Political View: How much bigger do we want Peterborough to get?

But what we do know for certain is that the new Government is very pro economic growth.

Peterborough has seen vast amounts of growth in housing and population over the past 50 years. There was an initial surge under the Peterborough Development Corporation in the 1970s and early 80s, funded by vast amounts of financial support from central government. But in my time as a councillor from the mid 1990s onwards, we saw further spurts of growth and I remember the arguments at the time: that it would bring big financial and other benefits for the City.

Unfortunately, in recent years the pots of government funding seem to have dried up, but the drive for growth has continued. Yet educational attainment in Peterborough is lagging considerably behind that of comparable cities and key indicators of public health continue to be very bad indeed. Yes we do al last have an impressive new university, which should at least prevent able and articulate young people leaving the city at age 18 and probably not returning.

I recently read the City Council consultation on new strategic priorities for the City. One of the key objectives is "Economy and inclusive growth". It talks about the need for more housing and in particular affordable housing; and we do have a homeless problem in the city which needs to be addressed.

Only a few years ago, Peterborough used to have an aspiration to be the "Environment Capital" of the country; and you can still see it on signs on roads leading into the city. Yet the concept appears nowhere in the council's proposed priorities. There is a mention of getting to "net zero (carbon)" to tackle climate change but no date for when this might be achieved. And you will search in vain for any reference to protecting Peterborough's extensive network of greenspaces or protecting nature. There is no commitment to promoting wind and solar energy generation (despite this being Government policy) or of the need to encourage public transport, walking and cycling.

So I think we need to have a debate in Peterborough about how much further growth is needed and what sort of growth it should be. The Peterborough Development Corporation built housing using "garden city principles" : ie including lots of green open spaces with natural habitats and trees. We need to continue that but also specify high standards of insulation and solar panels on roofs wherever possible.

We have seen vast amounts of new housing built but still have a housing crisis, so maybe we are not building the types of home that are really needed? There is room for some more housing on existing new housing developments (eg Great Haddon and Hampton) but the current controversy over proposed housing on the East of England showground shows that other new housing sites may be controversial.

Many people in Castor and Ailsworth say they don't want large scale development there. And what we need to avoid at all costs, in my view, is what is known as "infill"; ie where you start building on valuable areas of green open space in our urban areas.

Government has indicated it is going to impose housing targets on councils but they have also signalled that there may be some flexibility if councils can show "significant unavoidable restraints such as flood plains": and there is a lot of flood plain land in the southern and eastern parts of Peterborough.

There is much to celebrate about Peterborough and some ways in which it could be better than it is now. But how much bigger a City do we want to see and what will that mean in terms of need for improved transport and other key infrastructure?