In-migration to Peterborough

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Introduction

  • Peterborough is a provincial city in the east of England.
  • It is located in one of Britain's most prosperous agricultural regions.
  • The land is flat and fertile.
  • The climate, with its low annual rainfall and sunshine hours is ideally suited to arable farming.
  • It has excellent road and rail communications.
  • It has a long history of in-migration: Italians after WWII, Pakistanis in 70's and 80's, and more recently, refugees from Iraq, Iran, Kurdistan and Albania as well as economic migrants from Portugal.
  • Peterborough has a youthful population structure with a distinct bulge in the economically active age groups.
  • There have been a new influx of Eastern Europeans with about 20,000 in Peterborough.
  • A police authority report estimated that new communities accounted for 64% of Peterborough's overall population growth.
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Service provision

  • The increased demand for housing, school places and medical care has severely impacted the existing level of services in these areas.
  • Migrants are usually young and often have families. This in turn exerts pressure on local primary schools, which have experienced a huge increase in pupil enrolment.
  • One school enrolled sixty children from migrant families- 10% of the total school role.
  • Many do not have english as their first language and so large numbers of interpreteres have to be employed to help in those schools with many immigrant children.
  • Cambridgeshire police spent over £800,000 on translator in 2005/2006.
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Service provision #2

  • The number of people registered with one GP has increased from 2,000 to 8,000 between 2004 and 2006.
  • The police employ 130 civilian workers to translate immigrant welcome packs into 15 languages.
  • These welcome packs explain British laws, traffic regulations and contact details to new immigrants.
  • Demand for social or council housing has increased dramatically.
  • There are now almost 7,000 poeple on the council's waiting list for housing, and local people feel their chances of being rehoused are disadvantaged by the influx of newcomers to the city.
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Economic activity

  • The new migrants have made significant contributions to the local economy.
  • Because most come from low-income countries, they are prepared to accept lower wages than British workers and the profits of their employers maximises.
  • Low wages means that consumer prices are relatively low.
  • The migrants also contribute to the economy by filling low skilled vacancies.
  • It is often the negative economic impacts that are more apparent.
  • Many of the recent immigrants who have families are eligible to claim welfare benefits under the British Government's tax credit and child benefit schemes.
  • The increase in the number of migrants claiming benefits nationally has sparked fears that that taxation will be increased.
  • Nationally, child support alone for new migrants costs £43 million a year.
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Social stability

  • Peterborough is a small city and therefore the impact on local society is more evident.
  • Local people feel that the character of their city has changed.
  • There are now 55 different languages spoken in the city and the migrants tend to live in the lower-priced housing in the inner parts of the city.
  • There has been an increase in the number of houses in multiple occupation, with many properties housing ten or more people.
  • The increased demand for housing has led to over crowding, and some landlords charge exorbitant rents for very poor quality and unsafe conditions.
  • In one district, there have been complaints of drunkeness and other anti-social behaviour in the streets occupied by new migrants.
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Social stability #2

  • In a minority of cases, there have been ethnic or racial tensions amongst the new migrants.
  • In the summer of 2004, rival pakistani residents clashed with afghan and Iraqi asylum seekers.
  • Part of the problem stems from the coninution of old rivalries  from the migrants' home country and the adjustment process to new codes of behaviour that all migrants have to go through when they first arrive.
  • The local police claim there has been an increase in crime following the latest wave of immigration to the city but it is hoped that they information packs given to the new migrant may reduce conflict slightly.
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