The Growth Corridor, a vision to create five new towns in the South East, could be jeopardised by a lack of government sponsorship.
The so-called Oxford-Milton Keynes-Cambridge Growth Corridor or ‘Brain Belt’ covers 22 council districts and is a prospective major driver for growth in the UK.
However, panellists speaking at ‘The Growth Corridor: A new powerhouse’, at real-estate and tech event MIPIM UK this week, have called for more government support and investment to deliver the project.
Last year’s Budget saw the government giving its backing to create five new towns or villages along a fast road and railway link between the two university cities, known as the Oxford-Cambridge Expressway.
The goal is to deliver one million new homes in the corridor by 2050.
The economic contribution of the Growth Corridor could reach £400bn by 2050, according to research by property consultancy Bidwells.
However, the scale of the ambition could be dented by a lack of investment, said Bidwells’ senior partner, Patrick McMahon. “Clearly reaching £400bn is not just going to happen; we need to be careful we don’t damage the golden goose here. It is going to require a lot of infrastructure investment as well as investment in the new economy: things like life sciences and artificial intelligence. That’s really what is making this region tick.”
He added that the Growth Corridor was going to require around 15-20m sq ft in office and lab space, as well as leadership from local authorities and Oxford University and Cambridge University to attract world leading researchers to the area.
Policy support
Meanwhile, Robbie Owen, partner and head of infrastructure planning and government affairs, Pinsent Masons, said the initiative needs more than just funding. “The problem is funding certainly as opposed to finance but the biggest problem is we need to have much firmer policy support for this. Government needs to do more to make this happen. In particular, we need to have a national policy statement for the infrastructure required. Given how many local authorities there are, government has a duty to do far more than it has done.
“With Brexit coming up we are going to be competing for government attention and time. Yes, this government might support the Growth Corridor but what about the next one?”
Meanwhile, Ron Henry, partner at Peter Brett Associates, called for a “more holistic approach”. He commented: “We need a phased approach to provide more clarity over the plans for this. We don’t yet have an answer for how the rail link between Milton Keynes and Oxford will work. How do you deal with that? You look at a phased approach visualisation of everything as a virtual entity.
“I don’t think 2050 as a target is realistic but I would like to see a more holistic plan for this venture and perhaps some technological support would help, such as using a digital twin.”
Planners use digital twins to create a digital mirror of designs to help them create improvements and allow them to check for potential problems before they become a reality.
In response to criticism of the government’s handling of the initiative, Sarah Greenwood, head of strategic growth at Homes England, said: “We have to remember this is a transformational project; this is a project of a scale we’ve not seen in our lifetimes. So as government we need to act in a transformational way.
“It feels like in the past nine months we’ve made a monumental step towards working together more effectively but you have to decide whether infrastructure or housing comes first. We are starting to think about what future decisions need to be made. That is going to take time; you need an overarching plan for the delivery.”
The panel
Sarah Greenwood, head of strategic growth, Homes England
Ron Henry, partner, Peter Brett Associates
Patrick McMahon, senior partner, Bidwells
Robbie Owen, partner and head of infrastructure planning and government affairs, Pinsent Masons
Philip Simpkins, chief executive, Bedford Borough Council and chair of the Corridor Local Authority and LEP Chief Executive Group
Nigel Tipple, chief executive, OxLep
Sponsors: Bidwell, Peter Brett Associates, Pinsent Masons
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