Pippa Heylings, the Liberal Democrat MP for South Cambridgeshire, welcomed the government’s “commitment” to building more homes and improving infrastructure, especially public transport which she said was “critically needed”.
That said, she wanted more clarity on whether the infrastructure plans would cover essentials like water, sewage, and healthcare.
She pointed out that with the population growing, they’ll need more GPs and a new hospital since the current one “was built for a quarter of the population that it is serving”.
Heylings also called on the new centrally led group managing these projects-the Cambridge Growth Company-to actually listen to local people when planning ahead.
Paul Bristow, Conservative Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, shared her worries about water but hoped that smaller farm reservoirs in East Cambridgeshire could help while they work on building the bigger Fens reservoir.
Bristow was pleased about the government’s funding announcement saying it had been “a long-time coming”.
“This is great news. We can either resist Cambridge’s growth or lean into it and make sure we get better infrastructure, businesses, and jobs,” he said.
He added that he was especially happy about the innovation hub at Cambridge University along with upgrades planned for the A10 road.
“Growth has got to work for people who already live here too. It can’t just be about bringing new folks in. So affordable housing needs to be a big part of all this.”
