Opinion: ‘10 reasons to be proud of Peterborough’

Regular readers will know how excited and proud I am of our ambitious regeneration plans for Peterborough.

The fact our city is just one of a handful to be the first recipients of the Towns Fund - a windfall of almost £23million to revitalise the city - also fills me with pride.

We have ten projects, each of which will be delivered with a mix of Towns Fund cash and funding from other sources, for which we are now developing detailed business cases. The Government has confirmed it will release money to us on a project-by-project basis as these business cases are signed off.

Creating a city in which people want to live and visit is really important, so we want to use a good chunk of the money to improve our visitor attractions. This will include a new library, culture and community hub located in Bridge Street, an extension to Peterborough Museum to house the globally significant Must Farm boats and the development of a new family fitness and sports facility with a specialist Olympic standard facility.

Five of the projects are linked to the regeneration of the city and improving infrastructure, including the redevelopment of the Station Quarter to create a welcoming entrance to our city that leads people on foot easily towards the city centre, and the development of a Masterplan for the Embankment/Middleholme area to create a green, accessible place for residents to relax and enjoy for leisure and entertainment purposes.

We also want to improve Peterborough’s river frontage, making it an attractive place for residents, workers and visitors and create a pedestrian/cycle bridge linking the Embankment and University with Fletton Quays and existing riverside paths, and there are plans to improve the Lincoln Road area of the city by upgrading cycle and pedestrian paths, creating new public areas and adding trees and plants.

For the business and skills sector, we want to examine whether there is a need for a hub to help business start-ups and we also want to develop new courses for students in green technology motor vehicle/construction industries.

As you can see it’s an exciting list of projects and the time really is now for Peterborough.

The regeneration of the city over the past decade is already helping us to thrive, but there is much more to come.

This extra funding will help us to achieve a vision for an even better place to live, work and play in the coming years and will help us to bounce-back better following Covid-19.

The pandemic and resulting lockdown has had a big impact on young people and their education.

We’re aware that many young people in Peterborough are struggling, with a significant number not having use of a computer or broadband, meaning they cannot access lessons and online resources. This puts them at serious risk of falling behind with their studies.

So we’ve joined forces with Cambridgeshire County Council to launch the Digital Drive campaign, aimed at urgently getting laptops and broadband access to disadvantaged children.

The campaign is already flourishing with numerous donations flooding in from local businesses. Several Peterborough city councillors have also pledged to use funds from a community support scheme to help, something I’m very proud of.

This is in addition to funding of £300,000 which the council’s Cabinet has committed from its capital programme budget.

So far, we have secured 1,338 laptops and 594 4G routers for vulnerable children across Peterborough. We look forward to seeing them rolled out shortly and the campaign will continue to help young people in need.

The past year has also hit businesses hard and as a council, we’re actively working to help.

The council is administering grant funding on behalf of the government and during 2020 we delivered over £35.5million in business grants, benefiting around 2,800 local businesses.

And don’t just take my word for it. Gordon Forster, who runs the Safari Adventure Play Centre and Jungle Tots children’s day nursery in Bretton, was a recent grant recipient and described the funding as a “lifeline”.

He added that the application process is straightforward, praising the council’s admin team for listening to his concerns.

So I want to remind businesses that haven’t already come forward for support to check whether they are eligible for grants.

To find out if your business is eligible for support and to apply, visit www.peterborough.gov.uk.

One of my favourite things about Peterborough is our city’s rich heritage.

Our magnificent mediaeval Cathedral, St John’s Church and the Guildhall are just some examples of several historic buildings which are valued by our residents.

Later this year we’re going to start a special survey with a view to preserving our heritage. The council has been successful with a bid for £38,000 to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to expand our Local List of heritage assets.

A local list protects historic assets by ensuring they are given consideration in any future planning matters.

It can include anything that forms part of the ‘historic environment’ such as buildings, archaeology, historic landscape, street features, historic open spaces, historic parks and gardens.