Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Greg Clark MP visits CDF

The Cambridgeshire Development Forum (CDF) were honoured to be joined by Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Greg Clark MP, at a special strategic meeting of the CDF in March. The Secretary of State was particularly keen to hear from Members regarding practical examples of policy issues surrounding development in the region.

Members discussed with the Secretary of State issues surrounding the planning process and the need for a more consistent approach between the local authorities as well as a streamlined and expedited decision-making process, barriers to planning delivery, and constraints in utilities and transport infrastructure.

Arising from discussions during the meeting, Members agreed to follow-up ideas on industry-standard templates for planning performance agreements (PPAs) and service-level agreements (SLAs) with planning authorities and utility companies, mechanisms to support planning delivery on major schemes across the region, on alternative providers of planning services, and the achievement of a strategic spatial framework.

All present agreed that that the meeting was exceptionally helpful and constructive, and offered great encouragement in pushing forward with practical measures to promote the delivery of development in the Cambridgeshire region in the context of broader context of devolution and national frameworks