LAST night, cabinet debated the proposed Vision, Priorities, and Pledges that will guide this council and its partners over the next 15 years to build a thriving and sustainable economy.

As part of this vision, we will seek to secure investment in new houses, roads and culture, as well as continuing our ongoing challenge of protecting the most vulnerable members of our community I am delighted that this administration has risen to the challenge to offer residents and business a distinctive range of specific goals.

I will look forward to taking this report to council on September 24, where I hope all 57 councillors will endorse this approach.

Already the vision has sparked off a debate, which I welcome.

All too often I hear people in Swindon speaking about our town as it used to be 40 or more years ago and not what is now.

I believe we should recognise that we are a large, successful local place, with a strong urban core, which competes with and exceeds the achievements of many older cities in the UK.

Alongside the council, we have a strong, private sector-led economy with international and nationally recognised employers helping to make us a success.

The Centre For Cities, an independent research and lobbying group, includes Swindon as one of its 64 significant places outside London, so it is worthwhile looking at where it ranks us alongside those rivals.

This is particularly relevant as the first of our four priorities is to improve infrastructure and housing to support a growing, low-carbon economy.

We came sixth out of 63 places in 2013 for the amount of Gross Added Value per worker we contribute to the economy.

Bristol was ranked 14th while Birmingham, for all its size, came 31st.

We were the fourth best place for employment, which is better than Bristol (26th) and just ahead of Reading (fifth).

Swindon had the second best ratio of private to public sector employees, with four workers in the wealth-creating private sector for every state employed person, again ahead of Reading.

All these factors show why we should be more confident in what we are, and why as a whole community we can deliver the 30 pledges contained in the priorities.

Nothing in the vision, the priorities, or the pledges commits us to seeking to become a city in our formal status even though we have a larger population than many other cities.

That is in the gift of the Queen.

My immediate concern is to ensure that the council starts doing all it can to continue Swindon’s transformation as it is set out in the vision.