Civic Pride: Peterborough - while you’re here why not visit....
Recently I, and other members of the Civic Society, have been involved with a group of people keen on promoting Peterborough, in this instance people visiting the city by rail, writes Toby Wood.
This group has produced an excellent brochure called ‘Visit Peterborough: Gateway to the Hereward Line’.
The Hereward Line is the rail route that links Ely, Manea, March, Whittlesea with Peterborough. Incidentally, should I be writing Whittlesea or Whittlesey? Discuss! The brochure is produced by the Hereward Community Rail Partnership which works with stakeholders including LNER, CrossCountry Trains, East Midlands Railway and Greater Anglia.
The Hereward Line itself links with other services that take the traveller north, south, east and west from Peterborough. Truly our city is a key transport hub, hence the need for the Station Quarter to be revamped and improved.
Other key players in this initiative are Fenland District Council and Peterborough Positive. Both organisations include dynamic people who have the love of Peterborough and surrounding area at the heart of what they
do.
The brochure is freely available – I acquired mine from Peterborough railway station – it contains snapshots of our bus station, the Cathedral, Cathedral Square, the Lido, Bishop’s Gardens and Ferry Meadows/Country Park. In addition there are images of Whittlesey Buttercross, March Riverside and Market, Manea Pits, Welney Wash birdwatching and Ely Cathedral, the ‘Ship of the Fens’.
The brochure follows on from a Peterborough City Walking & Cycling Map produced by the same organisation, an essential map that tells readers more about blue plaques, Gormley statues, Railworld Wildlife Haven, Nene Valley Railway, the Museum & Art Gallery and much, much more. Apologies to those organisations and places that I’ve not mentioned!
As I have mentioned in this column before, Pep Cipriano’s Peterborough Positive has also produced an excellent handy pocket-sized map of the city centre. We spent much time with Peterborough Positive’s Terri Flack ensuring that everything is in the right place on the map, not always a simple task!
Now at this point I must mention the ‘elephant’ in the room’, Peterborough City Council’s very own Visitor Economy Strategy, a 46-page document freely available on the PCC website, which was approved by Cabinet in October 2024. Despite assurances back in March that this document would be taken forward, nothing has happened and it looks like yet another year will slip by.
Local organisations and tourist destinations, from Burghley House, the Cathedral to Peterborough United, Flag Fen and Nene Valley Railway (I could mention dozens more) are on their starting blocks ready and willing to be part of promoting Peterborough individually and collectively. I can see the poster now – ‘Peterborough … while you’re here why not visit …”.
Yet again the problem appears to be that Peterborough City Council is ‘on its uppers’ and has no money. Indeed the Council currently can’t afford a room, let alone an elephant to go in it. But surely there are people within the Council who can join those I’ve already mentioned, reawaken the interest and just get on with it!!!
I’ve always said we need people with the ‘glint in the eye’. Indeed I’m sick of saying it. Perhaps those in power reading this article will be able to reassure us all that things only can only get better. I look forward to the debate continuing in the PT.
On the back of the old Woolworth’s/TK Maxx in town Peterborough Positive have commissioned yet another mural from local hero Nathan Murdoch. At the time of writing it’s certainly looking great. The mural recognises Peterborough’s most famous immigrant, Walter Cornelius, strongman, record-breaker and all- round eccentric character. Goodness knows what dear Walter would make of all this shenanigans. Perhaps he might bend the Council with his bare hands or even push them down the road with his nose!
One final thought. I recently spent time in Leeds city centre. The area surrounding the Leeds & Liverpool canal is being redeveloped as we speak and the whole enterprise is something of a ‘Fletton Quays on speed’.
Now I’m not comparing Leeds with Peterborough, the scale is very different, but there are certain local projects, in particular those funded by the Towns Fund, that are still incomplete. True, the Lincoln Road upgrade is nearing completion but we in the Civic Society are keeping a very close eye on other projects, in particular the River Nene Pedestrian Bridge joining the Embankment with Fletton Quays.
Work is due to start on this ‘later this year’. We sincerely hope so – to coin a phrase from the late 1960s, ‘the whole world is watching”.