the quality of the questions from the audiences, and these, and subsequent discussions have given me food for thought as we develop our proposals further.

01/07/2009 - Horizons Board

Today we took a trip to the South Fens Business Centre in Chatteris for the Cambridgeshire Horizons Board. As ever, there was useful debate and feedback from our Board Members on a range of issues including the delivery of major development sites, the draft Flood and Water Management Bill, the East of England Development Plan, and agreement to an awayday to discuss future direction, and support for the ongoing work on introducing a tariff on all development in Cambridgeshire.

30/06/2009 - Reception at No 10

On a glorious summer evening on Monday I was at a reception at 10 Downing Street along with a number of the key people across the country involved in housing delivery. The Prime Minister, Secretary of State John Denham and Housing Minister John Healey hosted the reception which included speeches from the PM and John Healey about the announcement of additional money for new affordable homes to rent or buy over the next two years.

Additional funding to support affordable housing is very welcome, but I hope that the new money can be coupled with greater flexibility for the Homes and Communities Agency over funding, so that, for example, if the best way to unlock housing delivery is through infrastructure investment, then that would be a legitimate use of funds rather than these being ringfenced purely for affordable housing units and nothing else.

I was able to speak briefly with the PM, and pressed upon him the importance of moving ahead with delivering Northstowe as a prototype eco-town, which could represent a new way of living and which enjoyed broad support locally. I also had a chat with John Healey, where I followed up on our earlier conversations about tax increment financing, and said that Cambridgeshire would be submitting a bid to be included as a pilot scheme.

There was also the chance to look around the buildings and see the Cabinet Room, where I also had the chance to catch up with John Cross and David Orr to talk about new ways of delivering affordable housing in the changed economic environment.

All in all, a good evening, and out in time to meet a friend for a drink and see Andy Murray win his match under lights at Wimbledon!

29/06/2009 - From London to Peterborough

On Thursday I appeared as a speaker at not one, but two conferences. For the first, I travelled down to London by train for the Interpreting the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) conference to discuss Planning and Budgeting for CIL. It was reassuring to hear that the main points being considered by colleagues across the country, and at CLG, as they develop CIL chime with the work we have been carrying out in Cambridgeshire.

It seems clear to me that CIL will be a better system than the current negotiated Section 106 arrangements, making the system fairer, more transparent, and more predictable. Regulations on CIL are expected this summer, and I look forward to reading them.

After a quick bite to eat I was then on another train, this time back to Peterborough to appear as the keynote speaker at the Greater Peterborough Partnership (GPP) Annual Forum 2009. The focus of this year's event was Peterborough working with its neighbours, such as Horizons. Not only did the event consider the interdependency of Peterborough and North Cambridgeshire, but also the potential for joining together with its neighbours to work through wider issues such as the environment, transport, and housing growth.

After my speech I had the opportunity to talk to the new Leader of Peterborough City Council, Marco Cereste, Richard Astle, Chair of the GPP, and also John Bridge, who is both Chair of Opportunity Peterborough and a member of the Cambridgeshire Horizons Board. After such an energising afternoon, I look forward to working further with Peterborough colleagues in the future.

25/06/2009 - Water works

Managing our water resources is a key element of delivering sustainable communities, particularly in the East of England where we have low levels of rainfall and high levels of flood risk. This is why I took the train to Peterborough yesterday to attend the Water for People and the Environment event held by the Environment Agency. Here at Horizons we are working with a range of partners to carry out "Water Cycle Strategies" which will help to ensure we fully understand the impact of new communities on local water systems,and to identify ways in which we can help to minimise the impact these new homes will have on those water systems.

Whilst this work is very important in itself, another large part of the challenge is to change everyone's perception of water, so that we value it more and waste it less.

The concept of making best use of water and adapting to climate change was a strong theme of the day. The "green infrastructure" work (that's code for a range of open spaces, dykes, fens and other green areas) that David Bethell leads for us is important not only for water management and biodiversity, especially in the wetlands such as Great Fen and Wicken Fen, but also for their ability to act as carbon sinks to help us continue to tackle climate change.

Overall, it was a really good event with delegates from a wide range of interests including farmers, Natural England, water companies, consumer groups, and local authorities, just to name a few! I now look forward to continuing to build on our good relations with the Environment Agency to see how we can make a real difference to preserving our precious water assets and reducing the climate change impacts of water.

18/06/2009 - Conference success!

As promised, I am reporting back on our annual conference that took place yesterday. Over 250 delegates joined us at Robinson College for what proved to be an invigorating morning.

We were privileged to have Kate Barker open the conference, with a fascinating overview of the state of the housing market nationally, and laid down some challenges as to how we need to look for different ways of delivering new housing in the right places. Sir David then gave his annual review, highlighting successes such as Orchard Park in Cambridge and Love's Farm in St Neots, but also pointing out the very real difficulties we've encountered as a result of the downturn. My speech focussed on innovative finance, and the need to return greater control over funding and decision making to the local level.

After a welcome break for coffee and the chance to take in the excellent range of exhibitors on show in the Dining Hall, we reconvened for John Cross to address us on what housing associations are doing to respond to the recession, including some warnings about the potential impact on housing associations' ability to support development if their rental incomes are reduced. To wrap up the main conference we were treated to a tour de force from Wulf Daseking, Director of City Planning and Development for the City of Freiburg, who gave a real insight into how Freiburg had delivered significant growth whilst enhancing the quality of the existing city, and making real progress towards low carbon lifestyles.

I'm really grateful to all of the speakers, exhibitors, delegates, and to the Horizons team for combining to make this such a memorable event. All we have to do now is put all of these great ideas into action!

You can view copies of all the main speeches and presentations by clicking here.

17/06/2009 - Trumpington Meadows announcement

Watch the announcement - Trumpington Meadows announcement - 17th June 2009

If you are having trouble viewing this video clip, please click here to watch via YouTube.

16/06/2009 - Conference preparations

Well the office has been a hive of activity today as we prepare for tomorrow's annual conference. Everyone has been pulling together to ensure it all goes smoothly, and I am hoping that it will be a great event again this year. Sir David Trippier and I have put the finishing touches to our speeches, and while Laura and her excellent team are ensuring that the venue and practical arrangements are all in hand (no mean feat), I am about to head off for the pre-conference dinner with some of our Horizons Board Members and our guest speakers, Kate Barker, Wulf Daseking and John Cross.

Look at my blog tomorrow to hear how things went!

15/06/2009 - New rail links for Wisbech?

The Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) have called for an expansion of the existing rail network, including a new railway station at Wisbech. The proposed new Wisbech station would provide an hourly service to March and Peterborough, and create an easy link onwards to Cambridge and the Midlands.

The ATOC believe the creation of 14 extra lines and around 40 addition stations will cost £500m, and create capacity for an additional one million passengers per year, with the Wisbech project estimated to require £12m of capital investment.

New rail links to Wisbech would undoubtedly help to support the regeneration of the area, and would also provide a good opportunity to deliver sustainable new communities, that is well supported by the appropriate infrastructure. Therefore, I await any updates on these plans with great interest.

05/06/2009 - Delivering in the downturn and preparing for recovery

This morning I attended a regional summit at Homerton College hosted by the East of England Development Agency (EEDA), in conjunction with the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

The event focussed on three key themes; delivery through the downturn, collaboration, and gearing up for the future, and included speeches from Deborah Cadman OBE (Chief Executive of EEDA), and Sir Bob Kerslake (Chief Executive of the HCA).

It was an excellent opportunity to meet up with Local Authority Chief Executives, key regional partners and agencies, central government departments, and other Local Delivery Vehicles. We discussed the differing impacts the economic downturn has had across the region and the need to more effectively co-ordinate at a local level what will be a very limited amount of public funding in the future.

It was also a welcome chance to think further about innovative ways that Horizons can help to deliver sustainable new communities during the downturn, and also to ensure all public sector organisations are prepared for the recovery period, whenever it may be.

03/06/2009 - Luminus Conference

This morning I was delighted to attend, as a guest, one of Luminus' Monthly Conferences in Huntingdon. Luminus, one of our key local housing association partners, has a remarkably energetic and friendly feel to it, which started with a warm welcome I received at the door and carried on through to the presentations and networking lunch that followed. The team is clearly very focussed on trying to help their tenants to improve their quality of life, and on creating a strong sense of community.

I hope that my conversation with Chan Abraham, Luminus Group Chief Executive, will provide a strong basis for working well with Luminus, along with our other housing association partners, in the future.

Just before I left I had a chat with Nigel Finney, Executive Director (Operations), who had picked up on the comments I had recently made in my blog about Tax Increment Financing (TIF) - so thanks Nigel, it's good to know at least one person is reading my blog!!

28/05/2009 - BPF Regeneration Manifesto

Yesterday morning I attended the launch of the British Property Federation's (BPF) Regeneration Manifesto, held at CB Richard Ellis's offices in London. The event included a range of interesting speakers including Francis Salway (President of BPF), Liz Peace (Chief Exec of BPF) and Ken Dytor, the chairman of the BPF's regeneration and development committee.

The BPF's manifesto makes five recommendations to sustain growth and regeneration and pave the way for recovery, and two in particular are close to our hearts. The first objective is to revisit the application of the public procurement laws on regeneration and development schemes, including asking the government to publish guidance about the Roanne ruling, which is currently having a negative effect on many developments.

The second objective calls on the government to use innovative funding streams, such as Tax Increment Financing (TIF), to assist growth and regeneration, and to launch pilot schemes in the UK. Ever since I visited Portland Oregon in 2007, where they used TIF to massively improve public transport and public space in what is now a very successful city with an enviable quality of life, I have been convinced that we should be doing the same in the UK. In essence, the TIF mechanism allows local areas to borrow money to put in things like new public transport systems and to repay the borrowing through the increases in tax revenues that result from the investments made. This is not currently possible as practically all the taxes collected locally are remitted to Her Majesty's Treasury and used for wider national spending priorities, rather than retained locally, and so they are not available to cover the cost of local borrowing. Since my arrival at Horizons we have been working with partners on TIF, alongside other innovative funding options to assist the delivery of sustainable new communities, which I believe could provide Cambridgeshire with a new stream of revenue to fund the delivery of much needed infrastructure to support future growth and economic prosperity.

So, I believe we can make common cause with BPF on these issues, and look forward to working with them over the coming months.

28/05/2009 - LAA Board

The LAA (Local Area Agreement) Board, known as Cambridgeshire Together, met yesterday afternoon at the Boathouse in Wisbech.

The Local Area Agreement is an official three year agreement between Cambridgeshire and Government, which provides a basis on which local authorities and partner bodies can work together to improve services for people across the county. The Board comprises elected members from the six Local Authorities, including Councillor Dr David Bard as the Horizons Board representative for the Growth Partnership group, and representatives from the Voluntary and Business Sectors, NHS Cambridgeshire, the Police and Fire & Rescue Authorities, Cambridge ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England), and the Association of Local Councils.

This was my first visit to Wisbech since the Boathouse opened and I was very impressed with the facilities, and the views of the river from the meeting room!

One of the key decisions from this meeting was the agreement to develop the existing Chief Executives Liaison Group (which I attend along with my local authority counterparts, the Chief Constable, the Chief Executive of NHS Cambridgeshire and the Chief Fire Officer) into a more focussed Public Service Board that will seek to work across organisational boundaries to deliver common goals and shared aims. This will enable organisations across the public sector to focus on delivering what the local community needs through joint working. I am really enthusiastic about the potential for this group to work with our local politicians to drive through significant improvements to public sector activity over the coming years, despite what is likely to be a period of much reduced funding given the poor state of the public finances.

20/05/2009 - Pipped at the post!

Cambridgeshire Horizons competed against Cambridge City Council in the annual City vs. Horizons Cricket Match last night. There was high drama on Parkers Piece with the City Council needing  three runs to win from the last ball of the match, which, with a scampered overthrow, they managed to get to see us  pipped at the post - and the City getting revenge for last year's game where we snatched victory on the final ball by just one run!

It was a great game played in a wonderfully friendly spirit, and a welcome opportunity to take on the City Team and to spend some time with Rob Hammond (Chief Executive of Cambridge City Council and Captain of the team, who is stepping down as Chief Exec next month and will be much missed (although he is threatening to continue cricketing!).

20/05/2009 - Development Industry Forum

This morning Sir David Trippier and John Onslow attended the Development Industry Forum held at Marshalls. The meeting brings together Cambridgeshire Horizons, the local authorities and the HCA with a range of local developers to discuss key issues. As you may expect, today focussed heavily on the current economic climate and how we might be able to work together to ensure the delivery of much needed new homes across the county through a variety of means. Ideas such as Local Asset Backed Vehicles and Variable Rate Tariff were also discussed, and more information about these concepts can be found here.

Cambridgeshire County Council also took the opportunity to update developers on the RSS review timetable, and opportunities to engage in the process. Further information about this can be found here.

17/05/2009 - Insight East

On Friday lunchtime Dr Glenn Athey, Director of Insight East, introduced himself and his organisation to the Horizons team. Insight East is a new initiative in the region  to establish a public-facing economic research unit for the region, and is part of the regional development agency, EEDA.

Glenn and his team are working hard to gather together a range of useful statistics at regional and sub-regional levels, and, crucially, short pieces of analysis drawn from the underlying data , including looking at issues such as unemployment figures, housing market information, and housing waiting list numbers to provide a clearer picture of the economy in the region, that will help to inform decision-making. Their work is of great interest to Horizons and our partners, and we welcomed the opportunity to meet Glenn and find out more about the research they are carrying out.

14/05/2009 - Opportunity Peterborough

Since the end of last year Cambridgeshire Horizons has extended our coverage area to mirror Cambridgeshire County Council boundaries, which means our border is now shared in the north west with Opportunity Peterborough.

In the spirit of partnership working, Sir David and I met with John Bridge, Chairman of Opportunity Peterborough, and Steve Compton, Chief Executive of Opportunity Peterborough, for dinner in Huntingdon Tuesday night, which was a good opportunity to talk about how our work may overlap, and new projects and concepts we are both progressing to ensure the continued delivery of sustainable new communities in the area. Knowledge sharing is a vital part of partnership working, and we look forward to continuing to work with Opportunity Peterborough in the future.

12/05/2009 - Talking tariff

I had an interesting meeting with the Cambridge Land Owners Group (CLOG) this morning where we discussed proposals for a Tariff on new developments in Cambridgeshire as a better way of collecting contributions from house builders towards the infrastructure we need. CLOG members raised a number of points which we will seek to build in to our analysis prior to presenting a paper to the Horizons Board in June.

08/05/2009 - Sustainable Urban Extension at St Neots

Proposals for a sustainable new development on the edge of St Neots were the focus of a meeting with colleagues from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and Huntingdonshire District Council earlier this week.

Our combined aspiration is to create a sustainable urban extension with renewal energy for the entire site at its heart, and this week's meeting helped to identify potential funding sources from Government to support a development that delivers both new homes and helps to meet climate change objectives.

One such funding source could be the 'eco-quarter' funding outlined by the Housing Minister last year. Work will now continue on the proposed scheme with all partners over the coming months. We all believe that a high quality new development, with green energy at its heart, and close to the historic centre and key transport links can bring benefits to the town as a whole. Any firm proposals would of course be subject to wide public consultation before any plans were firmed up.

02/05/2009 - Historic Towns Forum

The Historic Towns Forum came to Cambridge this week and invited me to speak at their conference, Historic Towns and Smarter Growth, about the partnership work we are carrying out across Cambridgeshire to deliver sustainable new communities.

The event was a great opportunity not only to reflect upon the growth of Cambridge, but also our other historic towns across the county, including Wisbech, Ely, March, Huntingdon, St Ives and St Neots. The conference served to reinforce the importance of partnership working in both the delivery of high quality homes and facilities, and also retaining the character of the historic towns that we are so lucky have in Cambridgeshire.

01/05/2009 - ICE for lunch

The Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE) invited me to attend a lunchtime networking session yesterday to discuss the future of housing and infrastructure funding in the light of the current economic climate. Whilst on the surface the future might seem gloomy, the need for continued investment in housing and infrastructure remains essential because it will help generate economic growth and tax revenues, as well as meeting the strong underlying demand for new homes, both affordable and market level, across the county.

An interesting debate then following on from the presentations, focussing on how both the public and private sectors can work together to create opportunities for sustainable growth despite the downturn.

24/04/2009 - Budget Day Debate

This week I was invited to join a Budget Day 'round table' discussion co-hosted by Mike Burton, Editor of the Municipal Journal, and Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of Cambridgeshire County Council. The event brought together colleagues from the public and private sectors, and from academia to discuss the appropriate role for local authorities during the recession.

A wide range of interesting views were shared, particularly around how to balance the need for efficiency gains across the board with an increased role for local authorities in stimulating the delivery of new homes and infrastructure as private sector money for long-term projects is less available. The need for new homes is as acute as ever in the local area, particularly as the availability of homes and good infrastructure form part of the basic platform we need for sound economic growth in the future.

One of the options to help Local Authorities deliver new homes and infrastructure could be Tax Increment Financing, which was mentioned as a possible option in the Budget. This would allow Local Areas to target interventions in a way that meets the needs of their community, as opposed to these decisions being made in Whitehall without the benefit of the detailed local knowledge. Horizons will be continuing to investigate opportunities for Tax Increment Financing and its potential application in the local area over the coming months with colleagues in the local authorities and in central Government.

Overall, the round table was a very enjoyable event and I look forward to seeing the report of the discussion in a future edition of the Municipal Journal.

23/04/2009 - Cambridge East

The Cambridge East Delivery Board met this week (Tuesday 21st April 2009) to consider progress on Cambridge East, and in particular how best to take forward relocation of Marshall's aerospace businesses following the decision that RAF Mildenhall is no longer a feasible option.

Representatives from Cambridgeshire Horizons, Marshall Group, Cambridge City Council, South Cambridgeshire District Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, GO-East, Cheffins (on behalf of local landowners the White family) and NHS Cambridgeshire were in attendance, and it was agreed that in future representatives from both Defence Estates and Huntingdonshire District Council would be invited to attend.

Following on from the announcement that RAF Mildenhall is no longer a viable relocation site for Marshall's aerospace businesses, discussions centred on the process for identifying and selecting an alternative preferred relocation site. The company has agreed to work with partners, including local and central government, to look at options for identifying potential relocation sites. This will lead to an interim report on progress to the Horizons Board meeting on 30th June 2009, with a further report going to the Horizons Board meeting in September.

22/04/2009 - Budget brings funding to support delivery of new houses

The Chancellor's Budget today was of course delivered in an extraordinary climate, and the headlines may be more about levels of borrowing rather than the measures announced about housing delivery. However, there were a number of initiatives announced to assist the delivery of sustainable new communities across the country.

Of particular interest to Horizons and its partners is the £500 million to kick-start stalled housing projects (which includes £100 million towards energy efficient houses), the £405 million to encourage low-carbon energy and green manufacturing, and the commitment to cut Britain's carbon emissions by 35% by 2020.

Cambridgeshire Horizons has already allocated tens of millions of Housing Growth Fund to help bring forward the delivery of new homes and related facilities in Cambridgeshire, as well as taking forward schemes to deliver low-carbon growth. We await further information on the Government's additional funding to see if this can enhance our ability to make progress, in partnership with local authorities and the Homes and Communities Agency, on the main development sites in the county.

Sustainable development plays a pivotal role in supporting the realisation of the carbon reduction targets, and the additional £1 million for local authorities to build energy efficient houses is a small but useful uplift to help push forward the implementation of new renewable energy and sustainable construction solutions. For example, we have been working with Huntingdonshire District Council to investigate the potential to deliver an eco-quarter development at St Neots, which would create a number of sustainable new homes.

Additional housing-related commitments in the Budget included the extension of the stamp duty holiday on properties sold for less than £175,000 until the end of 2009, a new scheme to guarantee securities backed by mortgages, and an additional £80 million for the Government's shared equity mortgage scheme, HomeBuy Direct.

All of these are welcome measures aimed at addressing the current housing market difficulties. However, the scale of the funding needed in Cambridgeshire alone shows that these initiatives cannot provide a solution to all of the problems we face. I was therefore also interested to note that, within the wider Budget documentation there is a reference to innovative financing mechanisms to support locally driven investment in growth and regeneration. The Government is saying it will work with interested local authorities to assess the scope for accelerating development by allowing investment in infrastructure to be financed from the increased property tax base that could be enabled by the existence of improved infrastructure, and that a report on the feasibility of piloting such an approach will be included in the 2009 Pre-Budget Report. This seems to tie in with proposals we have been making to Government colleagues to look at piloting a scheme known as "tax increment financing", which would allow local areas to issue bonds to fund infrastructure investment that would be repaid from an enhanced locally-controlled tax base, and which has been effective at delivering growth and regeneration in cities across the United States in recent years. I will be following this up at a meeting with Whitehall colleagues early next month.

21/04/2009 - Renewable Energy discussions

This afternoon I chaired a useful meeting to update partners on progress that has been made on the Northstowe Renewable Energy project. The meeting brought together Renewables East, the Joint Promoters (HCA and Gallagher Estates), Cambridgeshire Partnerships Limited (CPL), Cambridgeshire County Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council, to review progress and discuss the next steps forward.

Renewable energy and sustainability are central to the vision for Northstowe, and they will also form an integral part of all new communities in the future. Selecting the right solutions for each new community is a challenging task, and we are keen to gauge public opinion on the various renewable energy options available for new communities early in the process. This is why we have launched an online survey to find out your views on renewable energy use in new communities. To have your say please click here.

08/04/2009 - We all stand together...

Yesterday I chaired a meeting of the East of England Local Delivery Vehicles (LDVs), which brought together Chief Executives from across the region, along with the Homes and Communities Agency's Regional Director for the East of England, Terry Fuller. Terry gave us a very helpful description of how he sees the HCA developing in the future, how the HCA can engage with local areas most effectively to achieve shared goals, and agreed to attend future LDV meetings. Terry's comments and commitment to continued dialogue was very much welcomed by the entire group.

The meeting was also a great opportunity for us to come together in these difficult times and discuss how to work collaboratively to enhance our collective ability to deliver. By discussing options for overcoming the problems that are facing development projects in a different financial climate, we can help each other.

07/04/2009 - Still time to have your say

Over 100 people have already made their views on renewable energy use in new communities known via the Cambridgeshire Horizons and Renewables East online survey, with some interesting and useful questions being raised about different renewable energy options.

There is still time to have your say because the website will be open for another eight weeks. To have your say please visit www.cambridgeshirehorizons.co.uk/energysurvey

We look forward to hearing your views.

02/04/2009 - Surprise uplift in house prices

Nationwide has today announced a 'surprise bounce' in house prices in March, the first since October 2007. The increase itself is only small, 0.9%, but it does, for one month at least, seem to show a slow down in the freefall of property prices. Whilst we should treat this news with caution, I do hope it is a signal of more stable times on the horizon, particularly if there is also a return to sensible lending from the banking sector.

We will continue to monitor house price movements as reported by Nationwide and others, as well as following the more detailed local market analysis that Sue Beecroft, Housing Coordinator, carries out using the HomeTrack system.

01/04/2009 - Ashford come to town

Today we welcomed visitors from Ashford's Future and Ashford Borough Council to Cambridge to share views on the delivery of sustainable new communities.

David Hill, Chief Executive, Richard Alderton, Head of Planning from Ashford Borough Council, and Tom Dobrashian from Ashford's Future, the local delivery vehicle travelled up from Kent and met with the Horizons team and colleagues from Cambridgeshire County Council, Huntingdonshire District Council and Cambridge City Council. Our discussions covered a variety of topics, including our proposals for a Variable Rate Tariff and how we must still deliver quality in new developments, despite the economic downturn.

I then accompanied the team from Ashford, along with Geoff Bruce and Laura Halstead from Horizons, on a short tour of the local area, visiting the proposed site for Northstowe, Orchard Park, the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway and the Stirling Prize winning Accordia scheme.

Meeting with other local authorities and local delivery vehicles is always very useful, and today was no exception. Being able to share ideas and new concepts with other organisations that are also delivering high levels of growth, but struggling with the consequences of the recession, provides us with a useful third party perspective, and helps to clarify our own thinking on these important issues.

We look forward to working with Ashford in the future to develop our thinking and see how we can work together to achieve our shared goals.

30/03/2009 - New report on Cambridge launched today

A new report has been launched today by Centre for Cities - an independent urban policy research unit - calling on authorities in the wider Cambridge area to come together to tackle congestion charging and housing shortages now, or risk seeing Cambridge struggle to sustain its economic growth and quality of life in the future.

Some of this is not news! Horizons was created partly in recognition of the fact that the continued success of the local economy depends on delivering significant numbers of new homes and much-improved transport infrastructure, but this report provides some challenging analysis about particular elements of the response to these issues.

The team at Horizons will now consider this report, along with our partners, to ensure that we are doing all we can to deliver the planned growth in a way that counteracts the effects of the recession as far as possible, whilst retaining our focus on reducing environmental impacts and meeting the housing needs of the people of Cambridgeshire.

To read the full report click here.

29/03/2009 - Dinner at Kings College

Friday night saw me dressed up in my finery to attend the Cambridge Forum for the Construction Industry (CFCI) annual awards dinner at Kings College. Cambridgeshire Horizons hosted a small table for some of our key partners, including the Homes and Communities Agency, Cambridgeshire County Council, the Environment Agency, Anglia Ruskin University and Huntingdonshire District Council. As ever it was a great event, despite some inevitable concern in the room about the economic climate for construction, and provided ample opportunities to network with various construction industry colleagues from across the county.

25/03/2009 - The Horizons Board

The Cambridgeshire Horizons Board met this morning for a very important session to discuss a range of issues, including a package of proposals to respond to the current economic climate, and how we can make best use of the public resources we have at our disposal.

Sue Beecroft, our housing specialist, gave a very helpful update on housing targets which sparked an interesting discussion on where we currently stand. Completions appear to be holding up, but worryingly starts on site are down to just 54 starts in quarter three of 2008/9 compared with an average of 400 in previous quarters. Discussions around these figures led on to interesting discussions on investment proposals.

First and foremost, the Board agreed the principle for the allocation of the Housing Growth Fund (HGF) monies for 2009/10 and 2010/11. A flexible fund of £13.5m will be targeted to help bring forward the delivery of new homes and facilities in the county. £7.75m will be allocated towards projects to support growth in Market Towns, £3m towards projects that progress the implementation of Northstowe, £1.5m to the Cambridge Gateway CIF project, and a further £1.5m towards a climate change education and enterprise project in Cambridge, and £3m towards quality of life projects, and specifically green infrastructure projects. For further details on the allocation click here.

This was followed by a long, but excellent quality debate, amongst the Board regarding the Variable Rate Tariff - a new mechanism so that each new house pays something towards the infrastructure needed to support our growing population (as opposed to the current system which only covers around 60% of new developments across the county). This charge will vary across the county to reflect the difference in house prices and land values (so a house in central Cambridge would pay more than a house in rural Fenland for example) and would be subject to regular review. The Board resolved for the work on Variable Rate Tariff to be taken forward by Horizons.

The Board also supported the Cambridgeshire Prospectus, with a particularly welcome response from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) who are keen to work with us on this pilot of their 'single conversation' approach. Furthermore, the Board welcomed the concept of the Integrated Development Plan (IDP), with agreement that further refinement is required.

And finally, the Board discussed a proposal to carry out further research into the potential to set up a Local Asset Based Vehicle (LABV). The Board recognised that the appetite for private sector investment is low at the moment, therefore we will keep looking at the options for LABV, but it won't be an immediate solution to the current economic climate.

24/03/2009 - Speaking to RICS

Last night I had the opportunity to speak to members of RICS - the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors - in Cambridge about growth plans for the county. After my presentation we had a very interesting question and answer session that spanned a broad range of topics from congestion and housing growth targets through to funding and the recession.

It is always useful to meet with professionals who work within the building sector, and I am looking forward to speaking with more RICS colleagues in the near future after being invited back to give the presentation to another group of professionals.

23/03/2009 - Discussing growth in Huntingdonshire

I was in Huntingdon today to discuss the changing face of the growth agenda with colleagues from Huntingdonshire District Council. We met in the marvellous (indeed award-winning) surroundings of the Papworth Trust's Saxongate building, the community learning centre in the middle of town.

This was a very useful session with representatives from a range of disciplines across the District Council, and we talked a lot about different ways of delivering affordable housing, the low-carbon opportunities from proposals such as the St Neots eco-quarter, and how Huntingdonshire can position itself to make the most of its economic opportunities and to increase the number of jobs it can support over the coming years.

I am grateful to David Monks, Chief Executive of HDC, and his team for their time and constructive engagement in these important issues. We will be working closely with Huntingdonshire as we firm up our investment priorities over the coming weeks.

21/03/2009 - What a week

One of the brilliant things about being Chief Executive of Cambridgeshire Horizons is that there is never a dull moment. This week has been exceptionally interesting, but also incredibly busy.

On Tuesday I travelled down to London for three key meetings. First up was a meeting down on the South Bank with Hannah Brown and Lena Tochterman from the independent think-tank, the Centre for Cities. Cambridge is one of 8 cities that the Centre has been researching to assess their future economic prospects, and I spent some time discussing their emerging finidngs. We are expecting the report in the next week or so.

I then walked in glorious sunshine across Waterloo Bridge to meet with Ray Mills, Ben Harrison and James Bailey from PWC, who have been working with us, alongside Denton Wilde Sapte as our legal advisers, on a proposal for Variable Rate Tariff for Cambridgeshire - a new way to collect financial contributions from new homes to fund the services and facilities that are needed. We will be suggesting to the Horizons Board meeting next week (Wednesday 25th) that we should consult on introducing a new mechanism so that each new house pays something towards the infrastructure needed to support our growing population (as opposed to the current system which only covers around 60% of new developments across the county). This charge will vary across the county to reflect the difference in house prices and land values (so a house in central Cambridge would pay more than a house in rural Fenland for example) and would be subject to regular review.

Later that day I headed across town for lunch with Kate Barker, Member of the Monetary Policy Committee Member, author of the 2004 Review of UK Housing Supply and the 2006 Land Use Planning Report, Board Member of the Homes and Communities Agency, and Chair of Governors at Anglia Ruskin University, to name buy a few of the hats she wears on a daily basis! I've known Kate since her time as Chief Economist at the CBI, when I was working on reforming the corporation tax regime, and we had a fascinating discussion about the impact of the economic downturn, the importance of maintaining a focus on the structural problems we face (particularly in the south and east) about insufficient housing supply and affordability, ways in which both quality and sustainability can continue to be delivered in the current climate, and the disciplinary system employed by the Football Association.

Aside from my visit to London, this week has seen the Horizons team and me working really hard to finalise and distribute papers for next week's Horizons Board meeting, and many of us are now busily putting the finishing touches to presentations to support those papers. I also had a fascinating meeting with Stephen Macaulay, Paul Spoerry and Mark Hinman at Oxford East Archaeology to discuss archaeology issues in the county and their relationship to developing new communities with a sense of their own history, and a very useful catch up with Cllr Sian Reid., Executive Member for Growth and Environment at the City Council to discuss growth in the City and some forthcoming work on renewable energy solutions.

And the sun has still kept shining and the blossom outside the Horizons office is looking lovely!

19/03/2009 - Key statistics out this week

Reading the news today two very interesting sets of statistics have been published that could impact upon the work of Horizons in the future.

The first is the National Housing Federation's warning that housing waiting lists in England will reach record levels in 2011. An additional 200,000 people are expected to join the waiting list over the next two years, taking the overall number up to around two million people. These national trends are reflected here in Cambridgeshire, and underline the need to maintain the focus on delivering more new homes in Cambridgeshire - in particular affordable homes.

The second news came from the Office of National Statistics yesterday, when it announced the latest national unemployment figures. The February figures for Cambridgeshire show that 9,320 people now claim Job Seekers Allowance (JSA), an increase of 1,593 people, which equates to 2.5% of working age adults.

Bad news of course, especially if you are one of those affected. But Cambridgeshire is still faring better than the rest of the region, and indeed the country, with 3.3% of working age adults claiming JSA in the East of England, and 3.8% nationally. The statistics also show that people in Cambridgeshire are more likely to claim JSA for shorter periods of time, and that the average wage for the county is higher than both the regional and national average.

However, unless we can deliver the new homes people need, and the additional infrastructure to match, the local economy will be constrained in the future. In the more challenging economic climate we should redouble efforts to ensure that employers in Cambridgeshire can still compete to attract, retain and develop the best talent. The affordability of housing, ease and sustainability of travel, and quality of life, remain the key to this.

13/03/2009 - Housing update for Horizons team

This lunchtime the Horizons team gathered together to find out from our housing guru, Sue Beecroft, more about a housing market monitoring system we use called Hometrack.  The system provides us with access to a host of data that we are using to inform our discussions with partners, stakeholders and developers about planned developments.

Interestingly, what the data shows very clearly is the continuing acute need for more housing, both market homes and affordable homes, particularly in the City and South Cambridgeshire. Despite the current economic conditions, there is still strong demand for the new homes and facilities that are planned for the county.

12/03/2009 - Embedding the Quality Charter

The Cambridgeshire Quality Charter for Growth sets out in simple language, and in one place, what we want to achieve for all new developments in Cambridgeshire. The Quality Charter summarises the key ingredients to delivering excellence using a framework based on the four C's of:

• Climate,
• Community,
• Connectivity, and
• Character.

The Quality Charter achieved the distinction of reaching the finals of this years Royal Town Planning Institute awards (see blog from 5th February) and we are determined to ensure that it continues to change the way that all those involved in delivering new communities approach the task. And so, yesterday, in the charming environs of Lucy Cavendish College, we ran an important training event with colleagues from Cambridgeshire Local Authorities and NHS Cambridgeshire, entitled "Embedding the Quality Charter in the Planning Process".

The course was facilitated by Brian Human, former Head of Policy and Projects at Cambridge City Council, and included excellent presentations from colleagues at Cambridgeshire County Council, Marshalls of Cambridge, Cambridge City Council, and South Cambridgeshire District Council.

It was a good opportunity to discuss how we can ensure that we maintain the focus on quality in all its forms, despite the difficult economic climate, and use the Charter to best effect as we move towards delivering new communities. There will be further events and activities to help us do this, but yesterday represented a very positive start, with good engagement from a range of key colleagues who took the time to attend.

09/03/2009 - Climate change is top of the agenda

Today has been a day to reflect upon what actions we can take in Cambridgeshire to tackle climate change.

This morning I attended the inaugural meeting of the Cambridgeshire Climate Change Partnership, chaired by Councillor Ian Nimmo-Smith (Leader of Cambridge City Council). The CCCP (nothing to do with the former Soviet Union!) gathers together partners from across the county to address the issues of climate change mitigation and adaptation and is one of the five thematic partnerships within Cambridgeshire's Local Area Agreement (the others are Managing Growth, Economic Prosperity, Equality and Inclusion, and Safer and Stronger).

Climate change is arguably the biggest challenge of our time, and we need to take action now at international, national and local levels to avoid disastrous consequences from a rise in temperature.

At the local level, the growth agenda is an important element of this, particularly in a fast-growing county like ours. It is easier to design new communities in ways which provide real opportunities for people to reduce their carbon footprint and create a new, greener way of living. And some of the lessons learned from these new settlements can then be applied in exisiting communities.

There is clear commitment to the climate change agenda from across the county, and from myself and Sir David Trippier (who has form on this subject, having previously been an Environment Minister!). I am looking forward to working with colleagues to put in place a climate change action plan, which I hope will make a real contribution to reducing carbon dioxide emissions over the coming months and years.

Renewable energy sources are one important element of this wider agenda, and, following on from the Climate Change Partnership meeting, we launched a renewable energy social testing website, in conjunction with our friends at Renewables East, to find out more about Cambridgeshire residents' opinions on renewable energy.

The website, www.cambridgeshirehorizons.co.uk/energysurvey, contains a wealth of easy-to-understand information about renewable energy options and how these could be installed and operated in new homes and new communities. The survey will enable local people to give us their views on renewable energy generally, and how they feel about living in a home in a new community that uses these sorts of options. By carrying out research into local opinion now, we can better inform the planning process in the future.

To take part in the survey click here.

03/03/2009 - A trip to Ely

Visiting our colleagues across the county is an important part of the work we carry out here at Cambridgeshire Horizons. So this Monday saw me travel to Ely with John Onslow, our Director for Development, Laura Halstead, our Communications Manager, and Anita Tweed and Michelle Hawker from our support teams to visit East Cambridgeshire District Council.

As a part of an ongoing series of lunchtime seminars, we are talking to all our local authority partners about the role of Horizons and the key areas of our work. The aim is to help build relationships across a wide variety of teams within the Council, not just the planning, housing and transport teams. Growth will, by its very nature, change the services provided by each department of the Council in one way or another, which is why it is vital to keep everyone up-to-date on the plans for growth across the area.

There was an excellent atmosphere at what was a well-attended seminar, and colleagues raised a number of interesting questions during the question and answer session, and many more over a sandwich lunch. The plans for growing Ely were at the forefront of people's minds. John Onslow plays an important role in helping councillors and officers in East Cambridgeshire determine what the best approach is to delivering well-planned and balanced growth which retains the wonderful qualities that Ely already possesses, but enhances the employment opportunities, and the retail and leisure facilities within the city.

We are looking forward to the next event at Huntingdonshire District Council in a couple of weeks time.

26/02/2009 - Review of Regional Spatial Strategy workshop

On Wednesday I attended a workshop on the Review of the Regional Spatial Strategy. Cambridgeshire, along with all the other counties and unitary authorities in the region, has been asked to review the current RSS both to test whether the housing plans up to 2021 are sufficient to meet expected needs and to look at what strategy the county should adopt for the 2021-2031 period.

This is a critical issue for the future of all who live and work in our county and there was a good level of engagement from the large number of attendees, representing a range of interests and from all different parts of the county, including leading councillors from all the local authorities. The workshop was particularly important as the emerging findings from the Cambridgeshire Development Study (which Horizons has helped to fund) were being presented. The findings update some projections on economic growth potential, and suggest that economic growth will be less strong than previously forecast, and will be focussed in the south of the county over the coming years

Cambridgeshire Horizons' role is about delivering balanced, sustainable growth. In that regard, we are engaging with the Review to offer advice to councillors who need to reach a view about the right spatial strategy for the county, balancing economic growth, environmental quality and community needs so that Cambridgeshire as a whole can be an even better place for people to live and work.

No easy task! But we start from a good position, with a sound spatial strategy that we are already delivering, based on growing our existing urban centres so that new homes are close to the key points of employment, bringing forward a new town at Northstowe that will be an exemplar of sustainability, linked to Cambridge by the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, and enhancing options for people to travel by public transport, walking and cycling.

I suggested at the workshop that we need to maintain these principles as we look forward to 2031, and to consider in particular how to make the most of the opportunities available in the north of the county, in key towns such as March and Wisbech. The logic of focussing our growth strategy around the existing public transport routes seems strong to me, and the rail line from Peterborough through March to Ely (and on to Stansted) is a great asset which could perhaps be made more of. With the completion of the guided busway, we will have a network of rail and busway routes which form a diamond linking key towns and cities around the county and which could provide an excellent starting point for delivering sustainable new communities.

Discussions will be continuing over the coming months, and we will look to offer whatever support we can to our colleagues as this important work is taken forward.

24/02/2009 - Delivering capital expenditure

On Monday I was invited to attend a workshop hosted by the Treasury, Communities and Local Government, and the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit on delivering capital expenditure programmes.

The workshop brought together colleagues from across the UK who are working at the front line of delivering new infrastructure. The Government is trying to look for ways in which capital projects such as new schools, hospitals and transport infrastructure can be advanced to counteract the effects of the current economic climate, and to look at how the current processes around such projects can be improved. It was a welcome opportunity to engage with central Government on this key issue, and to return to my former place of employment and see some familiar faces.

Discussions seemed to produce a strong degree of agreement about the need to reduce the number and complexity of processes involved in capital expenditure projects, which combine to slow down progress. There was also a strong consensus that local areas need more freedom to deliver such projects and to have more control over the related funding, particularly when needing to respond quickly to changing conditions.

Another concept discussed was local infrastructure investment plans. Just as we are taking forward an Integrated Development Programme for Cambridgeshire, so local areas across the UK could produce their own investment plans which would encompass the whole range of necessary infrastructure, rather than this being driven through departmental spending plans. If such a "place-based" approach could be developed, and perhaps be supported by a single funding pot, then this could free up local areas from the complexity of having to work through a myriad of different funding streams from central Government.

It is encouraging that Ministers and officials are looking seriously at this issue, and I look forward to continuing a dialogue with Whitehall colleagues over the coming months.

16/02/2009 - Announcement on Marshalls relocation

Today Government and Marshalls issued a joint press release regarding the future relocation of Marshall Aerospace. Following on from a review of progress it was agreed that more relocation options need to be considered in addition to RAF Mildenhall.

It has been increasingly evident that there are considerable difficulties with the relocation to Mildenhall, and the press release from Government and Marshalls acknowledges this.

Most importantly, here at Horizons we will continue to work with our partners to try to deliver a high quality, major urban extension at Cambridge East. This proposed development is vital to help us to deliver much needed new homes and facilities in a very sustainable location close to the existing city. Whilst confirming a suitable alternative site for Marshalls will undoubtedly take some time, we are keen to ensure this exciting but complex project can come forward as soon as possible.

12/02/2009 - 11/02/09 Northstowe Government Liaison Group

Yesterday afternoon Peter Studdert (Director of Joint Planning) and I attended the Northstowe Government Liaison Group, chaired by Barbara Follett, Regional Minister for the East of England, supported by Tim Freathy and John Williamson at the Government Office, with representation from across Whitehall.

Peter gave a presentation on the current state of play in relation to planning matters, and I opened a discussion about the investment framework we are working on for Northstowe. As on previous occasions, the Minister demonstrated her enthusiasm and ambition for Northstowe to be an exemplar of good practice for new towns.  Her support is extremely welcome, as is the level of engagement from colleagues from a range of different Government departments, which I hope will stand us in good stead as we move towards delivery on the Northstowe project.

10/02/2009 - Inspire East Winterschool

I was delighted to be invited by Inspire East to open its annual Winterschool with a keynote speech this evening. It is great to gather together such a wide range of housing, planning, infrastructure and regeneration professionals from across the region to further develop their skills, and to deploy their expertise to help us deliver the best possible new communities we can across the East of England.

With Cambridgeshire at the forefront of growth in the region, Horizons is hosting this year's Winter School, and leading a number of different activities over the next two days. Our Chairman, Sir David Trippier, will be providing the after dinner speech tomorrow night and our Director for Development, John Onslow, will be talking about delivering sustainable communities in Cambridgeshire on Thursday.

I am particularly looking forward to taking part in the panel on Thursday, and hearing the views of delegates about what strategies we can deploy to deliver high quality, sustainable growth despite the current difficult economic climate.

05/02/2009 - A thank you from the minister!

Iain Wright MP, the Housing Minister, very kindly hosted a reception in Portcullis House, Westminster last night, to thank those involved in delivering housing growth in the major growth areas. Sir David Trippier and I attended, along with Chairs and Chief Executive Officers of organisations similar to Horizons from other parts of the country.

We were also joined by Sir Bob Kerslake, CEO of the newly formed Homes & Communities Agency (HCA) which has national responsibility for delivering regeneration and housing projects. Sir Bob was keynote speaker at our conference last year, and we are working closely with him, and with Terry Fuller, as the Regional Director of Homes & Communities Agency for the East of England, to consider how best to pool resources to overcome the challenges that the changed economic environment presents us with.

The recession was the focus of the Ministers speech, and he was clear that 2009 would be a tough year. However, he also expressed confidence that the structures we have in place through local delivery vehicles like Horizons, working closely with local authorities and with government, can help us to achieve our shared goals of delivering excellent new communities, with more affordable housing and appropriate supporting infrastructure, which will in turn help us all to recover more quickly from the downturn.

It was an enjoyable event, a good chance to catch up with colleagues from other growth areas and from government, and always nice to be thanked for your efforts of course!

Royal Town Planning Institute Awards being announced today

The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Planning Awards 2008 are being announced later today. The Cambridgeshire Quality Charter for Growth has been short listed for a prestigious national award, which is a fantastic achievement for everybody involved in the project. You can find out more about the Quality Charter here, and I will post the results on my blog later today.

05/02/2009 - And the winners are announced...

The winners of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Planning Awards 2008 have just been announced, and unfortunately the Cambridgeshire Quality Charter for Growth didn't win. Congratulations to the winners, Hambleton District Council for bringing planning into the community, and to South Dublin County Council for the Adamstown development to the west of Dublin.

It is still an amazing achievement to have been shortlisted for such a highly regarded national award, and a credit to all of the hard work and dedication shown by the partnership team who worked on the Charter.

Find out more about the Cambridgeshire Quality Charter for Growth here.

03/02/2009 - Trip to Taunton.

Cambridgeshire is one of the fastest growing counties in the UK, and Cambridgeshire Horizons is one of the most experienced local delivery vehicles in the country working towards delivering 73,300 sustainable new homes by 2021. This is why I found myself in Taunton yesterday sharing best practice with local authority colleagues.

Taunton is a new growth point, and is keen to learn from other areas around the UK who already have partnership growth arrangements in place. It has a two-tier system, like Cambridgeshire, and is due to accommodate 18,000 new homes, which is one of the biggest increases over base in England. The local authorities are therefore considering options around setting up a local delivery vehicle.

It was a really useful visit, where I made some good contacts and also benefited from shared learning, including considering new ways of working given the current recession.

28/01/2009 - Centre for Cities report launched.

Earlier this week I attended an evening reception in London organised by the Centre for Cities, with James Purnell, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. The Centre for Cities have been carrying out research into Cambridge and other partner cities, to launch its second flagship report, Cities Outlook 2009 - its annual index ranking the economic performance of cities across the United Kingdom.

Cambridge has come out well in the report with the analysis suggesting that the city is well placed to weather the storm during the recession. However, the report is also clear that Cambridge needs to address its housing shortfall and deal effectively with problems of traffic congestion if it is to be able to realise its economic potential.

The reception was a useful opportunity to catch up with contacts in Whitehall and other parts of the country and to share ideas about responding to a much changed economic environment.

26/01/2009 - New website launched.

Today we launched our new and improved Cambridgeshire Horizons website. We have worked hard to make information about the sustainable growth of Cambridgeshire easy to find and understand. However, we're always looking at ways we can improve, so if you have any feedback please do let us know.

12/01/2009 - First JSGIC meeting of 2009.

The first Joint Strategic Growth Implementation Committee (otherwise known as JSGIC) of the year took place at New Hall College today. As ever, JSGIC was a fantastic opportunity to gather our partners together to discuss pressing issues surrounding the sustainable growth of Cambridgeshire.

As you would expect, the economic downturn was once again high on the agenda, and the confirmation of the area's Housing Growth Fund allocation for 2009-2011 could help provide us with some solutions for delivering sustainable new communities in the near future.

06/01/2009 - Back after Christmas.

The Horizons office is back to full strength after the Christmas break today and I have been taking the time to catch up on recent media coverage. The Financial Times published a very interesting study carried out by Knight Frank, which identified the top ten best locations to buy a house in the world. In the study Cambridge came tenth, a strong achievement when you consider London, Paris, New York and Majorca also made the shortlist.

What was of even more interest was that the study authors agreed that despite the scale of growth planned for the City and surrounding areas, the development of new homes is unlikely to keep pace with household and income growth. Which is why we need to continue to consider the best possible places for development in the county to ensure that local people have the opportunity to live where they choose to, close to friends, family, and workplaces, supported by appropriate facilities and services.

I also heard on the news today that Persimmon has reported that in the last two months of 2008 it sold more homes than in the last two months of 2007, proving that there is still demand in the local area for new homes.