£2.1million face-lift of Peterborough city centre street to begin on Monday

It follows the completion of similar schemes to improve the public realm of the city centre in Bridge Street, Long Causeway, Cathedral Square, St John’s Square and Cowgate and more recently Wheelyard connecting the cathedral grounds and Midgate.

Work begins on Monday September 19 and will include new paving in keeping with Bridge Street and Long Causeway, new seating, upgraded LED lighting including coloured uplighting to trees, more cycle parking and a new covered cycle parking shelter.

There will also be:

• New paving to highlight the entrance to the Rivergate Shopping Centre and LED lighting in the passageway connecting to Rivergate

• Improved lighting and surfacing through the underpass which links to the river and Embankment

• Improvements to the crossing point on the court access road near the underpass for pedestrians/cyclists

• New railings to Bourges Boulevard road crossing and outside Peterborough Magistrates’ Court

In January work will begin on refurbishing the traffic signals adjacent to the police station and the Old Customs House. Improvements will also be made to the paving between East Station Road and the Old Customs House across the Town Bridge.

In addition, upgrades will be made to the pedestrian crossing which connects Bridge Street with Lower Bridge Street and the footpath beside the Poundland store to St Peter’s Road will be resurfaced.

The works are estimated to cost £2.1 million and will be completed by summer 2017.

Councillor Peter Hiller, cabinet member for growth, planning, housing and economic development, said: “The purpose of the works on Lower Bridge Street is to bring the standard of this area up to that of Bridge Street and Long Causeway, improving the environment for visitors from the south. We have already seen the benefits of improving the public realm in other parts of the city centre with many new shops and restaurants choosing to invest in the city, which is increasing our visitor numbers. Existing businesses have told us how the improvements have led to an increase in trade.

“As usual, we will strive to keep disruption to a minimum, particularly for the businesses on Lower Bridge Street. We hope their patience is rewarded when the new look Lower Bridge Street is unveiled next year.

“Our city centre is being developed and promoted to maintain its position as a centre of regional significance. The programme of works to improve the city centre’s public realm is being supported by surrounding regeneration including at Fletton Quays.”

Additionally, the second phase of a project to upgrade Bishop’s Road begins on Monday 12 September.

This latest phase involves the widening and resurfacing of the footpath from St Peter’s Road to the pedestrian crossing on Bishop’s Road and new street lighting. The new footpath will include shared access for cyclists and pedestrians. These works are due to be completed by the end of October.

The first phase of the Bishop’s Road project involved the installation of a new widened section of shared use footpath/cycleway and new street lighting through the Lido Gardens.

Resurfacing works will also be taking place in the Car Haven car park. The car park area will be partially closed from Monday September 19 until the end of the month. Work will be carried out in two halves in order to keep the car park open as much as possible.

However, this will mean there will be two evening closures to carry out works on the road way into the car park from 5pm on both Friday September 23 and Friday September 30. Cars will still be able to exit the car park.