Coronavirus: Community spirit emerges in Millfield during crisis

It seems clear from his own brief address that the situation was potentially much more serious than the bulletins suggested, as he quite rightly acknowledged in paying tribute to the dedication of his NHS nursing team, and my good wishes go to him for a continued recovery.

This was just one instance of the way in which we are all fighting a common enemy, but not that many efforts get the same level of public recognition.

A case in point locally is the community spirit that has emerged in Millfield, an area which has consistently received a rather bad press prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. As was mentioned in the Peterborough Telegraph last week, many restaurants and other businesses are providing food, services such as laundry and help with shopping to vulnerable individuals.

From my own knowledge, there is a real community spirit emerging.

Similar help is being offered from businesses all over the city, as again I know first-hand, and in singling out Millfield it is not my intention to detract from what others are doing to help.

But Millfield does have one unique characteristic. It is an area which is extremely multi-cultural, even for Peterborough, and it is all too easy to blame any shortcomings it may have on the racial melting-pot.

The blame is either meted out by those of a completely different ethnic background from those represented in Millfield, or it is attributed to the fact that a number of different immigrant communities live there, on the basis that those of different ethnicities are bound to squabble amongst themselves.

Now I know, as myself coming from a non-English and non-white family background, that there will always be tensions where different races are thrown together. In my opinion, the pre-conceived ideas that are bandied about spring from unfamiliarity with other cultures and what amounts to fear of the unknown.

Just because something, or someone, is different, it doesn’t necessarily make them bad, or good, for that matter. Maybe the way in which many in Millfield have thrown themselves into fostering community wellbeing will show that, whatever the differences are, when it really matters, they can serve the wider community as well as, if not better, than everyone else.

When the crisis is finally over my hope is that all of us will look upon our neighbours, of whatever cultures, with unprejudicial eyes and see that the differences between us are not as important as shared community values. What a shame though that it has taken a national crisis to demonstrate this.

On a different aspect of the current problems, the Government has put forward a range of support programmes for both businesses and individuals, including the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, and I know that many local businesses have applied for this.

However, the scheme does require the co-operation of your bank or other lending institution to indicate that your lending proposal would have been likely to proceed had it not been for the current uncertainty. It seems that only a few firms have received money so far and this reflects the situation nationally.

My message to banks and other lenders is please do your best to process these applications as quickly as possible, despite the staffing difficulties you may be facing yourselves. The future economy, and therefore the future viability of commercial lending, depends on this.

At the time of writing we await the outcome of the Cabinet’s mandatory three-weekly review of the lockdown. It doesn’t look as if there is likely to be any relaxation of the restrictions just yet.

Please keep up your efforts for a bit longer and, as always, stay in and stay safe.