Cambridgeshire has a history unlike anywhere else, but several speakers thought that entrenched views had been a brake on progress.
This could be seen by academic circles aiming at perfection and administrations acting as bottlenecks, although there was hope attitudes were changing.
Creating direct connections between the local authorities and central government was identified as an approach that had worked well for Cambridge.
A university centre that actively runs networking events and workshops with Cambridge-based experts and Whitehall representatives was highlighted - and contrasted with Peterborough, which one of the panellists felt lacked a similar initiative.
A change in temperament in businesses and developers in recent years was also helping to drive a higher quality of new buildings and improve performance in sustainability.
Will Nichols illustrated this, as in his experience only five years ago developers were asking how they could scrape by the policy requirements. Now, they wanted to explore the possibilities and be at the cutting edge of construction.
Despite these recent improvement’s, Cambridge’s celebrated skyline was regarded as a factor that could slow down decision-making and that an unwillingness to implement large-scale infrastructure projects or to modernise old buildings had been holding the region back.
The attendees flagged that a failure to invest in transport infrastructure in particular was already leading to displacement, with many people unable to live centrally or even to easily commute into the towns.
If these sticking points could be unlocked it would lead to more spending, employment and growth.
