Submitted by Pam Lee on Thu, 29/11/2018 - 08:43
Gemma Burgess spoke about housing challenges at a recent Edge Debate event looking at the opportunities and challenges faced by the Oxford-Milton Keynes- Cambridge Growth Corridor
The Oxford-Milton Keynes- Cambridge Growth Corridor has been identified by the National Infrastructure Commission as "a key strategic priority for growth, development and investment… the present population of 3.3 million is expected to increase by 25% to nearly 5 million between 2016-2050 with the provision of an additional 700,000 jobs and requiring 1 million new homes.”
The NIC highlighted significant areas for concern:
“the corridor connecting Cambridge, Milton Keynes and Oxford could be the UK’s Silicon Valley – a world renowned centre for science, technology and innovation … [it] faces a chronic undersupply of homes made worse by poor east-west transport connectivity. Two of the least affordable cities in the UK lie within the corridor and the area, as a whole, has consistently failed to build the number of homes it needs. That shortage puts sustained growth at risk. It is already increasing costs for businesses and diminishing their ability to attract employees at all levels.”
Expert speakers, including Dr Burgess who spoke about meeting the housing needs of the corridor development, set the scene for open-ended round table discussions at The Edge Debate in November 2018, at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge.
Dr Burgess's slides can be viewed on The Edge website.