Westminster meeting lays out 'ambition' for growth in Cambridgeshire
MPs and business leaders were some who attended the event
The mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough believes there is a "sense of ambition" in how the county can help drive economic growth in the UK.
MPs including Labour's Andrew Pakes (Peterborough) and Sam Carling (North West Cambridgeshire) joined business leaders and infrastructure experts in Westminster this week to talk about the area's contribution to national growth.
The event also allowed panellists including from AstraZeneca - which has a site in Cambridge - the Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce and the Cambridge Delivery Group to address key challenges such as housing and transport.
"We are great at innovation; we have tech and life science clusters which really help drive the economy around Cambridgeshire and Peterborough but for the whole of the United Kingdom," the county's mayor Dr Nik Johnson said.
"People like a success story, and the Combined Authority (CPCA) and mayoralty is now a success story."
In the same week, Chancellor Rachel Reeves gave her backing towards the Oxford to Cambridge growth corridor as part of a speech on boosting Britain's economy.
The Westminster event came ahead of the UK Real Estate, Investment & Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) in Leeds in May, one of Europe's largest trade and investment conferences.
CPCA aim to showcase what it says "a broad range of investment opportunities from across the region" at UKREiiF and promote the county which has "a thriving business environment, skilled workforce and focus on sustainable growth".
Mr Johnson said it's important that work across the county is being noticed.
'Sense of ambition'
"People know about Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, particularly the University of Cambridge, but I want them to know about Peterborough university and what the CPCA has done there in terms of delivering for that part of the county," he told Greatest Hits Radio.
Mr Johnson has also backed the Government's pledge - made in December - to devolving more powers to local mayors across the country to help drive growth in the UK.
The CPCA had already been made aware of the Government's devolution plans last summer under the English Devolution Bill, which would give more powers to mayors in city regions on decisions such as transport, housing and planning.
"The money we're given, we will invest it better," Mr Johnson added.
"Now that more and more (information) is being put into the public domain, the sense of ambition is palpable."