Opinion: ‘Will the people of Peterborough be heard on Embankment future?’

In this column, on April 16 this year, Kem Mehmed and Peter Lee, committee members of Peterborough Civic Society wrote comprehensively about the future of the Embankment in an article entitled ‘Where is vision and framework’?

The article proffered comments about the absence of a framework plan for the whole Embankment, the University body and a stadium/events arena.

STILL NO FRAMEWORK FOR THE EMBANKMENT

Five months on and a great deal has changed – or has it? We now have more detailed plans for the university although these have been scaled back since initial publication.

The owners of Peterborough United have come up with a proposal for a new stadium on the Embankment although there is no mention of this relocation in any PCC plan.

A major change since April is the handing back of recreational, sporting and cultural services from Vivacity to the council. This of course includes the Key Theatre the future of which, at the time of writing, is far from secure.

In the past week or so we have heard that the council wishes to demolish the Regional Swimming Pool and build a new one on the Fair Meadows car park site, ironically the main car park for both home and away fans currently attending Posh matches at London Road.

TOWNS FUND BID

In the meantime we have had a major Towns Fund bid for £25m submitted to government, with five major strands, mainly targeted at the city centre. One of these (Project 1) entitled Embankment Masterplan states, “it will be important to protect public realm areas … Peterborough United has also declared plans for a new stadium and svents arena. This represents a departure from Local Plan Policy”.

Let’s hope that the overall Towns Fund bid is successful for the good of our city.

Once the outcome is more certain we can argue about the detail. At this point let’s be quite clear and unequivocal. Peterborough Civic Society is always seeking the best for our fine city, an aspiration that has been at the heart of every one of our Peterborough Telegraph articles and will continue to be so.

The society exists to celebrate and promote the city and to strive for a high quality of life for its citizens. Consequently that does mean that we sometimes have reservations about certain new developments, and sometimes these reservations can become objections.

PROPOSED FOOTBALL STADIUM AND LOSS OF VALUABLE GREEN SPACE

Peterborough Civic Society is in favour of a new stadium if that’s what it takes to assist the club to become an even more successful part of our growing city. In addition we would like to see a stadium that can cater for concerts and large events in a venue that attracts visitors from all over the region. But we must counterbalance this aspiration with a number of wider interests. Is the Embankment the right place for a new stadium bearing in mind concerns around the potential loss of precious city centre green space, problems of access, the impact of traffic flows and car parking and the negative impact of an 8-storey structure on views of the cathedral? Other parts of the city should be considered,

Fengate, Dogsthorpe or sites closer to the A1 with the advantages of excellent road access. It is surely not essential for a large arena to be situated in the centre of a city and take away the green space that has been protected for the people of Peterborough for many centuries.

But most of all is the concern referred to at the start of this piece - our original premise – there is no vision and framework published so far that includes proposals for the Embankment. We must avoid piecemeal development and come up with an overall plan that takes account of all the individual pieces of the Embankment jigsaw.

LUNGS OF THE CITY

One aspect that must not be forgotten is that the Embankment area is a vital green space in our city. It is the lungs of our city. By all means look at how the area adjacent to the river can be improved (and a new footbridge as part of the Towns Fund Bid would help enliven the area for families and visitors) but do we really want our green space to disappear? We believe not, and once lost we will never get it back.

GIVE US A VOICE!

The opinions of our influential local decision makers on the future of the Embankment need to be known. What are the views of Paul Bristow MP, Shailesh Vara MP, Mayor James Palmer, Cllr John Holdich and others? But perhaps most importantly the city’s leaders need to urgently explain how the people of Peterborough are going to have a say, individually or collectively, on the future of the Embankment. We do not wish to be presented with a fait accompli, something that suddenly appears from nowhere without any apparent consideration of the views of Peterborough people.

We await a strategy for gathering public opinion so that thoughts and ideas can be sought, collected and collated and, perhaps most importantly, how can these views and opinions be incorporated into any final decision.

Peterborough City Council and other local decision-making bodies must address these questions if they wish to gain and maintain backing and support from Peterborians.

These are important issues. Let us hope that as many Peterborough people as possible inundate the Peterborough Telegraph with views.

Over to you!