Big ambitions for city but we need big investment

The city council is currently waging a campaign to win a fairer funding deal for Peterborough. It feels the city is being shortchanged by the government in terms of finances and we have some sympathy for that position. This week we highlight the ambitions in a report from the new Cambridgeshire and Peterborough combined authority headed by elected mayor James Palmer. The report states that the new authority wants to make Peterborough ‘the leading place in the world to live, learn and work’. It also wants to make Peterborough the UK’s capital of ‘innovation and productivity’. So far these plans have been backed by a modest £40,000 worth of investment to launch the initiative and fund an engagement project. People in the city could be forgiven for feeling a little underwhelmed coming as the announcement does a short time after the same authority announced a £1.5 billion investment plan in Cambridge’s metro transport infrastructure. All the projects the combined authority adopts will have a benefit for the region but so far the feeling of Peterborough being somewhat shortchanged again is difficult to shake off. It may well be an ambition to make Peterborough part of the improvements to transport infrastructure but so far, the big bucks are heading down the road. It is fantastic that the combined authority’s 2030 vision sees Peterborough as the leading place in the world to live, learn and work but right now, many residents might settle for just being the leading place in Cambridgeshire to do those things.