Cambridge

Cambridge is a wonderful city to live in, which is why so many people are attracted to it, and why they stay. However, it does face a number of challenges. Increased employment has led to increased demand for housing, which for a long time was not provided, forcing people to live in the necklace villages and commute in, with serious consequences for congestion and traffic volumes in the city. This has not been helped by the policies of the Tory-led County Council, which focus on the desires of rural residents, rather than the need of Cambridge residents.

Managing growth

Now that housing growth is happening in earnest in and immediately around Cambridge itself, we face another series of problems - how to link these new settlements into the rest of the city. Cambridge is littered with areas that were built with insufficient local facilities, making it harder for them to form true neighbourhoods. We also face the problem of providing sustainable transport access so that these new settlements make minimal contribution to the awful congestion we already have.

A diverse city

The population of Cambridge is very diverse. There is a popular impression that it is a wealthy city, but this wealth is very unevenly spread. Cambridge still has more than 8,000 council houses, roughly 20% of the city. Although some areas have very high educational achievement, and a huge density of people with degrees, other areas do not have such a luxury. Cambridge needs an MP who is at home talking to University academics and council tenants, high-tech workers and the unemployed.