Peterborough public ‘kept in the dark’ over £25m plans to revitalise city

Peterborough Civic Society has criticised the lack of community engagement and transparency from the city council over its Towns Fund bid which was recently submitted to the Government.

The bid includes:

. A new bridge over the River Nene that would be used by pedestrians and cyclists

. A masterplan for the Embankment

. A new library and cultural hub at the TK Maxx building in Bridge Street

. A National Bronze Age extension to the museum

. A Lakeside activity/climbing centre at Ferry Meadows

. Improved routes from the train station to the city centre

. Opening up land for the development of new homes and offices

. An enterprise, training and business incubation hub to support new city businesses and start-ups

. A training centre for green technology skills, aimed towards the construction and automotive sectors

. Creating safer, easily accessible routes for pedestrians and cyclists to the train station, city centre and elsewhere

. Enhancement of public realm and open spaces to support the wellbeing of residents and helping the city to move towards the goal of becoming carbon neutral.

In a column for this week’s Peterborough Telegraph, Kem Mehmed from the civic society questioned the transparency of the Peterborough Towns Board which was set up to put together the bid.

He wrote: “Guidance from central Government emphasises the importance of community involvement and input to the plan.

“The city council received £174,000 of funding to help set up and run the board from Government who stated that this funding will be used for, amongst other things, running business and wider community engagement events.

“Local communities should have a meaningful role in decision-making for the future of their town, and Town Deal boards should draw on the local knowledge and insight. It is expected that this will be achieved by including community representatives from prominent local civic and faith organisations in the governance structure.

“As far as I am aware there have been no press releases issued on the decisions of the board by Peterborough City Council between November last and this August. A number of documents which were presented to, and discussed by them, have not been published on the PCC website.

“A list of board members and their details has not been published. It is not clear in the minutes of six meetings held so far who of those attending are board members and who are not.

“So far no versions of the Town Investment Plan (TIP) have appeared on the website. These are all actions specifically required in the Government guidance.”

He added: “There is little to suggest that the Town Deal Board has sought the views of the general public and of the individual community representatives. This is vital if the Peterborough public is to support and embrace what could be very exciting new initiatives.

“The chance to contribute your opinions and provide information may not be over as the TIP has to be approved by government and some public engagement is laid down. We don’t know what form it will take but the civic society will do its best to keep the progress of the Town Investment Plan in the public eye.”