Speaking following George Osborne’s speech last week, John Bridge OBE DL, Chief Executive of Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce, said: “Headline figures of £15bn for 84 roads projects in England by 2021 are all very well but in political rhetoric such as this, old pledges are often revived and in all cases what businesses really want is for projects to either be delivered or at least certainty that they are going to be. Certainty of delivery is the key ingredient business requires to be able to plan effectively ahead and justify their own investment. Our record to date in relation to investment for infrastructure in Cambridgeshire, and indeed Cambridge in particular, is not good and it is imperative for our continuing success that the government truly recognises the need to invest in success to provide the maximum economic benefit for UK plc.
“You will not hear businesses adversely affected by the A14 in Cambridgeshire celebrating that investment is forthcoming because those businesses are intelligent enough to know that no real decision will be made before February 2016, irrespective of the rhetoric and goodness knows who will be making the decision at that time. The long overdue improvements to the A14 are continuing to have a significant negative impact on the wider economy and hamper growth, but it’s not the only inhibiting factor.”
In order to establish investment priorities across our local area, the Chambers’ Infrastructure and Transport Group is continuing to ask the business community to identify the key schemes of work that could unlock growth locally. The group has already identified six key areas for investment including road connectivity, rail connectivity, international connectivity, digital connectivity, housing supply and energy and water supply. Now local businesses are being urged to have their say and identify the specific schemes they believe would bring out the potential in our local economy.
John Bridge continued: “This forward-thinking group, chaired by David Ball of the David Ball Group, is made up of companies that recognise a need for enhanced infrastructure and transport provisions to realise future growth but more importantly appreciate the value of a cohesive and intelligent plan. The group has made a commitment to support the work of the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership covering the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough local authority areas and lobbying for real progress. This survey is the first step to achieving that.”
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Chamber reacts to Autumn Statement and calls for ‘Pie in the sky’ rhetoric to become reality
9 December 2014
Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce has responded to the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement by calling for both certainty and delivery to be the reality – the only two conditions upon which the government’s investment plans can be measured.