By David Ralph, Chief Executive, Haven Gateway

The Haven Gateway’s annual reception provided an excellent opportunity to look back on our achievements over the past year – and it was also time to reflect on ten years of successful and highly active partnership between the public and private sectors, since the Haven Gateway Partnership was first created in 2001.

In the ‘new world’ of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP), the Haven Gateway’s strong track record in public/private sector working will be even more important as we plan for future growth and prosperity.

We were delighted to welcome the Minister for Communities and Local Government, Bob Neill, as the keynote speaker at our annual reception. His presence clearly demonstrated and recognised the strategic role the Haven Gateway plays in this sub-region; and, of course, it is always useful to be able to explain our successes, achievements, hopes and concerns direct to the top!

Mr Neill spoke about the challenges going forward as well as the past successes of the Haven Gateway. An especially welcome part of his speech came when he announced that the Haven Gateway had secured nearly £3 million of European funding for our unique Low Carbon Freight Dividend project designed to shift about 30,000 containers off the roads and on to rail transport.

During the annual reception we also launched our Containerised Cargo Carbon Calculator, an online tool to support logistics operators looking to make greener choices for their freight movements. The Carbon Calculator was developed and funded through the Haven Gateway’s partnership within the European Union Dryport project.

Bob Russell MP kindly hosted the annual reception and during his speech he emphasised his support for the Partnership and the work it does. 

So, to look back on some of the highlights of the past 12 months: 2010/11 marked the final year of a three-year programme of planned investment by the Haven Gateway Partnership. Our designation as a Growth Point brought almost £30 million of government grants to the sub-region during those three years, through New Growth Point funding and Community Infrastructure Fund money. The NGP funding has already levered in over £55 million of additional resources and helped to deliver more than 55 projects.

Highlights in the past year have included the completion of the new Cuckoo Farm junction 28 on the A12, which led directly to the largest industrial letting in Colchester for seven years; we look forward to the further opening of access to Colchester town centre with the northern link road and new park & ride facility. In other projects, we have seen transformational changes to public areas in Colchester, Ipswich, Felixstowe, Harwich and Clacton, and substantial community engagement in the delivery of ‘green space’ projects.

A thriving Haven Gateway is fundamental to the economic performance of Essex, Suffolk and UK plc. In this ‘new reality’ we need to be even smarter in gaining our share of a smaller public funding pot, and in securing private sector leverage to support infrastructure improvements and investment.