Government told to 'go faster' on OxCam corridor

A report into the potential benefits of a growth corridor between Oxford and Cambridge has concluded it cannot become one of the top ten in the world without improving infrastructure and transport.

The findings from the business management consultant Public First and the supercluster board praised how "research-intensive" the area is, but found retaining talent and entrepreneurs was difficult.

Part of that was put down to the high costs of rents and poor public transport links.

Callum Anderson, the Labour MP for Buckingham and Bletchley said "the OxCam corridor is a key part of our growth in every postcode" but acknowledged there were barriers, partly due to local government structure.

"Directly elected mayors are needed so they can take a more strategic view about housing, infrastructure, transport, and workforce development to really get the benefit of this corridor," he added.

The OxCam growth corridor falls in the area between the two university cities and includes Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

The report, that was released at the Labour party conference in Liverpool, is called Scaling OxCam.

It found it took three-and-a-half hours to get between Oxford and Cambridge by public transport, but an easily commutable distance is considered to be just 45 minutes.

Jeegar Kakkad, who co-authored the report said: "Transport investment in OxCam corridor is going backwards with several major road projects cancelled.

"The strength of the cluster comes from the connectivity between the areas and spreads the growth outside of the city islands."

It concluded that East West Rail must be the backbone, but trains are not yet running between Oxford and Milton Keynes.

The lack of affordable homes and commercial space was cited as another constraint.

Rents cost on average a 25% of local incomes, whereas in other world clusters it is much lower, for example in the Bay area of San Francisco where it is 15%.

The authors concluded planning reforms and improving connectively to the grid for power would help, as well as simplified national government.

Susan Brown, the Labour leader of Oxford City council said the council was well aware of the desperate need for homes: "Housing is critical to the economy growing, but also local people.

"That's why we are building homes, we are now the biggest developer in Oxford, building shared ownership homes, affordable rents and council housing."

Kakkad said there needed to be a push on the government to go faster: "Growth in every postcode needs acceleration of policies which have already been announced, like local government reorganisation, devolution, investment and not pausing and reviewing which takes time."

The report finishes with suggestions on how other clusters, including Austin in the United States, Boston, Paris and Bejiing have improved productivity.

Anderson agreed it was key to learn from them: "We are operating in a globally competitive market.

"Other clusters have got business, civil society and local government working together and there are lessons we can take to be as prosperous as they are."