SNI 2040: Creating the Conditions for St Neots’ Long-Term Future

31 Jan SNI 2040: Creating the Conditions for St Neots’ Long-Term Future

St Neots is a town full of energy, ideas and commitment. What it hasn’t always had is the space to think long term together.

Over recent years, many decisions affecting the town have been shaped by short funding cycles, fragmented responsibilities and processes that struggle to involve residents and businesses meaningfully. That isn’t a criticism of any one organisation. It’s a reflection of how the system currently works.

If St Neots is going to thrive over the long term, the future cannot be written behind closed doors, nor driven solely by short political or funding cycles. It needs a function that thinks long term, brings people together properly and creates space for participation, trust and shared understanding.

That is the thinking behind SNI 2040.

What prompted this work

Before Christmas, the St Neots Initiative convened a roundtable bringing together civic leaders, local authority representatives, businesses and national contributors. The conversation was prompted by pressures facing the high street, planning decisions and wider questions about how towns respond to change.

A clear message emerged. While there is no shortage of insight or commitment, there is a gap in how long-term thinking is held, coordinated and stewarded in the town. There was broad agreement that St Neots needs a more holistic, place-centred approach that aligns local ambition with the realities of regional and national policy and investment.

SNI 2040 is our response to that conversation.

What SNI 2040 is

SNI 2040 is not a vision document.
It is not a one-off consultation.
And it is not about producing a finished answer.

Instead, SNI 2040 is the creation of a long-term stewardship function for St Neots.

Its role is to create the conditions for better long-term decision-making by:

• Holding the process for developing a shared future framework

• Bringing together lived experience, data, expertise and institutional realities

• Making trade-offs visible rather than hidden

• Protecting long-term intent as decisions unfold over time

The focus at this stage is not what the vision for St Neots should be, but how the town works together to shape it.

How we are approaching it

We have deliberately started with the foundations.

That means putting in place:

• Clear stewardship and governance

• Transparent rules of engagement

• Tools that allow participation to deepen over time rather than being one-off

• System mapping that acknowledges constraints as well as opportunities

This work is place-led and St Neots centric, but it also recognises the importance of alignment with local authority, regional and national policy frameworks. The aim is not to work in isolation, but to strengthen St Neots’ ability to influence and attract long-term investment by being clear, credible and coordinated.

What this is not

SNI 2040 is not about bypassing democratic processes or existing strategies.
It is not about replacing the role of elected representatives or statutory bodies.
It is not about rushing to conclusions.

It is about building trust, shared understanding and long-term thinking capacity in the town, so that future decisions are better informed and more resilient.

Why this matters

Towns that thrive over the long term do not do so by accident. They invest in the ability to think beyond the next project, the next funding round or the next decision.

They create space for people to engage properly.
They connect ambition to reality.
They hold intent over time.

SNI 2040 is an early step in building that capability for St Neots.

This work will unfold deliberately over the year ahead. There will be moments for wider participation and opportunities for partners to engage as the framework develops.

For now, our focus is on getting the foundations right. Starting with our core team Gail Peck, John Eaton, Zion Ayokunnu and chaired by Alex Hughes. Here pictured with the project sponsor, Richard Shaw M.B.E., who has given us the the go ahead for this 15 year project

Because the future of St Neots deserves time, care and collective ownership.