Coronavirus: New cycling plans for Peterborough city centre; restaurants ‘full’ in the week; progress on financial recovery

There was dismay among cyclists after proposals to limit parking and introduce cycling lanes on Cowgate and Broadway were overturned by the city council which said businesses re-opening after lockdown feared the economic impact of the move.

But cabinet member for finance Cllr David Seaton said new proposals for the city centre are being investigated, while he stated that the decision to install a cycle lane on Crescent Bridge has been a success.

The council has been promised more than £750,000 of government funding to spend on promoting methods of travel which relieve the burden on public transport as a response to the coronavirus pandemic.

So far, more than £150,000 has been allocated, including to widen footpaths on Lower Broadway and Cattle Market Road, with the rest of the funding due to be released later this summer.

But there are fears that some of this could be withheld if Peterborough has not made sufficient progress in boosting cycling in the city.

In an interview with the Peterborough Telegraph, Cllr Seaton acknowledged that there is a difficult balance to find between supporting businesses in the city centre and promoting sustainable transport.

He said: “Absolutely, that’s a challenge we’ve got at the moment.

“The Peterborough Cycle Forum has some very clear views on Cowgate closing. The businesses there are very clear on their views.

“I don’t think we realised just how many parking spaces there are behind some of the businesses on Cowgate. A great example is an estate agent parking behind the businesses and having to go out regularly during the day. I don’t think that was as clear at the start.

“We had a greater focus on the 2m rule which couldn’t be delivered on Cowgate. That was changed to 1m. Now people are wearing masks more regularly. So we’ve had to deal with a rapidly changing situation and conflicting views on what we should do.

“There is concern we will lose that funding, but I don’t think we will because we are now looking at other options in that area.”

Cllr Seaton added: “Take another example. In Cabinet we had a discussion about Crescent Bridge. The initial reaction was, ‘no we can’t do that’, and we’ve done it.

“There are different views in Cabinet on whether it’s the right thing to do, (MP for Peterborough) Paul Bristow has a different view on whether it’s the right thing to do. But it seems to be working at the moment and making access to the station for cyclists a lot better. But we will keep that under review.”

The council currently has a deficit of £14.8 million related specifically to Covid-19, although it expects this to reduce by around £3 million.

The authority’s corporate director of resources Peter Carpenter said the number of city claimants on Universal Credit has doubled between March and July, and there are concerns that the end of furlough in October or a second wave of the virus could have a further impact.

But there is also optimism that Peterborough is bouncing back well, particularly with the impact of the Government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme encouraging customers to visit the city’s restaurants between Monday and Wednesday when meals are half price, up to £10.

Cllr Seaton said: “The feedback I’ve had so far from the restaurants I’ve spoken to is some of them are full Monday to Wednesday. They’ve never had that before. Will that continue? I certainly hope so.”

The council has also submitted its bid for £25 million of government support from the Towns Fund.

The bid will cover a number of projects including creating a masterplan for the Embankment with a new bridge that would be used by pedestrians and cyclists.

While the council waits to hear if its bid has been successful, planning for how the city recovers from the pandemic is progressing at a pace.

Cllr Seaton said: “We’ve got teams looking at different themes - how do we make recovery green? I’m going to be taking responsibility of coordinating that from a Cabinet perspective.

“We’re at the early stage of doing that. I’m seeing some pieces come through for social care and what we might do in the future. I need to see more of that and put it in one picture before saying that will really impact on the 2021/22 budget.

“Without knowing what extra support we’ll get from government, it’s very difficult to say exactly how far we can take recovery work. We’d love to do more to help businesses in the city centre, for example.”

The council committed earlier this year to reviewing its operations as it seeks to make huge savings following years of government cuts to its funding.

And with a potential deficit of £28 million to tackle in next year’s budget, work on revamping the authority’s services has been progressing alongside planning for Peterborough’s future.

Cllr Seaton added: “There are two pieces of work. We did a load of work looking at processes back in February. There are £9 million of potential proposals which could be brought forward from that. 

“There’s recovery (planning) as well. We’ve been looking at the response to Covid and what that means for the future. 

“As we free up people we’re doing more and more.”

This is part two of the Peterborough Telegraph’s interview with Cllr Seaton and Mr Carpenter.

Part one can be read at www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk, and the third part will also be published there.