Peterborough bids for European Championship football matches

Nobody likes noisy neighbours and as a council we take any complaints of antisocial behaviour extremely seriously.

We will always look to take action where appropriate and last week our housing enforcement team successfully secured a court closure order which will see two homes in Lincoln Road closed for the next three months.

In this case, the nearby neighbours had had to put up with terrible behaviour by the tenants in the homes for quite some time. Our officers were able to gather evidence to show the tenants were up to no good, with their illegal activities including drug use and prostitution.

When officers inspected the properties they also found substantial interior damage including doors and units ripped from walls and wiring hanging loose.

The order prevents anyone but named officials from entering the property for the next three months and anybody in breach of the closure will face the prospect of a fine or jail sentence.

This was the first time that the team had applied for and secured a premises closure order, which shows just how serious a case this was, but they would not hesitate to take the same action again.

This case also demonstrates that we will not tolerate this sort of behaviour in our communities. It is unacceptable and I would urge anyone affected by antisocial behaviour to report this to us or the police.

Football will take centre stage this summer with the World Cup in Russia and we could soon be seeing some international soccer coming to Peterborough.

That’s because we are one of 21 cities bidding to host the Women’s European Championships in 2021.

We have been working with our partners at Peterborough United Football Club to put together a bid which if successful would see some of the competition matches played at London Road.

Our bid will then form part of the Football Association’s bid against the other two countries bidding to host the event (Austria and Hungary). A decision will then be made on which country will be awarded the championship by December this year.

With the increasing appetite for women’s football in this country, there is a desire to promote the women’s game and significantly grow participation among girls and women. If successful this would be a tremendous achievement for the city and would see spectators coming here from all over the world.

I was concerned to hear that our Trading Standards team have seen a stark rise in the number of illegally imported dogs in the local area over the past six months.

Since the start of the year they have had a threefold rise in calls from members of the public about this issue, which has led to the team repeating a warning to city residents about the dangers of buying or adopting an imported dog.

In recent months, a number of dogs have been placed into quarantine that were imported by organisations claiming to be ‘Rescue Charities or Rescue Groups’.

The team’s advice to anyone looking to get themselves a rescue dog is to do so through a credible animal charity such as Wood Green. You can find more information and advice on the council’s website www.peterborough.gov.uk.

Last week I was honoured to attend the unveiling of statues produced by the world famous sculptor Antony Gormley in the city centre.

The three lifesize statues are now positioned on rooftops overlooking Cathedral Square and look spectacular.

I’m sure many of you will have seen the statues by now, but if you haven’t, take a walk through Cathedral Square have a look up and you can’t miss them.

The sculptures have of course previously been situated elsewhere in the city, but I’m sure they will be here to stay in their new prominent home and we are delighted and proud to have them here.