State funded, not private

We are seeking to clarify some information that was in a letter in last week’s Peterborough Telegraph on the subject of the St John Henry Newman Catholic Primary School that is due to open in 2022/23.

Funding for the school has come from the Department for Education’s Voluntary Aided Capital Fund with the remaining 10 per cent coming from section 106 funding from developers.

The school is not a religious private school, it is a state funded, maintained school, run by the Catholic Diocese. This is a new school required to provide school places for a new development in the East Hamptons. Expansion of existing schools would not have been an appropriate approach.

The school’s Governing Body will review its admissions arrangements on an annual basis. The over-admissions which prioritise children of faith will only apply where applications exceed the number of places available. In the first year, the Diocese proposes a split of 20 per cent open spaces to 80 per cent faith-based spaces if over-subscription occurs. However, it has repeated its commitment to ensure the admission arrangements continue to meet the needs of the local community, which is the case in other schools run by the Diocese successfully and without over-subscription issues in the city.

Further information on the new school is available on our website www.peterborough. gov.uk/news/decision-to-allow-a-new-catholic-school-inhampton-was-made-according-to-government-guidanceand-cannot-be-overturned

Councillor Lynne Ayres,

cabinet member for education at Peterborough City Council

Bonds have a long and storied history. They were traditionally deployed during wartime to encourage the public to contribute to the national effort: rather than keep savings in a bank, citizens could invest in guns, tanks and bombs to help defeat a foreign foe. They helped get Britain through its national moments of crisis.

Our present situation is precarious: the necessities of lockdown have ravaged our economy.

Much of our infrastructure needs to be modernised: we desperately need better broadband, improved roads and transport links. Labour believes it’s time to bring back bonds to rebuild our country.

Labour proposes creating a new Recovery Bond, which will then be used by a new National Infrastructure Bank. The bank will fund projects which will give us the infrastructure we need to kickstart recovery. In many respects, this is a re-establishment of the link between finance and the British people: when we put money into our savings accounts, there is an expectation that this will be loaned to businesses to build themselves up. This is only partially true: as the 2008 financial crisis showed, at least some of this money goes towards more speculative forms of investment. It is by no means certain that we get improvements we all need.

The money is there: figures estimate that British households will have accumulated £250 billion in savings by June 2021. What we do with it will determine whether we prosper or stagnate; it’s clear that the Chancellor would like us to spend it on goods and services. By investing it in infrastructure, we are creating an opportunity to grow the economy as a whole; better infrastructure means a more educated workforce, goods that arrive more quickly, better communications, and jobs for those working on these projects. Meanwhile, the families that have accumulated these savings continue to build up reserves for the future.

How would the bonds work? The bonds would be assigned a market level rate of return; purchasers could draw on the funds early, however that would diminish the earnings accrued.

This is a typical market practice.

A similar scheme has been utilised by other countries to fund their infrastructure projects; “municipal bonds” are long-established form of investment in a number of countries. America created “Build America Bonds” in 2009 to help bolster economic recovery after the financial crash.

The Labour Group in Peterborough believes that we should issue a local “Transformation Bond” with an initial fund value of £50 million. If people wish to put more savings into this fund, the size of the fund will be increased. A bond could also be created for an economic green recovery and our city could lead the way on this. The bond will allow Peterborians to have a stake in the future prosperity of the city alongside a decent return on investment.

There is a unique confluence of circumstances: we have a need for productive investment, the savings are there, and yet we have a Chancellor who would like us to just go down to the shops.

It’s a shame: this opportunity could be used to build back our country in a better way.

We don’t necessarily need to increase taxation to have better infrastructure: we merely need to build a bridge, so to speak, between the savings and patriotism of the British people, to a means by which that can be effectively deployed.

This week’s picture puzzle (above) is a close-up of a statue. Do you know where it is?

Last week’s close-up was from the town hall.

The close-up is of the ornate City of Peterborough coat of arms which sits high upon the frontage of the town hall in Bridge Street. The town hall was designed by E. Berry Webber, largely built by John Thompson & Sons, and was opened in 1933 by Alderman Isaac Whitsed.

●Each week we publish a closeup picture of a Peterborough landmark and challenge readers to identify what it is and where it is. The following week we’ll reveal the answer. Pictures and information provided by Toby Wood, vice chairman of the civic society. www.peterboroughcivicsociety.org.uk