Opinion: Reflecting on our achievements

In September we saw the much-anticipated opening of our own university in the city. This was from the outset a council led project and it is this administration that pulled all the partners and resources together including those of ARU and the Combined Authority to make this happen. In the end though a collective effort got this over the line and so far, the ambition for its continued development is being realised as the phase 3 stage of building is now underway with more phases to follow in the coming years and months – it’s a real success story for Peterborough.

We have also manged to attract many millions of pounds of government funding to the city and over £34 million of it went toward funding the university build. More recently the government announced that we were to get a further £48 million which will kick start the redevelopment of the station quarter area which will be a real game changer particularly if we then link it to the North Westgate area which has lain derelict for over 30 years . This is something we are all determined to change and soon.

We also received £23 million from the Towns Fund to improve many areas of the city centre and these projects such as the new bridge over the river Nene will start to gather pace and be realised quickly now. We’ll talk more of this and our other successes in the coming weeks for certain.

In other council news. The new bridge over the Nene Parkway officially opened on Monday re connecting Longthorpe to the Ferry meadows side of the parkway and beyond. The structure has also helped facilitate a new third northbound lane between Junction 33 (Longthorpe Parkway) and Junction 15 (Thorpe Wood roundabout) off the Nene Parkway where it meets the A47. The aim is to aid quicker traffic flows as this very busy intersection can get very congested at peak times. Hopefully, motorists and residents’ who cycle and walk in this area will get some noticeable benefits from the new bridge and road improvements.

This last week also saw the planting of the last tree of this season which makes up the number totalling 4,500 which was a pledge we gave last year to improve the overall tree canopy coverage across city especially on Peterborough City Council land . Cllr. Nigel Simons went along personally to assist with the tree planting on Longthorpe Green which is situated in Longthorpe Village.

A big congratulations should also go out to Kelly Slack a council staff member for her excellent work in our Outreach team working with homeless.

A slavery victim who ended up sleeping rough to escape the horrors of her ordeal, has described how she 'will never forget’ the help she was given from Peterborough City Council’s Outreach team to turn her life around.

Her current situation is a far cry from a decade ago when she was brought to the UK from her native Slovakia by a Peterborough family on the promise of a better life Instead, she lived in miserable conditions, was forced to work in prostitution and made to give up her newly-born child. The family she was with stole thousands of pounds from her earnings and forced her to cook, clean and even shoplift.

The woman began to slowly rebuild her life following support from Kelly, the council’s Rough Sleeper Outreach Manager who helped her find temporary accommodation and support at the Garden House which is run to help rough sleepers.

This story is one extraordinary example of their amazing work and shows how the team will go above and beyond to help those in need. Well done Kelly and all the team.