Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Local Growth Plan to go before Combined Authority Board

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Local Growth Plan to go before Combined Authority Board

A proposed plan to create the conditions for transformative economic growth in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough – supporting Mayor Paul Bristow’s mission to make the area the UK’s fastest-growing local economy outside London – is to go before the Combined Authority Board for consideration. 

The Combined Authority’s proposed Local Growth Plan (LGP) has been developed with Government, local councils, businesses, and the education and training sector. It sets out how the region can unlock its economic potential with the right investment, including in key infrastructure gaps like transport, housing, water and energy that threaten to hold it back. 

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough economy is already recognised for its innovation-led growth over recent decades, which has positioned it as a global leader and a cornerstone of the UK’s industrial future. Government has already touted the region as crucial to its “number one mission” of economic growth. The proposed Local Growth Plan seeks to back that national ambition with local action. 

The Combined Authority Board is recommended to approve the draft LGP when it meets on October 22. 

Developed through extensive collaboration with partners, including senior Government departments and national agencies, the LGP identifies six high-growth sectors that will power the region’s future prosperity: 

• Life Sciences 

• Advanced Manufacturing and Materials 

• Defence 

• Digital Technologies 

• Agri-Food and Agri-Tech 

• Energy and Clean-Tech 

The plan sets out shared priorities with Government, focusing on addressing key infrastructure challenges such as energy and water capacity, improving transport connectivity everywhere, and supporting quality placemaking for new homes and communities. 

The plan also proposes four new Opportunity Zones to spread growth across every part of the area: 

• Global City Cambridge – turbocharging the world’s leading science and tech cluster and unblocking key infrastructure gaps. 

• Peterborough Fast Growth City – supporting investment, skills and regeneration-led growth to unlock its potential. 

• North Hunts Growth Cluster – strengthening advanced manufacturing and life sciences, with investments in housing and transport.  

• Fens Growth Triangle – unlocking growth in advanced manufacturing, agri-tech underpinned with better digital connectivity and transport.  

These zones will target investment, skills and infrastructure to create more jobs, boost productivity and ensure every community benefits from growth. 

Paul Bristow said: “This proposed Local Growth Plan is unapologetically ambitious. It should be.  

“Our economy is globally competitive and nationally vital. This is our opportunity to turn talk of potential into reality.  

“We should aspire to be the UK’s fastest growing local economy outside the capital. Growth attracts investment, creates high-skilled jobs and helps fund the infrastructure we need for a stronger, fairer, faster-growing economy. Growth also brings the healthier, wealthier and happier Cambridgeshire and Peterborough we all want to see.  

“I look forward to discussing this roadmap for real change with the Combined Authority Board.” 

If approved by the Board, the Local Growth Plan will form the foundation for future investment and deeper devolution deals with Government, aligning local priorities with the national growth mission and the UK’s Industrial Strategy. 

To read the report to the Board, including the proposed draft Local Growth Plan, visit: https://democracy.cambridgeshirepeterborough-ca.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=141&MId=669