Community

Peterborough: growing up fast

Peterborough’s growing, and it’s growing fast. With around 23,000 new homes to build by 2036 – an increase of more than a quarter on today’s total – the city finds itself at a crossroads. Can it hold onto its friendly, small town spirit as it expands? And what does it mean for existing residents? The Moment talks to the people charged with making it all happen and asks: How will our city look and feel in the future?

Peterborough has always been a place of growth and opportunity. From its heyday as a thriving manufacturing hub to its post-war designation as a New Town and subsequent expansion, regeneration and reinvention, our city boasts a can-do attitude. Now other cities are sitting up and taking note: Peterborough is emerging as a world-class city – somewhere with a rich cultural offer, a great place to do business and, of course, an outstanding place to live. And it seems that more people than ever want to call Peterborough home. Many cities have witnessed significant growth over the decades but ours has been unprecedented. In the last 50 years Peterborough’s population has doubled and is continuing to grow at an impressive rate. In fact, we’re the fourth fastest-growing city in the country, with an annual growth rate of 1.8%. In 2015 there were 194,000 Peterborians; in 20 years there’ll be another 34,000 of us.

Success breeds homes

The rapid increase in population – and the homes needed to house everyone – is a product of the city’s thriving economy. Steve Bowyer is Chief Executive of Opportunity Peterborough, a not-for-profit business helping to lead the city’s economic development: ‘We are on a really successful trajectory. Growth is good for a city because it refreshes a city and breathes air into the economy. ‘As well as the correct infrastructure – the roads, railways, education provision – there has to be a breadth of housing that appeals to all of the labour force. In Peterborough the housing mix needs to be diverse because our economy is diverse. So that means quality smaller units, as well as the higher end housing that will help our existing labour force to progress and to attract the new people into the city.’ Peterborough is trying to keep up with this demand and to some extent it’s managing, but the pressures of the housing market are in constant catch-up. Average house prices in the city leapt by more than 8% last year, placing upward pressure on the house price to earnings ratio. An average property now costs just over seven times the average salary. Nevertheless, this is half that of nearby Cambridge and, unlike the city on the Cam, there’s plenty of scope for Peterborough to expand and meet future demand.

Fast growth

New housing development needs a plan. In Peterborough this comes in the form of the Peterborough Local Plan 2011 to 2036, which is currently in its draft phase. The Local Plan sets out how the city and its surrounding rural area will grow and evolve over the next 20 years. The latest version sets a target of 27,625 new homes and outlines where they will go. There’s no disputing that’s a big number, but that’s because new homes are desperately needed, as Simon Machen, Corporate Director for Growth and Regeneration at Peterborough City Council explains: ‘The biggest constraint at the moment is the speed at which new homes can be built. At the moment the city has a very strong housing market. A lot of new builds are being sold off plan, with a lead-in time of up to a year. You’ve got a combination of families and individuals buying property, plus a very strong investment market. ‘What we need to be careful of is that we have equality in the city, particularly in terms of housing choice. We know prices are rising, we just need to make sure we don’t leave people behind and that we continue to have choice of tenure, so even the most vulnerable have high quality housing options.’

Facilitating growth

Most new housing in Peterborough is built on urban extensions – sites immediately adjoining the existing edge of the city. These are large sites of anywhere between 1,500 to 6,000 homes that require a significant upfront investment in infrastructure. The city council works to unlock these sites by supporting essential works. ‘Major road improvement schemes are a good example,’ says Simon. ‘Recent work on junction 20 of the Paston Parkway will help to bring forward the planned urban extension in that area, while the widening of Fletton Parkway out towards the A1 will help to unlock growth potential there.’ Around 95% of the growth anticipated over the next two decades will take place within the existing urban area, predominantly within new urban extensions. That leaves just 5% allocated to villages such as Eye. Steve Bowyer explains the logic behind this: ‘In 2008 Opportunity Peterborough undertook a pioneering piece of work – the Integrated Growth Study – which has been used by other cities around the country. It found that growth is best focussed within or close to existing urban areas. This makes sense, because that is where the infrastructure is. But equally, you do need new housing in other settlements and villages because there’s pressure there too. It’s got to be both, not an either or.’

How affordable is Peterborough?
The housing affordability ratio is the value of the average house price as a multiple of the average salary. In Peterborough the housing affordability ratio in 2016 was 7.29, placing the city in the middle of national league tables for housing affordability. The mean house price in the city is also about average, at £182,826.

Urban renaissance

Much of Peterborough’s earlier expansions comprised of significant urban extensions, such as Hampton or the Ortons. But as the city matures new opportunities become available as previously developed, or brownfield land becomes available for housing. For Simon this is a genuinely exciting opportunity for the city to undergo a major urban renaissance: ‘Take the Fletton Quays site by the riverside – there will be almost 500 new apartments, in the middle of the city, in a waterfront location. So we’re seeing a much more high-quality urban environment being created alongside all the new development on the greenfield sites. This is a major new direction for Peterborough. We’re beginning to see many more people living in and around the city centre. And alongside that we’re investing in the quality of the public realm.’

Steve agrees: ‘When I came to Peterborough 10 years ago there was the perception that you’d never get people living in the city centre. But any successful city has got a strong flagship at its centre. Take the Cathedral Square transformation, which had a logical plan behind it: create a nice environment that will attract businesses and restaurants. People will go to them and then you will probably see people wanting to live near them. We’ve seen that and the city centre is now a real destination hub. Do we need to keep that going? Yes, and a component of that is that we now need to build. It’s all about feeding a virtuous cycle of regeneration.’ Another potential driver of regeneration is a burgeoning student population. As plans for a fullyfledged Peterborough University take shape the city can expect anywhere up to 12,500 students, many of whom will be coming from out of town. ‘We’re working with key stakeholders to work out where that new university campus and accompanying student accommodation will go,’ says Simon. ‘It’s a very different housing need to those we’ve had in the city historically.’

Working together

Urban regeneration is an exciting new direction for Peterborough. The Fletton Quays development is being led by the Peterborough Investment Partnership, a joint venture company between Lucent Strategic Land Fund and the city council. Simon is Managing Partner and explains how the council has gone from merely facilitating developments like this to actively delivering them: ‘The council has to take a very active role to unlock the full potential of sites like Fletton Quays. Similarly the council has committed significant funding towards land acquisition in North Westgate. We’re now playing an instrumental part in bringing these sites forward, rather than sitting back and waiting for the commercial market to deliver. It allows the council to operate as a developer and generate much-needed profit, which can then be reinvested back into frontline services like social care.’

The council has also entered into a joint venture with affordable housing provider Cross Keys Homes with a view to delivering more in this area. ‘There’s a lot of pressure around affordable housing and temporary accommodation demands. So it’s about finding solutions to some of those challenges. The new housing company will also build houses to sell and for private rent. So again, we’re becoming a player in the delivery end of the market, both to reduce social welfare costs and to generate value to reinvest in frontline council services.’

Safeguarding quality

The danger of all this growth is that Peterborough loses its sense of identity, or perhaps that quality of life is compromised. Maintaining a healthy, friendly city is as important as facilitating all that new housing. ‘We try to ensure is that growth is sustainable. So the new environments that are created have quality open space, onsite school provision and so on,’ says Simon. ‘On the one hand you have to support new cycling and walking infrastructure, while on the other ensuring our roads continue to function. What we don’t want to do is grow, gridlock and then try and solve that problem. So putting in that infrastructure investment early is really important.’ ‘I don’t think we are going to see our existing assets lost,’ adds Steve. ‘But what we have to do is build the new alongside the existing to satisfy those new to the city. So what you do is develop an enhanced identity of the city. ‘Of course, there are lots of things that can drive that sense of place, such as cultural interventions. With talk of a new cinema and enhancing performance spaces in the city centre, the next 20 years will certainly see a lot of change for Peterborough. But it will still be just as easy to walk along the river to Ferry Meadows. And that’s the point: you don’t lose what you’ve got, you want to bring in the new to complement the growth in the population who are aware of the quality of the characteristics of the place. ‘Are things going to carry on getting better over the course of then next 20 years? We’ve got the assets in place for it to do so. Peterborough has all the qualities and characteristics of a successful city, so we’d have to try hard for it not to.’

Growing up fast
Every year Centre for Cities, an independent, non-partisan think tank, releases its latest healthcheck of the UK’s 63 biggest cities. The Cities Outlook 2017 report offers a snapshot of how our cities are faring in a national context. Peterborough is a fast-growing and confident city, as these statistics from the latest report reveal. ● Annual population growth: 1.8% (3,500 – the 4th fastest nationally) ● Housing stock growth: 1.7% (1,340 – highest rate of growth nationally) ● Annual house price growth: 8.1% (average of £13,700 – 10th fastest growth)

Planning our future
Peterborough City Council’s Draft Local Plan sets out its vision for housing growth to 2036. The Local Plan is the culmination of years of evidence gathering and offers residents, planners and developers alike a clear path forward, as Gemma Wildman, Principal Planner at Peterborough City Council, explains…

Numbers game
To work out how many homes were needed in Peterborough the council worked with neighbouring local authorities to forecast future housing demand in the area. We worked with consultants who are expert at this process and use standard methodology and robust evidence gathering to produce the final housing numbers. Peterborough has agreed to fulfil its entire housing obligation, as well as some growth from neighbouring Cambridgeshire [an additional 2,500 homes]. This extra growth will bring in more council tax and financial contributions from developers, while further helping the city’s economy. An earlier version of the Local Plan, which outlined a broad growth strategy for the city, was generally well received, though some respondents to the consultation wanted more housing (mostly developers), while others felt the number should be lower. However, all housing numbers are based on robust evidence and an identified need.

Location, location
With a housing target established [27,625 new homes to have been built between 2011 and 2036] the next step was to invite landowners to put forward sites they would like to be considered for development. In total 120 sites were put forward and each had to undergo detailed assessment to establish which best met the council’s housing strategy. Some sites were rejected early on because of major constraints – for example an unacceptable flood risk. Or it may have been a completely isolated site lack infrastructure or a connection to a village. Sites making it through the first round were then investigated through site visits. The planning team looked at things such as site access, landscape impact and proximity to a conservation area. Specialist officers shared their input, with comments invited from departments such as transport, education and archaeology.

When choosing sites for the Local Plan, all of the sites are compared together so we can work out the best locations for development in a coordinated way that takes into account all the constraints. Sites need to be sustainable; there are significant areas of brownfield land in the middle of the city that could be redeveloped. This approach is reflected in national planning guidelines, so brownfield sites have a high priority. We then look at the existing urban area, because these sites are better connected. There needs to be a balance. The surrounding villages must be allowed to grow in order to meet natural growth and to support local services and facilities. But you don’t want to impose too much development on the villages, which puts pressure on those services and forces people to drive more. The planning team feels the levels of growth proposed for the villages is enough to meet natural growth. If more growth was directed to the villages we wouldn’t be making the best use of land and existing infrastructure.

Stopping the sprawl
The city and surrounding villages each have an official boundary urban or village boundary, which defines the edge of development. Boundaries are reviewed whenever a new Local Plan is prepared, which is every five years. A boundary may be redrawn to incorporate new sites that adjoin the urban area or a village, though minor changes may also be made to reflect the reality of what is on the ground and to make it more logical. We try to keep boundaries very tight to the built edge of the city or villages to prevent development outside of those areas and avoid sprawl. If someone lives right against the urban or village boundary, they can guarantee that development opposite them is highly unlikely while the boundary remains where it is. Of course, should the boundary ever come up for review then they would be encouraged to offer their comments or objections during the consultation process.

The next step
The final draft version of the Peterborough Local Plan 2011 to 2036 will go out for public consultation towards the end of this year. Once this consultation period ends all of the comments will be sent off to an independent examiner, together with the Local Plan, who will advise on any final changes that need to be made. The council currently expects a final decision to be made at some point in the early autumn of next year.

You can follow the progress of the new Local Plan online at www.peterborough.gov.uk/council/planning-and-development

Viewpoint: The councillor

Councillor Peter Hiller is Peterborough City Council Cabinet Member for Growth, Planning, Housing and Economic Development.

When are Peterborough’s strengths when it comes to housing?
Our city’s connectivity is certainly a factor in our success as one of the fastest growing in the UK. The well-maintained road network around Peterborough is the envy of similar-sized towns and gives us great access to the national road network. We are also within very easy reach of central London and the North by fast rail. Average house prices are attractive to buyers, both working here and commuting.

How do you see the city’s housing stock evolving?
The Draft Local Plan sets out our proposals for the future growth of Peterborough and our updated approved Housing Strategy sets out the clear vision for our housing needs. Both documents are well written and designed to be easy to understand, unambiguous and ambitious. I’d personally like to see more ambitious design concepts emerging, certainly more parking provision and brownfield development similar to what’s been achieved at Fletton Quays, our amazing new riverside scheme.

Why are new homes so important to the city?
Our local economy grows quicker than most, principally due to the can-do attitude of this administration and the professionalism and capability of our award-winning planning service. As the economy grows we need more properties for folk to live in. It’s a piece of our success jigsaw that we’ve both recognised and reacted to and will continue to focus on.

How will the new housing that’s planned for the city work for the benefit of everyone, not just those who can afford to buy?
Affordable homes are critical to any growth-orientated city. We ensure all sizable new applications provide the right amount for our growth agenda, with either on or off-site provision. Mixed tenure housing is also encouraged to allow first-time buyers the opportunity to own or certainly have a stake in their own homes.

Can Peterborough’s friendly, liveable atmosphere be retained, even as we see significant growth?
Yes. A properly planned growing city doesn’t have to be a crowded city or one where existing facilities suffer due to that growth. Infrastructure provision is a key element to successful growth and if you look around at our newer developments you’ll see that evidenced.

Viewpoint: The developer

Karl Hick is Chief Executive of housebuilder and developer Larkfleet Homes.

Does the housing target in the Draft Local Plan mean profitable days ahead for developers?
Even with sites identified in the Local Plan, developers still have to go through the planning and consultation process, which takes time. With all the individual elements that need to be approved it can take up to three to five years before building even starts. As a mediumsized developer the bureaucracy and inevitable delays make it very difficult; for smaller developers it’s even tougher.

You work across the Eastern region. How do you find Peterborough as a place to work?
The planning team at the city council are helpful and try to make things happen, despite all of the constraints on their time and resources. They understand the issues that developers face – issues such as funding and timing. There’s pragmatism there, not just a black and white situation. Peterborough is my main base, so I’m lucky because of that.

What are your biggest constraints to delivering the Local Plan’s ambitious targets?
We are more constrained by the bank’s ability to lend us money than our ability to build. In fact, access to finance is the biggest constraint. The banks are not really open for business. It’s not got any better since the financial crisis because the terms at which they will lend are so ridiculous.

Is there anything you can do to minimise your financial risk?
As developers we build a mix of homes: two-three bed detached, two-bed semis, two-bed terraces and then some four and five beds. And we invest in retirement living. Having a diversified mix of products is important, so if one does better than the other our risk is spread. And you never know when Government is going to do some sort of promotion aimed at first-time buyers.

There’s a lot of legislation coming forward to support starter homes for first-time buyers. Larkfleet seems to be in favour of starter homes, despite the lower price they can be sold at. Why?
Developers must provide affordable housing as part of what they build. Starter units allow us to get on-site quicker. Yes, they’re sold at a 20% discount, but we can at least get on and build without having to involve a housing association or jump through as many hoops. It also means we are in control of all of the houses on site. If all the houses on site are owner occupied then buyers can be confident they will be looked after, which makes them easier to sell. The same is true of shared ownership housing.

The Draft Local Plan allocates just 5% of the new housing target to be built out in the villages. What’s your opinion of this?
If the villages are going to survive it should be more like 25%. Villages shouldn’t be just for the well off. They need to grow too, so that the young people can live there too. Many Neighbourhood Plans seem to want to stop development, but people don’t appreciate that development is actually good for most villages because it keeps young people living there, it keeps the village vibrant, it keeps the pub open or the school going. Larkfleet has built in many places where the local school would have closed if we hadn’t come along and built the new homes that bring in young families. New homes in villages mean a mix of people, not just those in retirement who can afford to live there.

Would you say the future of the city itself is bright?
As a developer I’m dedicated to Peterborough. I think it’s a great place and sing its praises everywhere. It’s a can-do place. Crucially the city council does try to help us developers, which is vital if the city is to continue to grow and thrive.

Image: www.freepik.com/free-vector/flat-cityscape-pack_829214

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