Myself and other stakeholders have spent a great deal of thought, time and money on trying to plan for and encourage the regeneration of Wisbech.

Our dream is to re-instate the Railway and to regenerate and expand the town.

Whilst I was trying to put together master plans for the development areas detailed in Fenland’s adopted Plan, I encountered many obstacles.

In a moment of clarity I decided to look at the bigger picture and try and plan out the future of the whole of Wisbech, including roads, rail, tidal barrage etc.

This bold idea was developed by myself and other interested parties into the ‘Wisbech Garden Town’ project.

At the very heart of this was the absolute need to bring back the railway.

The ‘dream’ is to vastly improve the lives of all our existing residents and to encourage more people to live and work here.

We need to dramatically improve education, health, training and employment in Wisbech.

An enormous amount of work has been done by various parties behind the scenes.

We now critically need release of ‘allocated’ LEP funding to allow us to take the next steps.

The Railway and Garden Town are bold concepts which would transform the lives of the whole community.

The government is keen to see both dreams realised, we have had several important visitors recently and more to come.

Steve Barclay, has as always, fought ‘tooth and nail’ to encourage both projects, and continues to do so.

I am totally supportive of his latest bid to get LEP funding to help us forward, WE NEED IT NOW PLEASE!

The government has to build houses, it has to improve social welfare and it has to drive economic growth.

It is well aware of the various, serious issues facing our community.

Wisbech is a prime candidate for ‘improvement’ and it has been suggested that the model could be replicated throughout the UK.

So, all you readers, please get behind Steve Barclay and all us behind the scenes, help us make this ‘Grand Dream’ come true.

Lobby your councillors, support your MP, use social media and the press.

Just think; the Railway, better schools, better housing, better jobs, better health and medical facilities, country park, reduced flood risk, better leisure facilities, better shops, reduced congestion, better roads.

JOHN FOSTER

Managing Director, Foster Property Developments Ltd

Via email