UK Environment Capital (City of Peterborough)

Lord Jackson of Peterborough Excerpts

Tuesday 13th September 2011 Westminster Hall

[Mr Stewart Jackson (Peterborough) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship for the first time, Mr Dobbin. I am also delighted to welcome the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tunbridge Wells (Greg Clark), who is doing an excellent job in his ministerial capacity. I am somewhat surprised, as I was expecting the enterprise Minister, the hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford (Mr Prisk), but my right hon. Friend is a more than adequate substitute. This is my opportunity to showcase the city of Peterborough’s positive and innovative growth agenda, particularly our aspiration to be the home of the UK environment capital, and to put on record our belief that we have a good case for being the future home of the new green investment bank.

From time to time, I have disagreed with Peterborough city council about the quantity of housing development in the city. I have also expressed concerns, as have many Members over the years, about the correlation between residential development and infrastructure. However, I believe that we are resolving those issues. Peterborough city council, the urban regeneration company Opportunity Peterborough, neighbouring Members of Parliament and I share ambitious plans for the future of Peterborough, which I will elucidate.

Peterborough’s population of 170,000 is set to grow to well over 200,000 by 2021, and there are plans to deliver more than 25,000 homes and 24,000 jobs by 2026. A McKinsey report published this year predicted that by 2025, Peterborough would have the highest growth in GDP of any English city. Private sector job growth is vital to the city’s economic prosperity and growth. Peterborough’s location—just 46 minutes from London by train, with direct links to the north of England, Birmingham, Cambridge and Stansted airport—makes it a nationally and internationally well-connected city that attracts and retains businesses.

The city’s economic growth is based on strong sectoral foundations. I will mention its environmental and financial businesses in a moment. Peterborough’s manufacturing companies have outperformed many competitors and include global giants such as Caterpillar Perkins, Dresser-Rand and Applied Energy. In printing and media, Peterborough boasts Bauer Media, Europe’s largest privately owned publisher, and Ideal World, digital broadcaster to more than 22 million homes in the UK. In food and drink, the full spectrum from processing and packaging to innovation and cutting-edge technology is covered by companies such as Coca-Cola, New Covent Garden Food Co., Masterfoods, British Sugar and AB Agri.

Although nowhere has been wholly unaffected by the recession, Peterborough has performed relatively well, creating over 3,000 private sector jobs in the past year. Investment has continued to head to the city. New high-profile operators such as TK Maxx, Nando’s, Patisserie Valerie, Van Hage, Andronicas, Pandora and Superdry have all set up in Peterborough recently, and imminent arrivals such as Kelway IT services and Stobart Group are due to deliver more than 700 jobs.

Given its accessibility, Peterborough’s economic growth is available to a wide geographic area. The city has taken a lead role in the development of the Greater Cambridge and Greater Peterborough local enterprise partnership and is assisting in the delivery of the enterprise zone at Alconbury in Huntingdon, ensuring that the zone’s benefits are more widely exploited. I must put on record my disappointment that the local enterprise partnership did not push for the Peterborough railway corridor, which would have had greater resonance as a catalyst for change, built on our regeneration, and had a bigger social and economic impact. However, that was the LEP’s decision. While I am making minor complaints to my ministerial colleagues, I must say that Peterborough’s exclusion from the national insurance contributions holiday will have had a slight impact on people minded to set up businesses in Peterborough, at the border between the east midlands and the east of England, rather than in the east midlands, Lincolnshire or Northamptonshire. However, those are my only gripes.

As we know, the east of England contributes significantly to the national economy, to the tune of £30 billion a year. As a powerhouse for growth in the area, Peterborough could have a positive impact on the UK economy, and its environmental credentials could make it an exemplar city for sustainable growth.

Peterborough was designated as an environment city in 1993 and became the home of the environment capital in 2010. The city’s environment capital is a collection of assets including, among many other things, a unique cluster of environmental businesses, innovative approaches to understanding environmental performance, development of the UK’s largest zero-carbon homes project, one of the highest amounts of green space per capita in the UK and a drive for sustainability at the core of all its activities. More than 380 organisations and businesses constitute the environment cluster, including Government and voluntary organisations such as Natural England, the Environment Agency, the Wildlife Trust and Froglife and international consultancies such as Halcrow, Royal Haskoning and the Rolton Group. It also includes major businesses such as Dresser-Rand, which is developing energy from wave technologies, Caterpillar Perkins, formerly Perkins Engines, which is reducing engine CO₂ emissions, and Anglian Water, which is delivering leading-edge innovation in water management.

Peterborough Environment City Trust is delivering nationally unique environmental programmes, attracting funds for major retrofit projects, developing community skills through its Greeniversity programme and the Green Apple resource kit and awards for local schools and involving more than 400 local businesses in environmental management improvements through its Investors in the Environment scheme. With 295 code 6 homes on the south bank of the River Nene, Peterborough will be the country’s biggest carbon challenge city. The city is also developing innovative utility provision to support housing and economic growth through a council-led energy services company installing photovoltaic and other energy solutions for council property.

As one of three Department for Transport sustainable transport demonstration towns—an initiative branded as Travelchoice—the city has achieved a significant shift towards more sustainable travel modes, including a 35% increase in the number of bus passengers between 2004 and 2009, a 14% increase in walking and a 12% increase in cycle journeys. The recent award of a £5 million Department for Transport grant to Travelchoice reflects the transformations already achieved and will enable the city to develop them further.

The 2008 Government-commended integrated growth study produced by Arup on behalf of the city council demonstrated how the city could meet its ambitious growth targets while achieving environmental, economic and social sustainability. Data sets from the study underpin the pioneering Peterborough model, a web-based visualisation of city-wide environmental performance developed through a public-private collaboration. The model has received interest from as far afield as New York, Cape Cod and Bordeaux, as well as closer to home from Her Majesty’s Treasury, to support the green infrastructure plan.

Skills development is key to the city’s future. The city council has recently partnered with Cranfield university to establish the Centre for Renewable Energy and Bio-Fuels and is supporting the commercial research and development of algae biofuel energy. That brings me to the bid for the green investment bank. The pioneering work of the coalition Government in establishing the green investment bank requires relevant expertise in the host city and a similarly innovative attitude. As the home of the environment capital, Peterborough has unrivalled expertise in environmental sustainability, with its 380 businesses and organisations, its innovation networks, which reach across the globe, and its innovative mapping of environmental performance through the Peterborough model.

Peterborough also has more than 27,000 people working in the financial sector, proportionally more than the east of England and the United Kingdom. Major companies with main offices in Peterborough include the insurance operators the BGL Group—famous for the meerkat adverts—Royal Sun Alliance and Diligenta, which is part of the giant Tata Consultancy Services conglomerate. Other financial operators include BNP Paribas, Handelsbanken, the Lloyds Group, Aldermore, Travelex and Clydesdale Bank. Many of these companies have announced significant growth and expansion, even during the recession.

Innovation is key to the financial as well as environmental performance of the city. Local companies such as PinPlus, for financial security, iGo4, for insurance, and indeed the city council, through its mortgage partnership with Lloyds TSB, are all leaders in creative approaches to finance. In these difficult times for first-time buyers, I commend in particular the collaboration between the city council and Lloyds TSB in providing much-needed finance for first-time buyers. I certainly commend it to other local authorities.

In Peterborough, the green investment bank would have access to unparalleled levels of financial and environmental expertise and innovation, as is already demonstrated by the Treasury’s interest in using the Peterborough model to support the green infrastructure plan.

In conclusion, Peterborough is ambitious and growing, with a work force to match. The city is actively exploring pioneering public-private partnerships to remove the burden from the taxpayer without slowing progress in the city. Innovation in all areas of environmental, financial, economic and social capital is matched by understanding infrastructure needs and opportunities.

I will finish with a quote from Diligenta, which is a subsidiary of the huge Tata group, is a leading player in UK life and pensions business process outsourcing, and has a headquarters in the city. It says:

“Peterborough…has great infrastructure that supports a vibrant economy and a financial sector presence. We strongly recommend it as an excellent location for any business looking to invest.”

Peterborough is moving forward and grabbing the opportunities of the Government’s growth agenda. I look forward to hearing the Minister’s response.