Opposing View: Importance of having a 'destination city'

It makes for tough reading and for residents in the city sometimes it can be hard to quantify. We were spending 77p in every £1 as a Council for adults and children’s services, and of course these are vital areas of service provision.

For most residents in the city, they may not see or experience this expenditure. Everyone in the city experiences areas such as bin collections, leisure provision, street cleaning, community services, but these vital areas are being forever squeezed by service demand elsewhere.

Until a radical change comes from central government in how they fund local governments, the Council will have to deal with the current position and like every household, ensure it lives within its means. It’s therefore more important than ever that we ensure our city is a destination city, and the part this can play in a sustainable city.

I hope we can spread some light as there is so much good happening in our city, and we support destination Peterborough.

Our Peterborough First group, like everyone in the city, are absolutely delighted to see the announcement of the Odeon coming back to Peterborough. Those with a good memory will recall the original Odeon in the city! This new Odeon Luxe will be an eight-screen cinema and will feature an IMAX screen. This announcement very much matches our vision of the city centre, that we need to get the right blend of leisure and retail to make this the destination it deserves to be.

We hope that the Odeon will contribute to the footfall in Queensgate, and this will be boosted further when Frasers opens its doors too. We hope that having these two major operators in the heart of our city centre will have a positive knock-on effect for the other stores, and also encourage other retailers and leisure operators too.

Shopping centres have had to face changes in shopping and social behaviour at a pace never seen before, but we know with a strong offering of shops and activities, shopping centres can still be a great destination. What’s vital now as a city is that we get out and support these new arrivals to Peterborough when they open.

In further good news this week, it seems we may finally see some progress on the North Westgate development too. This presents a massive opportunity for our city, and it’s vital that the developers consider the work being done on the Station Quarter to ensure the two key developments will complement each other. Of course, any proposals are subject to planning permission, but this whole development, when considered with the Station Quarter, could really unlock a section of Peterborough and contribute to the offer of our city as a destination.

In doing so, we must also ensure the Station Quarter is accessible for all. It is for everyone in our city and so ease of access for disabled users is equally important to get right too. We always talk about the connectivity of our city, and of course we are so lucky to have such fast connections to surrounding towns and of course London, but we also need to think of this connectivity to help bring more people to our city too.

Connectivity and accessibility works both ways and we should think of Peterborough as a destination city. This will help us to grow our visitor economy and encourage more retail and leisure offerings, and in doing so contributing to our employment too.

We already have some amazing city assets who contribute so much to destination Peterborough already. This summer we have seen a range of events that have taken place that have been so impressive and well attended: we’ve seen the Monsters of the Sea in our cathedral and some of us may have danced to a night of 80’s and 90’s classics, we’ve had the Peterborough Beer Festival, the pop-up funpark and outdoor cinema at Nene Park, and their bus provision to get everyone to Ferry Meadows.

Peterborough museum had their 5 weeks of fun and we also saw the very popular outdoor cinema in Cathedral Square. It can be easy sometimes to think there isn’t much going on, but we have a beating heart of organisations who make a huge contribution to the visitor economy and help enrich resident’s lives. We thank everyone who works so hard behind the scenes to make these events and activities happen.