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Letter: River Nene revamp - Masterplan needed for riverside site
Regards the ET, February 8, 2012 “Ambitious Plans for River Nene revamp” and “Plans to relocate car boot sale rejected.”
There is an interesting tension between these two stories.
Railworld, its unwelcoming car park and the arches below the East Coast Main Line are a mess. The entire site is deeply alienating, with no redeeming features whatsoever.
The other land-owners in this area are the city council, which is responsible for the Fair Meadow Car Park, Railtrack, which is responsible for the arches, Nene Valley Railway (NVR), whose station is intimately associated with Railworld, and a number of others.
If this area is to be successfully rescued from its current corrosive dereliction, all of these bodies need to come together to develop an overall strategy that delivers a better outcome for all of them than they can achieve individually.
A strategic masterplan is needed for the entire site. Any plan should consider the potential to use the derelict space within the arches.
The listed station building that Railworld has acquired from Bardney, Lincolnshire, should be used as the Peterborough terminus for the NVR instead of being an unrelated exhibit of no practical value on the Railworld site. This would not only provide a leisure hub connecting boating, rail and cycling links, but could also support pubs, restaurants and associated retail.
It would also enable NVR and Railworld land to be combined with adjacent development land to facilitate good and accessible development instead of the piecemeal and cramped individual sites currently holding conflicting planning permissions.
This area is so crucial to the development and revitalisation of Peterborough city centre that it can no longer be left to the capricious whims of individual landowners with incompatible agendas.
Woodston has the potential to be our own ‘Rive Gauche’. The phrase implies a sense of lively creativity. Woodston has all the attributes neccessary to become this kind of area. It is very close to the city centre. Property and rents are cheap. It has not been invaded by too many ‘corporate’, anonymous businesses.
It has very well run and lively pubs as well as some interesting independent shops. It has a great assembly space in Cherry Tree Recreation Ground and last, but not least, it is the childhood home of one of Peterborough’s most famous residents, LP Hartley.
Independent businesses could be encouraged in this area, especially ones with an alternative, non-establishment or experimental nature. A cheap and quirky café culture should be promoted that could attract alternative thinkers and an inventive and unusual atmosphere.
Let’s not have to choose between Marks & Spencer or car boot sales – there are far more exiting options if only we made some serious leaps of the imagination and lost the Peterborough ‘Can’t do’ attitude.
Peter Slinger RIBA
Fletton Avenue,
Peterborough
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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Comments
There are 10 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
Gorgeous George
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 04:11 PMNobody like the Council. They have an aggressive pro-business stance that puts people off. They're arrogant and triumphal at times. Many people think they lack integrity. Why should I want the town to succeed under their control?
Mavis Enderby
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 09:39 AMKermit @7, I have just had a look and you are right! By the way, What on earth is a "LEISURE INTERCHANGE" or an "ICONIC GATEWAY"? Does nobody check these documents for jargon and chliche before they are published? I suspect they mean a riverside kiosk and a disproportionally expensive bridge!
Kermit
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 08:51 AMHhmm - sorry, the ET takes out the forward slashes in the web link. Just Google "Peterborough Waterspace Strategy"
Kermit
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 08:49 AMYou can see The Peterborough Waterspace Strategy - with a very informative map - at http:publications.environment-agency.gov.ukPDFGEAN1111BVEO-E-E ....... The map shows land at the Railworld entrance becoming the primary 'Central Leisure Interchange' in the city. A cycleboat hirecafe facility is planned for under the Frank Perkins Parkway. In terms of making use of the fabulous opportunites offered by the South Bank, the map shows........err, absolutely nothing apart from some reeds along the entire river bank as a wildlife haven. Mr Slinger, can we get you on to some formal body please?
SokeBoy
Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 10:22 AM@5: thanks for your comment. I have heard of 'CP' and have wondered if this is indeed the case with PCC for some time. Although I cannot comment on the author of the letter, it is good to know someone else in our city shares my reservations with regard to our local political class. The waste of money our city endures on a regular basis, especially on projects with highly questionable objectives and outcomes (eg 'citizen power') may be a powerful indication of this group's hold on PCC and other local organisations.
J J Carter
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 09:11 PM@2 As the PCC is completely controlled by members of the secretive 'Common Purpose' the letter writer is wasting his time unless he's also a 'graduate' of CP and shares their agenda of subsuming England into the EU super-state.
SokeBoy
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 03:56 PM@3: I'm more of a fan of his volume on Fly Fishing tbh.
Mavis Enderby
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 03:28 PMI did enjoy the film of L P Hartley's "The Go-Between" even though it was mostly filmed in Norfolk - I wonder if the ET should do an article about him - they are always banging on about John Claire but Hartley never gets a mention.
SokeBoy
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 11:35 AM@1; in the absence of a coherent philosophy and cogent strategy for our city's sustainable development and wider Environment Capital aspiration, it is hardly surprising the author of this letter has chosen to write to the ET. Some of our local leaders possess a deep anti-intellectualism. They see those with real ambition and vision for our city as a potential threat to their privileged lifestyles, poor decision-making abilities and unrivalled, collective talent for wasting our cash. The author of this letter should be viewed as a potential partner able to make a genuine contribution. Ideally a city-wide knowledge bank should exist to receive his proposals for proper, objective consideration and evaluation. But if this facility was created and managed to function in an open, accountable and effective fashion local people would soon realise many of those in our local leadership are nothing more than unsustainable, costly and vacuous 'suits'.
Gorgeous George
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 10:25 AMDoes this wheeze not have the backing of the Civic Society of which Peter is a member? A letter to the ET is not going to achieve a lot.
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