Government Offices | East of England |

Growth Areas work is primarily concerned with taking forward the Sustainable Communities Plan. This work involves seeking to make early progress in achieving sustainable development within the London-Stansted-Cambridge-Peterborough and the Luton and Bedfordshire part of the Milton Keynes South Midlands Growth Areas and providing a regional input to the development of Thames Gateway.

Bedford

Working with local partners to support the regeneration of the town centre and more deprived urban areas alongside sustainable urban extensions (west of Bedford).

The Growth Areas team is looking at how we can help overcome access problems for the town's western fringe and to support regeneration of deprived areas such as Queens Park Forest.

Cambridge

Plans are well advanced for urban extensions at Cambridge’s northern, southern and eastern fringes as well as a new settlement at Northstowe (Oakington). The Cambridgeshire Structure Plan provides for 47,500 new homes 1999 – 2016.

Funding continues for the Cambridgeshire Horizons local delivery vehicle, now incorporated and set up to coordinate growth and regeneration within the sub-region.

Another key scheme is the development of Cambridge Northern Fringe, featuring capacity for 2,850 homes and transport interchange including a new railway station and extension of the guided bus system, supported with over £7 million from the Growth Areas fund.

Harlow

East of England Regional Assembly’s (EERA) draft Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) proposes significant growth at Harlow to bring about regeneration of the town and better exploit its strategic location. The Growth Areas team is committed to supporting partners to develop and implement a strategy for the regeneration and growth of Harlow. The scale and directions for growth will be considered through the RSS process.

Government through Growth Areas funding has already committed to providing a total of £13.5m funding for Harlow to March ’06 to assist with capacity building, delivering some key flagship schemes to assist with regeneration and also funds to scope the range of issues through a variety of feasibility work which will help to inform the future strategy for the regeneration and sustainable growth of Harlow. One of the key flagship schemes being developed is Harlow Gateway where Almost £11m million has been granted to support the project which is an exciting scheme that will create 530 new homes (some 30% of which is affordable), leisure and community facilities on a brownfield site.

Luton, Dunstable, Houghton Regis

The strategy for growth is set out in the Milton Keynes South Midlands Sub-Regional Strategy which focuses on development of LDHR conurbation through infrastructure improvements, urban renaissance, redevelopment of previously developed land and urban extensions.

Growth is needed both to meet the locally generated needs of this densely developed and tightly constrained urban area, and also to support town centre regeneration. There is a need to provide high quality business sites to assist with the transformation of the economy.

Peterborough

Peterborough has significant potential for growth through both town centre regeneration and urban extension. A preliminary study identified significant potential. A second study examined the capacity and demand to deliver additional levels of housing over the Structure Plan the study concluded that Peterborough could support additional growth to 2021, although economic development of the sub region was also required.

So far, Growth Areas projects within the town include £2.4 million investment to provide traffic modelling and access works to a major mixed use development, a key element in developing Peterborough city centre and assisting in regenerating the station area, unlocking key development sites and promoting bus use. Additional funding of Bagley End, Paston, is set to reclaim an area of unusable open space that is attracting crime and fly-tipping. The land will be used to build affordable housing units and make improvements to the remaining open space. A further key project is planned to unlock the South Bank site and bring it forward for development, including over 600 housing units, major office development and substantial riverside recreation and cultural facilities.

Growth Locations

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