Summer start for new access works from Peterborough train station to city centre centre

Work to open up Peterborough’s train station to the city centre is expected to get under way this summer.

Construction will focus on ‘pivoting’ the route taken by travellers leaving the station so they are heading straight out onto a new approach to Cowgate and the city centre.

The works, which will be part of the first phase of the £65 million Station Quarter development, will focus on effectively removing the underpass at the Queensgate roundabout by raising the ground level to form an obvious route to the city centre.

Confirming the long-awaited start of the project, Adrian Chapman, executive director of place and economy at Peterborough City Council, said: “The first phase is scheduled to begin this summer.

“Called City Link, the work will involve opening up a new way into the city centre.”

Mr Chapman said: “The intention is to drive more footfall down Cowgate.

"At the moment people are not naturally drawn to it. It isn’t clear from the station how you get to the city centre.

"So we are pivoting the station exit and then opening up the route between the station and Cowgate so that it is more obvious.

"What you will be able to see from the station are the spires of the Cathedral and St John’s Church and people will be naturally drawn in that direction.

"We are really opening that area up by filling in part of the subway and making the whole journey a much more pleasant experience."

He said the changes would also highlight Westgate so travellers would have a clear option of two routes to the city centre.”

These works will be paid for from the Towns Fund, which has allocated £1.5 million to the scheme.

It will effectively kickstart the Station Quarter development with the remainder of phase one starting in about March 2026.

This will involve improvements and enhancements to the station, a western entrance to create a double-sided station and new car parking.

It will also see the release of land for commercial and residential developments, which will be carried out as phase two of the Station Quarter

Mr Chapman said that the council and its partners, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, trains operator LNER and Network Rail were on schedule with work to prepare a full business case for the Station Quarter to be approved by government officials.

He said: “The work is going really well.

"It is just coming to its conclusion.

He said: “The target date to submit the full business case to government is mid-March and we set that deadline..

"But we have been sharing the sections of our work with the Department for Transport as it has developed and we’ve had feedback so that we have been able to evolve and shape it.

“The feedback has been really positive – so we expect a positive outcome.”

Designs for the Station Quarter have been put together by Ove Arup, which is the company selected by the project partners to draw up the masterplan and business case for the Station Quarter, which has been given £47 million in Government Levelling Up funding and is expected to attract private funding of about £18 million.

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