Housing, transport and roads and helping citizens, particularly adults, to learn and gain more skills are the main priorities for leaders in big towns and cities.

And while David Renard, leader of Swindon Borough Council broadly agrees with that, his priorities for Swindon are subtly different.

He was one of the "city" leaders who took part in work with the Centre for Cities for its report Urban Voices: UK city leaders' survey.

He said: "I think there are about 63 major towns and cities in the UK and I was one of maybe 16 or 17 who took part in the survey, so we have to be careful about the conclusions."

While housing and regeneration is mentioned in the report as being "unprompted, the biggest overall priority" for Coun Renard, it’s the road infrastructure.

He said: "It's problem number one. In terms of road and rail connectivity into and out of Swindon and connections to Oxford. And we need to deal with the increasing pressure on the road network and to work with Network Rail to increase capacity at the railway station."

As Swindon grows, the leader of the Conservative administration acknowledges that help needs to be given to allow visitors and Swindonians to get about without a car.

He said: "There's no easy answer to that. We need a park and ride at junction 16, and I'd also want to see a multi-storey car park on the north side of the railway station. People going to the station can then park there without a large number of vehicles having to drive on Rodbourne and Faringdon Roads to the station. That would make a big difference."

Making it easier for everyone to learn new skills is also important to the council, Coun Renard said: "Business tell us a lot they find it hard to find the right people with the right skills and qualifications. That's behind our bid for an Institute of Technology."

One interesting question posed in the survey is what leaders would do if given a large amount of money for a capital project. Coun Renard said: "It would have to be a major investment in the town centre."

While Coun Renard took part in the survey, and while Swindon is larger than many cities in the UK, it is still a town.

But the council leader doesn't think the time and expense of applying for formal city status is worth it.

He said: "The council did apply a couple of times when it was under Labour control. We're a big town, and bigger than a number of cities, but I don't think it practically matters. If there were a lot of potential investors telling me they'd be lining up to invest in Swindon if only we were a city, then we'd have to think about it - but there aren't. The important thing is to bring that investment."