Regional Cities East (RCE) is an alliance of six cities in the East of England supported by the East of England Development Agency (opens in a new window) (EEDA) and the Government Office for the East of England (opens in a new window) (GO East).
The cities - Ipswich, Colchester, Luton, Norwich, Peterborough and Southend - believe that by working together, rather than in competition, it is possible to support more jobs and homes in a sustainable way.
RCE has some extremely challenging targets to achieve by 2021. Together the Cities aim to:
- Add £10 billion to the UK economy
- Create 140,000 new jobs
- Be recognised across Europe as a centre for innovation and creativity
- Build 160,000 new homes - with 80-90% of them on brownfield land
- Deliver a 3% reduction in carbon emissions for the whole of the UK
Ipswich is set to grow at unprecedented levels, and needs to create around 30,000 jobs and a similar amount of homes in its sub region. Regional Cites East helps ensure that Ipswich has access to enough skills to effectively manage this growth. A key priority for RCE is to achieve growth with zero carbon pollution, so they work closely with partners Inspire East (opens in a new window), the centre of excellence for sustainable growth for the East of England, in order to achieve this.
The cities in RCE, like the East of England as a whole, face demanding targets to build new homes. The most sustainable way to deliver these homes and protect Greenfield land for the region is to use urban areas where infrastructure and facilities are already in place. By focusing growth on existing urban centres and ensuring development takes place at high densities in a sustainable way, less development will need to take place across the wider region or on Greenfield sites.
This city-focused approach does not only benefit the six cities currently involved, but affects the region as a whole. Higher, faster and more sustainable growth also improves the prosperity and well being of people who live outside the cities but travel into them for work and leisure.
Importantly, through RCE the East of England can now have a voice on key urban issues, making sure that the region is not left behind as the rest of the country debates the role of city regions.
Through RCE, the profile of the East of England region as a whole will be raised across Government and with important business audiences.
More information on the Regional Cities East partnership can be found on the website at www.rce.org.uk (opens in a new window).