Councillor calls for owners of Peterborough's Ortongate Shopping Centre to meet retailers over concerns

A councillor has called on bosses of Peterborough’s Ortongate Shopping Centre to urgently meet with its retailers in order to tackle a number of concerns.

The appeal comes from Independent Councillor Kirsty Knight who says the owners of the centre in Orton Goldhay must start to talk to its tenants about their worries.

She said the principal concern is the cost of services charges for items that some traders felt were not being provided.

Her call has been supported by one business owner who says it is time for the centre to begin building a ‘professional friendship’ with traders.

Cllr Knight, one of the representatives of the Orton Waterville ward on Peterborough City Council, said: “Businesses have repeatedly requested a breakdown of the cost for each service provided by the centre. This has not been done.

"Yet traders are paying thousands of pounds in service charges.

"But there are no security guards, and we don’t believe the CCTV actually works, there are no window cleaners or lighting at nights and traders are not allowed to use commercial bins.

Cllr Knight said: “I would like the centre owners to set up a meeting with traders to listen to their concerns and to talk to them.

"We just want the owners to communicate with the retailers, hear their concerns and do something about them.”

Lloyd McPherson, owner of the Orton Gate Sports Bar and Fanzone, said: "There should be a committee where centre owners can sit down with retailers to discuss ways of making things better for the centre and to help build a professional friendship.

He said: “I’m charged £3,687.84 a quarter for services that I don’t feel are being provided.

"In addition, I have to pay £600 a year for waste removal and £480 a year for my windows to be cleaned. The public toilets here close at 3pm even though the centre manager is here until 6pm.

He said: “I begun legal action to recover the service charges.”

The Ortongate Shopping Centre is owned by Nottingham-based Cassco Holdings which bought the shopping centre last November from previous owner ALB Group, which itself had only bought the centre in April 2023.

A centre spokesperson said: “Our team is on site seven days a week, and our door is always open to anyone who has an issue.

“Service charges have been significantly reduced from 2022-23 to date and savings have been passed on to the tenants.

"We have no plans to increase the service charge this year.

“Less than 15 per cent of the external lighting requires maintenance, though this has not affected site safety.

"Contractors have already been authorised to proceed and we are awaiting a start date. We also have an extensive site maintenance plan in place.

“Waste management is also fully under control, with regular cleaning of communal areas seven days a week and no reported issues with our waste contractors.

"Tenants are, of course, responsible for their own personal waste.

He added: "Overall crime rates have nevertheless reduced massively since 2008, when there was a full security team on site.

"The more recent introduction of 24-hour CCTV, covering the entire site, has coincided with a big reduction in crime and anti-social behaviour - and the cost saving has meant a reduction in service charges for tenants.

“Finally, we are aware of a couple of individuals who have raised issues about service charge levels.

"This has not been raised as an issue by other tenants, so would question the validity of claims to the contrary.”