Council has 'one opportunity' to make links from station to city centre accessible for people with disabilities

Improving accessibility should be the “number one priority” for the redevelopment of Peterborough’s railway station, a councillor has said.

Cllr John Fox (Peterborough First, Werrington) said that Peterborough City Council (PCC) and others involved in the £70m project have "one opportunity" to improve access to the city centre from the station for people with disabilities and that “we have to get it right”.

“If it all goes wrong, all 60 councillors are going to get nagged to death by the public,” he joked at a PCC meeting held to discuss station quarter updates.

The council had already agreed that an audit of the design proposals will be carried out once they are produced to ensure compliance with the Equality Act and that they will also be discussed with the Disability Peterborough charity.

But Cllr Fox has also asked that a consultation group be set up to discuss the designs as they progress, made up of councillors – chosen by their party leaders – who are knowledgeable and passionate about disability issues and representatives of other disability groups in Peterborough.

“We’ve been talking about accessibility from the station to the city centre for the 21 years I’ve been on the council,” Cllr Fox said. “We have the money to fix all those problems and if we don’t fix them now, we never will.”

Addressing PCC’s service director Jim Newton at the meeting, he continued: “You need to be consulting with people with disabilities and not just one organisation, but several. Not just one person is an expert on disabilities; it’s such a vast arena. You need to cover every aspect.”

Cllr Fox’s proposal was unanimously supported by other councillors at the meeting, including Cllr Mohammed Jamil (Labour, East) who agreed that “we’ll probably never get an opportunity like this ever again” to make the city more accessible and that “we’ve got to get it right and right for everybody”.

A particular issue raised was the inaccessibility of Paten Bridge connecting the station (albeit not directly) with Queensgate shopping centre, which presents difficulties to those who cannot use steps.

Other issues raised include the need to walk through underpasses, which are “unattractive and of poor quality”, to get from the station to the city centre on foot.

These “could be perceived as intimidating”, a council report on the station quarter redevelopment says, and offer “a very poor first impression of Peterborough”.

“A strong connection between the railway station entrance and Cowgate could become an accessible route suitable for all which would introduce visitors to the city through a series of legible spaces,” it continues, “finally culminating in the west face of the cathedral”.

“The western entrance will also be a new prominent approach and as such an interchange area is required that enables drop-off, walking and cycling arrivals.”

Ove Arup Ltd has been tasked with drawing up detailed design plans for Peterborough’s station quarter which will undergo multiple rounds of consultation.

After the design stage, work is expected to begin on the project in 2025/26.