Peterborough (pronounced /ˈpiːtɚbʌrə/ listen) is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with a projected population of 161,800 as of 2007.House of Commons Hansard Written Answers HC Deb. 19 July 2006 (vol.449) cc.517-518W For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. The Town Hall is 75miles (121km) north of London at Charing Cross. The city is situated on the River Nene, which flows into the North Sea approximately 30 miles (48km) to the north-east. The local topography is notoriously flat and low-lying, and in some places lies below sea level. The area known as the Fens falls to the east of Peterborough. The City of Peterborough includes the outlying settlement at RAF Wittering, and as a unitary authority borders Northamptonshire and Rutland to the west, Lincolnshire to the north, and Cambridgeshire to the south and east.
Human settlement in the area dates back to before the Bronze Age, as can be seen at the Flag Fen archaeological site to the east of the current city centre. This site also shows evidence of Roman occupation. The Saxon period saw the establishment of an abbey, which later became Peterborough Cathedral. The population grew rapidly following the arrival of the railways in the nineteenth century, and Peterborough became an industrial centre, particularly noted for its brick manufacture. Following the Second World War, growth was limited until designation as a New Town in the 1960s. The population is once again undergoing rapid expansion and a £1 billion regeneration of the city centre and immediately surrounding area is underway. In common with much of the United Kingdom, industrial employment has fallen, with new jobs tending to be in financial services and distribution.
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History
Early history
Present-day Peterborough is merely the latest in a series of settlements which have at one time or other benefited from the advantages of where the Nene leaves permanently drained land for the Fens. Remains of Bronze Age settlement and what is thought to be religious activity can be seen at the Flag Fen archaeological site to the east of the city centre. The Romans established the fortified garrison town of Durobrivae on Ermine Street to the west of the current city around AD43. This was first mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary of the late second century.Parthey, Gustav and Pinder, Moritz (eds.) Itinerarivm Antonini Avgvsti et Hierosolymitanum: ex libris manu scriptis Iter Britanniarvm (Iter V: Item a Londinio Luguvalio ad vallum mpm clvi sic) Friederich Nicolaus, Berlin, 1848. See also Reynolds, Thomas Iter Britanniarum or that part of the itinerary of Antoninus which relates to Britain with a new comment J. Burges, Cambridge, 1799
Peterborough (Gildenburgh, Burgus sancti Petri) is shown by its original name Medeshampstede to have been a Saxon village before AD655 when Saxulf, a monk, founded the monastery on land granted to him for that purpose by Peada, King of Mercia. The Peterborough Chronicle, or later Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which contains unique information about the history of England after the Norman Conquest, was composed here by monks.Bodleian, MS. Laud 636 (E), see Ingram, James Henry (trans.) The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle J. M. Dent & Sons, London, 1823 (facsimilie of the 1847 Everyman's Library ed. with additional readings from the translation of John Allen Giles from Project Gutenberg, retrieved 19 September 2007) According to some philologists, this is the only prose history in English between the conquest and the later fourteenth century.Bennett, Jack Arthur Walter Middle English Literature (ed. and completed by Douglas Gray) Oxford University Press, 1986 The town's name was altered to Burgh between AD992 and 1005 after Abbot Kenulf had built a defensive wall around the minster; but it does not appear to have been a borough until the twelfth century. The burgesses received their first charter from "Abbot Robert" — probably Robert of Sutton (1262–1273).Chisholm, Hugh (ed.) Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.) vol.21 Cambridge University Press, 1911 (text in the public domain)
When civil war broke out, Peterborough was divided between supporters of King Charles I (known as Cavaliers) and supporters of the Long Parliament (known as Roundheads). The city lay on the border of the Eastern Association of counties which sided with Parliament, and the war reached Peterborough in 1643 when soldiers arrived in the city to attack Royalist strongholds at Stamford and Crowland. The Royalist forces were defeated within a few weeks and retreated to Burghley House, where they were captured and sent to Cambridge.Davies, Elizabeth et al. Peterborough: A Story of City and Country, People and Places (pp.18-19) Peterborough City Council and Pitkin Unichrome, 2001 While the Parliamentary soldiers were in Peterborough however, they ransacked the cathedral, destroying the lady chapel, chapter house, cloister, high altar and choir stalls, as well as mediæval decoration and records.King, Richard John Handbook to the Cathedrals of England (p.77) John Murray, London, 1862
Historically the dean and chapter, who succeeded the abbot as lords of the manor, appointed a high bailiff, and the constables and other borough officers were elected at their court leet; but the municipal borough was incorporated in 1874 under the government of a mayor, six aldermen and eighteen councillors.Under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 (5 & 6 Wm. IV c.76), Charter of Incorporation dated 17 March 1874 Among the privileges claimed by the abbot as early as the thirteenth century was that of having a prison for felons taken in the Soke. In 1576 Bishop Scambler sold the lordship of the hundred of Nassaburgh, which is coextensive with the Soke, to Queen Elizabeth I, who gave it to Lord Burghley, and from that time until the nineteenth century he and his descendants, the Earls and Marquesses of Exeter, had a separate gaol for prisoners arrested in the Soke. The abbot formerly held four fairs, of which two, St. Peter's Fair, granted in 1189 and later held on the second Tuesday and Wednesday in July, and the Brigge Fair, granted in 1439 and later held on the first Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in October, were purchased by the corporation from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1876. The Bridge Fair, as it is now known, granted to the abbey by King Henry VI, survives. Prayers for the opening of the fair were once said at the morning service in the cathedral, followed by a civic proclamation and a sausage lunch at the Town Hall which still takes place. The Mayor traditionally leads a procession from the Town Hall to the fair where the proclamation is read, asking all persons to "behave soberly and civilly, and to pay their just dues and demands."Tebbs, Herbert F. Peterborough: A History (p.125) The Oleander Press, Cambridge, 1979
Modern history
Railway lines began operating locally during the 1840s, but it was the 1850 opening of the Great Northern Railway's main line from London to York, that transformed Peterborough from a market town to an industrial centre. Lord Exeter had opposed the railway passing through Stamford, so Peterborough, situated between two main terminals at London and Doncaster, increasingly developed as a regional hub.Brooks, John A Flavour of the Welland (p.12) The Welland Partnership and Jarrold Publishing, Norwich, 2004
Coupled with vast local clay deposits, the railway enabled large scale brick making and distribution to take place. The area was the UK's leading producer of bricks for much of the twentieth century. Brick making had been a small seasonal craft since the early nineteenth century, but during the 1890s successful experiments at Fletton using the harder clays from a lower level had resulted in a much more efficient process.Davies (pp.23-24) Perkins Engines was established in Peterborough in 1932 by Frank Perkins, creator of the Perkins Diesel Engine. Thirty years later it employed more than a tenth of the population of Peterborough, mainly at Eastfield.Baker, Anne Pimlott Perkins, Francis Arthur (1889–1967) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press, 2004 (subscription required doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/48099, retrieved 24 September 2007) Baker Perkins had relocated from London to Westwood, now the site of HMP Peterborough, in 1903, followed by Peter Brotherhood to Walton in 1906; both manufacturers of industrial machinery they too became major employers in the city.Davies (pp.26-27) British Sugar remains headquartered in Woodston, although the sugar beet factory, which opened there in 1926, was closed in 1991.The History of British Sugar British Sugar (retrieved 05 January 2008)
Designated a New Town in 1967, Peterborough Development Corporation was formed in partnership with the city and county councils to house London's overspill population in new townships sited around the existing urban area.Under the New Towns Act 1965 (1965 cap.59) cf. The Peterborough Development Corporation (Transfer of Property and Dissolution) Order 1988 (SI 1988/1410), the designation was made on 21 July 1967, see the London Gazette: no. 44377, page 8515, 1 August 1967. There were to be four townships; at Bretton, Orton, Paston/Werrington and Castor. The last of these was never built, but a fourth township, called Hampton, is now taking shape south of the city. It was decided that the city should have a major indoor shopping centre at its heart. Planning permission was received in the late summer of 1976 and Queensgate, which contains over 90 stores and includes parking for 2,300 cars, was opened by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands in 1982. 34 miles (55km) of urban roads were planned and a network of high-speed roads, known as parkways, was constructed.Hancock, Tom Greater Peterborough Master Plan Peterborough Development Corporation, 1971
Peterborough's population grew by 45.4% between 1971 and 1991. New service-sector companies like Thomas Cook and Pearl Assurance were also attracted to the city, ending the dominance of the manufacturing industry as employers. An urban regeneration company named Opportunity Peterborough, under the chairmanship of Lord Mawhinney, was set up by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in 2005 to oversee Peterborough's future development.EXPANSION: A billion reasons to be cheerful Peterborough Evening Telegraph, 02 March 2005 Between 2006 and 2012 a £1 billion re-development of the city centre and surrounding areas will take place. The master plan provides guidelines on shaping the physical form of the city centre over the next 15–20 years. Proposals are already progressing for the north of Westgate, the south bank and the station quarter, where Network Rail is preparing a major mixed use development.The Plan for Peterborough City Centre Peterborough City Council, East of England Development Agency and English Partnerships, February 2005 Whilst recognising the reconfiguration of the relationship between the city and station is critical, English Heritage found the current plans for Westgate unconvincing and felt more thought should be given to the vitality of the historic core.Urban Panel Review Paper for Peterborough Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England and Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, 16 March 2006
Administration
Politics
The city formed a parliamentary borough returning two members from 1541, with the rest of the Soke being part of Northamptonshire parliamentary county. The Great Reform Act did not affect the borough, while the rural portion of the Soke was included in the northern division of Northamptonshire.Formally the Representation of the People Act 1832 (2 & 3 Will. IV c.45) In 1885 the borough's representation was reduced to one member,Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict. c.23) and in 1918 the boundaries were adjusted to include the whole Soke.Youngs, Frederic A. Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England Volume II: Northern England (Part III: Parliamentary Constituencies) Royal Historical Society, London, 1991 The serving member for Peterborough is the Conservative, Stewart Jackson MP, who defeated Labour's Helen Clark in the 2005 general election. In 1997 the North West Cambridgeshire constituency was formed, incorporating parts of the city and neighbouring Huntingdonshire. The serving member is the Conservative, Shailesh Vara MP, who succeeded the (then) Rt Hon Dr. Sir Brian Mawhinney, former Secretary of State for Transport and Chairman of the Conservative Party, in 2005. Mawhinney, who had previously served as Member of Parliament for Peterborough from 1979, was created Baron Mawhinney of Peterborough in the county of Cambridgeshire later that year. Peterborough and North West Cambridgeshire are included in the East of England constituency for elections to the European Parliament. It currently elects seven members using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.
Local government
From 1889 the ancient Soke of Peterborough formed an administrative county in its own right with boundaries similar, although not identical, to the current unitary authority.Under the Local Government Act 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c.41) The area however remained geographically part of Northamptonshire until 1965, when the Soke of Peterborough was merged with Huntingdonshire to form the county of Huntingdon and Peterborough.The Huntingdon and Peterborough Order 1964 (SI 1964/367), see Local Government Commission for England (1958–1967), Report and Proposals for the East Midlands General Review Area (Report No.3), 31 July 1961 and Report and Proposals for the Lincolnshire and East Anglia General Review Area (Report No.9), 07 May 1965 Following a review of local government in 1974, Huntingdon and Peterborough was abolished and the current district created by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Peterborough with Peterborough Rural District, Barnack Rural District, Thorney Rural District, Old Fletton Urban District and part of the Norman Cross Rural District, which had each existed since 1894.Under the Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c.73) This became part of the non-metropolitan county of Cambridgeshire.Under the Local Government Act 1972 (1972 cap.70) Letters patent were granted which continued the style of the city over the greater area.Issued under the Great Seal of the Realm dated 25 June 1974, see the London Gazette: no. 46334, page 7419, 28 June 1974. In 1998 the city became autonomous of Cambridgeshire county council as a unitary authority, but it continues to form part of that county for ceremonial purposes.The Cambridgeshire (City of Peterborough) (Structural, Boundary and Electoral Changes) Order 1996 (SI 1996/1878), see Local Government Commission for England (1992), Final Recommendations for the Future Local Government of Cambridgeshire, October 1994 and Final Recommendations on the Future Local Government of Basildon & Thurrock, Blackburn & Blackpool, Broxtowe, Gedling & Rushcliffe, Dartford & Gravesham, Gillingham & Rochester upon Medway, Exeter, Gloucester, Halton & Warrington, Huntingdonshire & Peterborough, Northampton, Norwich, Spelthorne and the Wrekin, December 1995 The leader and cabinet model of decision-making, first adopted by the city council in 2001, is similar to national government.Under the Local Government Act 2000 (2000 cap.22), see Modular constitutions for English local authorities Department for Environment, Transport and the Regions, February 2001
Policing in the city remains the responsibility of Cambridgeshire Constabulary; and firefighting, the responsibility of Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service. Nowadays the Peterborough Volunteer Fire Brigade, one of few of its kind, effectively functions as a retained fire station.Walton, Jemma Meet Peterborough's Volunteer Fire Brigade team Peterborough Evening Telegraph, 26 July 2007
Health service
Peterborough Primary Care Trust guides primary care services (general practitioners, dentists, opticians and pharmacists) in the city, directly provides adult social care and services in the community such as health visiting and physiotherapy and also funds hospital care and other specialist treatments. Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the country's top performing NHS acute trusts.The annual health check: assessing and rating the NHS (pp.22, 34 & 69) Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection, October 2006 In 2004 it became one of the first ten NHS foundation trusts in England. A £300 million health investment plan will see the transfer of the city's two hospitals to a single site by building a modern, flexible facility more suited to modern healthcare. The full planning application for the redevelopment of the Edith Cavell Hospital was approved by the council in 2006. Planning permission for the development of an integrated care centre on the existing site of the Fenland Wing at Peterborough District Hospital was granted in 2003.Greater Peterborough Health Investment Plan Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Peterborough Primary Care Trust and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mental Health Partnership Trust (retrieved 23 April 2007) Following merger of the Cambridgeshire, then East Anglian Ambulance Services, the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust is responsible for the provision of statutory emergency medical services in Peterborough.
Public utilities
The council's budget for the financial year 2007/8 is £226.8 million.Council Tax Summary Peterborough City Council, 01 April 2007 The main source of non-school funding is the formula grant, which is paid by government to local authorities based on the services they provide. The remainder, to which the police and fire authorities set a precept, is raised from council tax and business rates. Mains water and sewerage services are provided by Anglian Water, a former nationalised industry and natural monopoly, privatised in 1989 and regulated by OFWAT.
Following deregulation, the consumer has a choice of energy supplier. Electricity was formerly provided by Eastern Electricity, which was privatised in 1990. In 2002 the supply business was sold to Powergen and the distribution rights sold to EDF Energy. Natural gas was (and still is) supplied by British Gas, which was privatised in 1986. Distribution and, as with electricity, transmission, is the responsibility of the National Grid, having been demerged as Transco in 1997. These industries are regulated by OFGEM.
British Telecommunications, privatised in 1984, provides fixed ADSL enabled (8Mbps) telephone lines. The subscriber trunk dialling code for Peterborough is 01733, deriving from 73 for PE. Local loop unbundling, giving other internet service providers direct access, is completed at four out of 12 exchanges. The city is cabled by Virgin Media.Broadband availability details for Peterborough Samknows (retrieved 28 August 2007) These businesses are regulated by OFCOM.
Economy
Regeneration
Peterborough is currently experiencing an economic boom compared to the rest of the country, believed to be due to the regeneration plan running to 2012. In 2005 economic growth was on average 5.5%, whilst in Peterborough it was 6.9%, the highest in the UK.Peterborough's Community Strategy Greater Peterborough Partnership, Progress Report Summary 2006
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added, an important measure in the estimation of gross domestic product, of Peterborough at current basic prices, with figures in millions of pounds sterling:Marais, John Regional Gross Value Added 1989–2003 (pp.240-253) Office for National Statistics, December 2006
| Year | Regional GVAComponents may not sum to totals due to rounding | AgricultureIncludes hunting and forestry | IndustryIncludes energy and construction | ServicesIncludes financial intermediation services indirectly measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 1,821 | 16 | 552 | 1,254 |
| 2000 | 2,387 | 12 | 580 | 1,795 |
| 2003 | 2,932 | 15 | 727 | 2,189 |
Recent figures, plotting growth from 1995 to 2004, reveal that Peterborough has become the most successful economy among unitary authorities in the East of England. The chart also reveals that the city's economy is growing faster than the East of England average and any other economy in the region.Hastings, David and Swadkin, Claire Regional economic indicators with a focus on the differences in regional economic performance Economic and Labour Market Review, vol.1 no.2 (pp.52-64) February 2007 Peterborough leads the UK’s business population growth, with a 3.78% increase between April and September 2006, according to Royal Mail's Business Barometer.Peterborough leads UK’s business population growth, according to Royal Mail’s Business Barometer Royal Mail, 19 January 2007 It has a strong economy in the environmental goods and services sector and has the largest cluster of environmental businesses in the UK.Peterborough Environment Cluster The UK Centre for Economic and Environmental Development (retrieved 20 December 2007) In 1994 Peterborough was designated one of four environment cities in the UK, the others being Leeds, Leicester and Middlesbrough; it is now working to become the UK's acknowledged environment capital.Peterborough - the UK's Environment Capital Greater Peterborough Partnership (retrieved 20 December 2007)
Employment
According to the 2001 census, the workplace population of 90,656 is divided into 60,118 people who live in Peterborough and 30,358 people who commute in. A further 13,161 residents commute out of the city to work.Commuting Profile for Peterborough East of England Regional Assembly, 11 April 2005 Earnings in Peterborough are lower than average. Median earnings are £9.77 per hour, less than the regional median of £11.69 and the national median hourly rate of £11.26.NOMIS Official Labour Market Statistics Office for National Statistics (retrieved 31 March 2006) As part of the government's M11 corridor, Peterborough is committed to creating 17,500 jobs with the population growing to 200,000 by 2020.EMPLOYMENT: Projects promise jobs to end worrying trend Peterborough Evening Telegraph, 23 March 2006
Future employment will also be created through the plan for the city centre launched by the council in 2003. Predictions of the levels and types of employment created were published in 2005. These include 1,421 jobs created in retail; 1,067 created in a variety of leisure and cultural developments; 338 in three hotels; and a further 4,847 jobs created in offices and other workspaces. Recent relocations of large employers include both Tesco (1,070 employees) and Debenhams (850 employees) distribution centres.JOBS: Boom Time Peterborough Evening Telegraph, 18 April 2005 A further 2,500 jobs are to be created in the £140 million Gateway warehouse and distribution park, this is expected to compensate for the 6,000 job losses as a result of the decline in manufacturing, anticipated in a report cited by the cabinet member for economic growth and regeneration in 2006.BUSINESS: Distribution park will bring 2,500 jobs to city Peterborough Evening Telegraph, 12 September 2006
With traditionally low levels of unemployment, Peterborough is a popular destination for workers and has seen significant growth through migration since the post-war period. The leader of the council said he believed Peterborough had taken up to 80% of the 65,000 people who had arrived in East Anglia from the Baltic states.LIMIT PLEA: Fears over immigrants Peterborough Evening Telegraph, 23 August 2006 To help cope with this influx the council has put forward plans to construct an average of 1,300 homes each year until 2021.Housing Strategy Statement Peterborough City Council, July 2004 Demand for short term employees remains high and the market supports up to 20 high street recruitment agencies at any given time.
Transport
Peterborough is a major stop on the East Coast Main Line, 45–50 minutes journey time from central London, with high-speed intercity services from King's Cross to Edinburgh Waverley operated by National Express East Coast at around a 20 minute frequency and slower commuter services terminating at Peterborough operated by First Capital Connect. It is a major railway junction where a number of cross-country routes converge. East Midlands Trains operate the Peterborough to Lincoln Line, with through services to Doncaster and a route from Liverpool Lime Street to Norwich or Cambridge via the main line north of Peterborough, CrossCountry Trains operate the Birmingham to Peterborough Line and with National Express East Anglia, the Ely to Peterborough Line, with through services to Norwich or Cambridge and Stansted Airport.Station Facilities for Peterborough National Rail Enquiries, 28 November 2006 Peterborough has a business airport with a paved runway at Holme and a recreational airfield hosting a parachute school at Sibson.
The River Nene, made navigable from the port at Wisbech to Northampton by 1761,Under the Nene Navigation Acts 1714 (12 Anne c.7), 1725 (11 Geo. I c.19), 1756 (29 Geo. II c.69) and 1794 (34 Geo. III c.85) passes through the city centre and a rather pretty green bridge carries the railway over the river. It was built in 1847 by Lewis Cubitt, who was more famous for his bridges in Australia, India and South America. Apart from some minor repairs in 1910 (the steel bands and cross braces around the fluted legs) the bridge remains just the way he built it. Now a listed structure, it is the oldest surviving cast-iron railway bridge in the UK.Labrum, Edward A. Civil Engineering Heritage: Eastern and Central England (pp.78-79) Thomas Telford, London, 1994. See also Cossey, F. Cast Iron Railway Bridge at Peterborough in Hudson, Kenneth (ed.) Industrial Archaeology vol. 4 (pp.138-147) David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1967 By the Town Bridge, the Customs House, built in the early eighteenth century, is a visible reminder of the city's past function as an inland port.Brandon, David and Knight, John Peterborough Past: The City and The Soke (p.54) Phillimore & Co., Chichester, 2001 The Environment Agency navigation starts at the junction with the Northampton arm of the Grand Union Canal and extends for 91 miles (147km) ending at Bevis Hall just upstream of Wisbech. The tidal limit used to be Woodston Wharf until the Dog-in-a-Doublet lock was built five miles (8km) downstream in 1937.River Nene The Environment Agency (retrieved 29 August 2007)
The A1/A1(M) broadly follows the path of the historic Great North Road from St. Paul's Cathedral at the heart of London, through Peterborough (Junction 17), continuing north a further 335 miles (539km) to central Edinburgh. In 1899 the British Electric Traction Company sought permission for a tramway joining the northern suburbs with the city centre. The system, which operated under the name Peterborough Electric Traction Company, opened in 1903 and was abandoned in favour of motor buses in 1930, when the company was merged into the Eastern Counties Omnibus Company.Brandon and Knight (pp.47-49) Today, bus services in the city are operated by several companies including the Stagecoach Group (Cambus and Viscount) and Delaine Buses. Despite its large-scale growth, Peterborough has the fastest peak and off-peak travel times for a city of its size in the UK, due to the construction of the parkways. The Local Transport Plan anticipates expenditure totalling around £180 million for the period up to 2010 on major road schemes to accommodate development.The Second Local Transport Plan Peterborough City Council, March 2006
The Peterborough Millennium Green Wheel is a 50 mile (80km) network of cycleways, footpaths and bridleways which provide safe, continuous routes around the city with radiating spokes connecting to the city centre. The project has also created a sculpture trail, which provides functional, landscape artworks along the Green Wheel route and a Living Landmarks project involving the local community in the creation of local landscape features such as mini woodlands, ponds and hedgerows.Cycle Guide: The Green Wheel The Guardian, 03 March 2007 Another long distance footpath, the Hereward Way, runs from Oakham in Rutland, through Peterborough, to East Harling in Norfolk.
Demographics
Ethnicity
Peterborough is home to one of the largest concentrations of Italian immigrants in the UK. This is mainly as a result of labour recruitment in the 1950s by the London Brick Company in the southern Italian regions of Puglia and Campania. By 1960 approximately 3,000 Italian men were employed by London Brick, mostly at the Fletton works.Colpi, Terry The Italian Factor: The Italian Community in Great Britain (p.149) Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh, 1991 In 1962 the Scalabrini Fathers, who first arrived in 1956, purchased an old school and converted it into a church named after the patron saint of workers San Giuseppe. By 1991 over 3,000 christenings of second-generation Italians had been carried out there.Colpi (p.235) The population of Peterborough has grown much faster than the national average over the last few years, mainly as a result of immigration. In the late twentieth century the main source of immigration has been from Commonwealth countries such as India and Pakistan. A more recent issue is that an unknown number of eastern Europeans from accession states have moved to Peterborough since 2004. This may mean that the population figures, based on the 2001 census, are an underestimate.2001 Census Profile of Peterborough Cambridgeshire County Council, June 2003 The East of England Regional Assembly estimate that 16,000 eastern Europeans are now living in the city.Reid, Sue The town the Poles took over The Mail on Sunday, 24 August 2006 Modern Peterborough is a rapidly developing city and one that continues to change. The change has not been without problems however. In May 2004 groups of Pakistani residents clashed with Afghan and Iraqi asylum seekers. In the "running street battles," houses and cars were set alight and windows were smashed. Some people were hospitalised. The fighting occurred in the multicultural Millfield area of the city.Patrols to quell violent clashes BBC News, 20 May 2004 20:01 BST In July of that year, a festival set up by the Indian community to celebrate the city's diversity turned violent. Pakistanis and Iraqis clashed over the weekend, leaving a man in hospital and large gangs fighting.Ethnic groups clash at festival BBC News, 26 July 2004 12:02 BST Since then, race relations have improved significantly.
East Anglia is now the leading destination for new migrants and half of the 83,000 who have registered to work in the region have settled in Cambridgeshire. According to a report published by the police in 2007 "the hidden scale of migration into the county is demonstrated by the different number of languages officers and staff deal with, which now exceeds 100. Translation costs linked to dealing with incidents and crime are close to £1 million a year." The report says the migrant communities have led to a change in the nature of crime in the county, with an increase in drink-driving offences, knife crime and an international dimension added to activities such as running cannabis factories and human trafficking. The number of non-UK nationals arrested in the north of the county rose from 894 in 2003 to 2,435 in 2006, but the report also says "inappropriately negative" community perceptions about migrant workers often complicate routine incidents, raising tensions and turning them "critical;" the fact that many new migrants are crowded into privately rented accommodation, often in multiple occupation, is a potentially destabilising factor in many communities, raising problems of noise, parking, waste disposal, petty robbery, household disputes and assaults against women in mixed houses.The changing demography of Cambridgeshire: implications for policing Cambridgeshire Constabulary and Cambridgeshire Police Authority, 19 September 2007 Julie Spence OBE, the Chief Constable, was careful to add there was "little evidence that the increased numbers of migrant workers have caused significant or systematic problems in respect of community safety or cohesion." She also emphasised that the dramatic change in the county's profile — from a rural county in which four years ago 95% of teenagers were white to one of the country's major ethnically mixed growth points — has had a positive impact in development and jobs. Cambridgeshire's population is one of the fastest growing in Britain and is projected to rise by a further 12.5% or 94,000 by 2016, mostly fulled by 69,000 eastern European migrants.Travis, Alan Ministers to assess migrant groups' impact on public services The Guardian, 20 September 2007
The number of languages in use is growing and diversity is spreading where previously few languages other than English were spoken. Peterborough now offers classes in Italian, Urdu and Punjabi in its primary schools.Positively Plurilingual: The contribution of community languages to UK education and society (p.6) CILT the National Centre for Languages, 2006 As the city expands and attracts more British and foreign citizens, the council has introduced a new statutory development plan.Peterborough Local Plan (First Replacement) Peterborough City Council, July 2005 Its aim is to accommodate an additional 22,000 homes, 18,000 jobs and over 40,000 people living in Peterborough by 2020. The newly developing Hampton township will be completed, Stanground will see a 1,500 home development and Paston a 1,200 home development.
Religion
Christianity has the largest following in Peterborough, in particular the Church of England, with a significant number of parish churches and a cathedral. Recent immigration to the city has also seen the established Roman Catholic population increase substantially.Walton, Jemma How immigration has led to the rebirth of the Catholic Church Peterborough Evening Telegraph, 27 February 2007 Other denominations are also in evidence; the latest church to be constructed is a £7 million "superchurch" which can seat up to 1,800 worshippers.Sandall, Jonathan Peterborough superchurch to open Peterborough Evening Telegraph, 21 September 2006 In comparison with the rest of the country, Peterborough has a lower proportion of Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and Sikhs. However, the city has a higher percentage of Muslims and people with no religion than the national average.Ethnicity and Religion in Peterborough Cambridgeshire County Council, October 2004 The majority of Muslims reside in the Millfield and New England areas of the city, where two large mosques (including the Faidhan-e-Madina Mosque) are based. Peterborough also has both Hindu (Bharat Hindu Samaj) and Sikh (Singh Sabha Gurdwara) temples in these areas.
The Anglican Diocese of Peterborough covers roughly 1,200 square miles (3,100km²), including the whole of Northamptonshire, Rutland, and the Soke of Peterborough (the city north of the River Nene). Historically in Huntingdonshire, the parts of the city south of the river fall within the Diocese of Ely, which covers the remainder of Cambridgeshire and western Norfolk. However, the current Bishop of Peterborough has been appointed Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Ely, with pastoral care for these parishes delegated to him by the Bishop of Ely.RELIGION: Bishops bridge boundaries aboard boat Peterborough Evening Telegraph, 02 August 2004Bridging the divide in a city Diocese of Ely, Ref. 0471, 29 July 2004 The city falls wholly within the Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia, which has its seat at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Baptist, Norwich.
Culture
Education
Peterborough has one independent boarding school; Peterborough High School, formerly Westwood House. The school caters for girls up to 18 and boys up to 11. Peterborough's state schools are currently undergoing immense change. Five of the city's 15 secondary schools were closed in July 2007 and are to be demolished over the coming years. John Mansfield, Hereward (formerly Eastholm) and Deacon's were replaced with the flagship Thomas Deacon Academy, designed by Lord Foster of Thames Bank which opened in September 2007. The Voyager School, which has specialist media arts status, replaced Bretton Woods and Walton comprehensive. The schools that remain will be extended and enlarged. Over £200 million is to be spent and the changes on-going to 2010.Secondary School Review Peterborough City Council (retrieved 15 April 2007) The King's School is one of seven schools established, or in some cases re-endowed and renamed, by King Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries to pray for his soul.Orme, Nicholas School founders and patrons in England, 597–1560 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press, October 2006 In 2006, 39.4% of Peterborough local education authority pupils attained five grades A* to C, including English and Mathematics, in the General Certificate of Secondary Education, lower than the national average of 45.8%.How different LEAs performed BBC News, 19 January 2007 17:21 GMT
The city has its own Further Education colleges, Peterborough Regional College (established in 1946 as Peterborough Technical College) and Peterborough College of Adult Education. Peterborough Regional College attracts over 15,000 students each year from the UK and abroad and is currently ranked in the top five per cent of colleges in the UK.Nasta, Tony Statutory Inspection of Peterborough Regional College under Section 3 of the School Inspections Act 1996 (1996 cap.57) Office for Standards in Education and Adult Learning Inspectorate, 17 October 2006 The city is currently without its own university, since