COMMENT: The government’s new plans to unleash the economic and cultural potential of the Oxford-Cambridge Arc will transform the region, allowing the knowledge economy to flourish.
The Arc will play a vital role in the post-pandemic economic recovery and beyond, as the framework will unlock up to £20bn in investment, according to our estimates.
Bookended by two of the world’s best universities, this capital will allow the Arc to become a global premier growth corridor, delivering much-needed jobs, housing and crucial infrastructure across the region. This will also allow the UK to harness the talent across the Arc’s universities, which will drive further growth and investment throughout the wider region.
We’ve already seen great demand for space across the Arc – at Bidwells we are estimating that global investors are ready to deploy £5.5bn of investment into life sciences research space.
Investment, however, is just one key marker of the region’s capacity to drive the knowledge economy. The success of the Arc will be judged on its delivery.
This relies on the government’s policies having real bite. The proposals set forward in this launch document shows the legal teeth we need to allow the region to reach its fullest potential.
Critically, the announcement ensures the spatial framework will have considerable weight in decision-making. This has cemented the Arc’s position as a region of national importance, as the framework will sit alongside the NPPF.
This means that local authorities across the Arc will have to take the wider vision for the region into account in their own plan-making documents – an approach we welcome with open arms. By ensuring the weight of the proposal, the government has provided the opportunity to unlock the full extent of the Arc’s future growth and development.
This will allow the knowledge-intensive industries that power the Arc, like life sciences, to flourish, driving the UK to become a global leader in this space.
The announcement also marks a key shift from previous visions for the region, as we can now see a clear intention to ramp up the legal weight of the document over the next two years. This gives some all-important certainty to the development industry and other stakeholders that this plan will create a long-term, continuous programme of delivery for the region, enduring beyond the current political and economic cycle.
The new approach will have benefits that extend far beyond the two university cities, too. While Oxford and Cambridge anchor the Arc, we are really happy to see that the new spatial framework doesn’t give them all the limelight.
For the past two years, Bidwells has been pressing that a strategic vision for the Arc could bring real benefits and advantages to places such as Corby, Kettering, Bedford, Northampton, and Luton – all mentioned in the government’s proposal alongside the two university cities. This will be vital to allow for levelling up across the region.
The government’s programme is ambitious but by harnessing the digital consultation methods that have come into their own during this pandemic, we think that it’s achievable. By this time in 2023 we may have an implemented plan – which would be an extraordinary achievement.
Rob Hopwood is planning partner at Bidwells
