Multi-million market town investment in Cambridgeshire

The Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority has approved triggering the process through which eleven market towns can bid for millions of pounds to help them build the future they want.

The first funding applications for a share in the £13.1 million allocation are likely to go to the Combined Authority Board for approval from July 2020 onwards. Funds awarded must be spent at the latest by 31 March 2022 - and deliverability will be a key factor in appraising project proposals.

Bids for the Market Towns Programme, in which each town has an approved Masterplan detailing its own priority projects, must show how towns will support coronavirus recovery, reflecting new patterns of homeworking, use of public transport, the workplace, community space, and High Streets.

James Palmer, Mayor of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough said: “It’s absolutely the right time to put money into these unique market towns and I’m delighted today’s decision means they can move forward to the bid stage. They are crucial to the whole region as social and economic hubs and the Combined Authority is committed to helping each prosper, taking their surrounding communities forward with them. The Market Towns are Cambridgeshire’s backbone.  They’ve already got a fantastic history and I want them to have a fantastic future. That means investment and that’s exactly what the Combined Authority is putting in.”