Town Hall View: Ambitious Youth Zone plans moving forward
“giving our young people the first-class facilities they deserve “
Creating more and better opportunities for everyone in our city is one of our top priorities, writes Peterborough City Council leader Shabina Qayyum.
As one of the country’s fastest growing cities, particularly for the number of children and young people we are home to, we are always working with one eye fixed firmly on the future and that’s why we are actively looking to improve facilities and services that support children and young people.
As a proud parent I want to help ensure that future generations have better opportunities to succeed. We’ve made great progress in recent years with the opening of ARU Peterborough, the new Centre for Green Technology at Peterborough College, plus our House Project for young care leavers and successful Family Hubs scheme.
We also want to establish Peterborough as a ‘child friendly’ city and have ambitious plans for a first Youth Zone in the region here.
These proposals took a giant leap forward this week after members of our Children’s and Young People Scrutiny Committee heard plans to seek £410,000 worth of council funding to progress with designs for a new purpose-built £13 million Youth Zone.
Councillors recommended that Cabinet approves the funding at its meeting next week, enabling national youth charity OnSide Youth Zones Limited to work with our officers and progress detailed designs for the facility. A potential site has already been identified on the Embankment close to The Lido.
This exciting development will provide safe places for young people to socialise, play sports, learn skills, get support, and take part in activities outside school hours.
OnSide has a proven track record of delivering these centres across the country and we want this proposal to be progressed quickly, giving our young people the first-class facilities they deserve to help them thrive. Unlike what is being purported on social media, this is not swamping the Embankment and is sensitive development, taking into account the Green Space that is valued by us all.
I want to thank everyone for their support and patience following the start of major roadworks on the Queensgate roundabout.
The junction will be running with one lane in operation for the next year as part of the City Link project to create a more welcoming and accessible pedestrian/cycle entrance from the railway station to our city centre.
Traffic is flowing relatively well and you can see some fantastic aerial footage of this on our social media accounts. However, I would urge people to plan their journeys accordingly, particularly at peak times. I use the route daily and it is only taking me about five to seven minutes longer to get from A to B. I can be an impatient person but even I am coping!
I was honoured to meet Baroness Casey at the LGA conference this week, after she announced a national public consultation on adult social care.
I spoke to her about how we raise the message at a national level that we must all recognise and stand firm again misogyny to keep girls and women safe, which is something I offered the Baroness my personal support with. She spoke about communicating on one platform between Adult Social care, the NHS and the Third Sector. She welcomed my question about this and it’s the reason why I still work as a GP one day a week to see how systems are working on the ground.
Finally, I am writing this after another fantastic England win against Norway on Saturday and starting to think that football might be coming home! I was on the edge of my seat watching it! The city is looking great with the St George’s bunting and lights -Peterborough is backing our lads in full force!
By the time you read this we will know the outcome of yesterday’s semi-final against Argentina. All I can say for now is what a wonderful World Cup it has been, seeing so many people come together and support the three Lions has been amazing.