The Chamber of Commerce for Cambridgeshire is heading up a bid to create a Local Enterprise Partnership that includes both Cambridge and Peterborough.
Local Enterprise Partnerships have been introduced by the new Government to replace the now defunct regional development agencies and are intended to be joint ventures between local businesses and authorities within the area that encourage natural synergies and new commercial relationships.
John Bridge, Chief Executive of the Chamber, outlined the plans to team up with Peterborough in a letter sent to Business Secretary Vince Cable: “Our economic geography is distinctive. Together, our 1.3m population and 60k major businesses generate £30bn a year for the UK economy. Of national scale and significance, our proposed partnership is driven by two medium-size cities connected by a large, rural market town economy.”
The letter goes on to explain that the new LEP, prospectively titled the Greater Cambridge & Greater Peterborough LEP, would help to develop further the extensive commercial growth both cities have enjoyed over the last decade.
Further news on the proposals will be available after the deadline for LEP proposals closes on the 6th September.
