Peterborough Youth Zone to provide vital opportunities for city's children - and help retain 'Green Lung' Embankment

The new facility – which will provide safe places to socialise, play sports, learn skills, get support, and take part in activities outside school hours, will be operated by OnSide, and was described as a ‘transformational’ opportunity for Peterborough by leading councillors.

OnSide currently run 15 other, similar facilities across the country – and members of the city council went to visit one of them in Barnsley recently.

Peterborough City Council’s Cabinet approved the next stage of the scheme, which saw £410,000 worth of council funding set aside to help progress designs.

The Youth Zone will be built on Peterborough Embankment, next to The Key Theatre.

Cllr Numan Ali Iqbal, Cabinet Member for Growth and Regeneration, said: “The proposed Youth Zone would create a safe, inclusive and inspiring place for young people aged 8 to 19, and up to 25 for those with additional need, offering opportunities for sport, recreation, skills development, mentoring and well being support.

“The facility will be situated on the Embankment and has the potential to become a transformational community asset helping to improve life chances, reducing inequality and provide positive opportunities for young people across the city.”

Cllr Katy Cole, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, said it was vital that the council ‘jumped at the chance’ to build the hub. She said: “Visiting the Youth Hub (in Barnsley) was truly mind blowing in terms of the offer we could have here in the city. The fact it provides enhanced youth opportunities, the space was fully inclusive, it was young and vibrant and is going to be something that, if we are lucky enough to have it in the city, the 58,000 children we have here are really going to benefit from.

“If we have the opportunity to have this in the city, we need to jump at it.”

The opposition from some quarters about the impact building it would have on one of the city’s biggest green spaces, The Embankment, were also addressed.

Chris Pike, principal development surveyor said: “It is really important to recognise and understand that although we are looking at delivering the Youth Zone on the Embankment, there is still a lot of space, I think in the region of about 62 acres of public open space, and we are probably going to take about an acre of that with the Youth Zone.

Council leader Shabina Qayyum, added: “If there was one thing that this cabinet and this administration wanted to see, it was the delivery of a Youth Zone.

“We have always made the foundation of every decision that we undertake in this city, we have a look at how it benefits the young people, because young people are our future.

“We have organisations like 'Save the Embankment' who quite rightly talk about the Embankment being the green lung of the city. I hope that it can be acknowledged that we are talking about sensitive development, that leads to a thriving, bustling embankment area, that is in use throughout the year.

“We want to make sure we are delivering for the youth of our city.”