Visionary set for a fresh challenge
THE man who has helped secure commitment to £2.5billion of infrastructure funding for the rapidly expanding Cambridge sub-region over the next 15 years is set to leave the area. But Stephen Catchpole is confident that some additional public sector money c
THE man who has helped secure commitment to £2.5billion of infrastructure funding for the rapidly expanding Cambridge sub-region over the next 15 years is set to leave the area.
But Stephen Catchpole is confident that some additional public sector money can help to raise the rest of the £3.1billion identified as being needed to support nearly 50,000 extra homes - 11,200 of them in Huntingdonshire.
Mr Catchpole became the first chief executive of Cambridgeshire Horizons, the company set up by the county's six local authorities and other partners to deliver sustainable communities in the area, three years ago after six years running the Learning and Schools Council for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
He has lived in the county for the past 20 years, 16 of them in St Neots.
But he is set to move on in November to take up the newly created post of chief executive of Wolverhampton City Development Company in the West Midlands.
"When I arrived at Cambridgeshire Horizons, there was little strategic thinking about what would be needed over the longer term," he told The Hunts Post. "People were concentrating on shorter-term, and we were able to persuade some of the other agencies to think strategically and take a view over a longer period.
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"Horizons has achieved a lot in the last three years and I am very proud of that.
"I believe that Horizons is recognised nationally as being one of the most effective and innovative 'local delivery vehicles' throughout the country. Obviously, I'm sad to go, but I am very excited at the prospect of working to transform the economic, social and environmental well-being of one of the country's larger urban areas."
Horizons chairman Sir David Trippier said: "We are genuinely sorry that Stephen is leaving us.
"He has been superb as chief executive and has been the backbone of the organisation. It has been a pleasure working with him.
