Civic Pride: We can all help make our city better

Of course, we can all think of different ways that this can be achieved.

A 72-year-old will obviously have different priorities from a 52, 22 or even 12-year-old and it’s right that we should all look at this from a variety of age groups, angles, perspectives, cultural backgrounds and experiences.

A couple of weeks ago, I parked in the Car Haven behind the Town Hall only to find that one of the ticket machines was working, one was not working and, bizarrely, one has a display stating that it was working but a sticker telling me that it was ‘Out Of ‘Order’.

I queued up at the machine that was working, had a chunter, and bought my ticket using my credit card (I haven’t used cash since the Covid-19 epidemic).

I then photographed the machines so that I could tweet the faulty machines to the city council.

Incidentally, while I was doing this, a very pleasant woman sporting a NHS lanyard came up to me, beamed at me and said: "Would you like any help?”

I meekly replied that I was “OK thanks.” I must be looking elderly!

To their credit, Peterborough City Council responded within an hour and later Cllr Steve Allen, the cabinet member for housing, culture & communities, contacted me to let me know that action was being taken and that the problem is often caused by vandals regularly targeting the machines and damaging them by jamming items into the coin slots.

Gosh, there’s some stupid people about. My initial reaction is that all parking machines should be card only, then we would all know where we stand. Others might disagree. Discuss!

The civic society wants the best for the city but, as well as praising and lauding positive efforts and new developments, will point out shortcomings and inadequacies.

This is not done from a negative viewpoint, it is genuinely done to try to be helpful.

Regular readers will know that I, along with my colleagues, want the best for the city, try to look for the praiseworthy, but will also call out any shortcomings that the city might have.

Incidentally, we’re not having much luck operating Cathedral Square fountains or Central Park paddling pools, are we?

But it shouldn’t just be up to councils, statutory authorities, interested charities and community groups to ensure that our city is safe and attractive. We all have a responsibility to play our part.

So, it’s only right and proper that individual citizens help to ensure that our city, and its centre in particular, is a place to visit, use and enjoy.

Readers might laugh at some of the things I’m going to suggest but here goes: Citizens should be more personally responsible and should not drop litter, dump large items on the streets, park a car in the wrong place, make undue noise in and around our homes … just simple, basic stuff.

There are plenty more examples. In short, it’s not just a matter of saying, “what are THEY going to do about it?” It’s just as much a matter of what are WE going to do about it Surely we can all play our part in keeping or city smart and attractive?

Of course I’m probably preaching to the converted here. What PT reader would ever engage in anti-social behaviour? No matter.

I, just like you dear PT reader, will continue to do my best.