THE true impact of the economic downturn on the delivery of sustainable new communities will be the main focus of this year s Cambridgeshire Horizons Conference, to be held for the first time at Robinson College, Cambridge, in June. This year s keynote sp

THE true impact of the economic downturn on the delivery of sustainable new communities will be the main focus of this year's Cambridgeshire Horizons Conference, to be held for the first time at Robinson College, Cambridge, in June.

This year's keynote speakers will be Kate Barker, author of the Barker Reports and a board member of the Homes and Communities Agency, John Cross, chairman of the National Housing Federation, and Wulf Daseking, former director of city planning in Freiburg-im-Breisgau, Germany.

The conference will be officially opened by the chairman of Cambridgeshire Horizons, Sir David Trippier, who will also review progress made in delivering the growth agenda over the course of the past five years.

Horizons chief executive Alex Plant, who will also be addressing delegates, said: "It promises to be a fascinating conference this year. Over the last 12 months a lot has changed for Horizons in terms of how we look to deliver growth.

"As we all know, the housing market has slowed, but the underlying need for new and more affordable homes remains. This means we must embrace innovative ways of bringing development forward without sacrificing the quality standards that we have set for ourselves.

"The conference will demonstrate how we are working with our partners to deliver our goals despite the economic downturn."

INFORMATION: Cambridgeshire Horizons is the not-for-profit company set up by local government and central government agencies to deliver the estimated �4.1billion of infrastructure investment needed to underpin planned growth in the Cambridge sub-region, which includes most of Huntingdonshire, by 2021.