The Greater Cambridge business community fear the proposed plans for an ‘Eastern powerhouse’ will be unwieldy and will not have any benefit for the region.

In a statement issued this afternoon (Friday) the Cambridge Ahead group said: “The Greater Cambridge business community has considered the devolution proposals set out by Government and has concluded that the deal on offer would not be of overall benefit to Greater Cambridge, the wider region, or the UK as a whole.

“In particular, we believe the proposed ‘tri-county’ governance arrangements across Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk would be unwieldy, and would fit poorly with the functional economic geography of our area.

“We believe that the Greater Cambridge area has an important role to play in boosting the competitiveness of the UK economy as a whole. However, it can only play its full role if the key constraints of insufficient housing of all types and inadequate transport infrastructure can be overcome. The deal on offer would do little to address these issues.

“For these reasons we do not support the tri-county deal. We would urge Government to work with us over coming months to develop a devolution deal that recognises the unique circumstances of one of the fastest-growing city-regions and economies in the UK and to provide a better platform for managing and sustaining our remarkable future growth potential.”