Peterborough’s St Peter’s Arcade may never re-open

The city council said it is “reviewing longer-term options” for the walkway between Bridge Street and the back of the Town Hall, which is currently closed due to the coronavirus pandemic as social distancing cannot be maintained.

A a meeting with councillors in November, Conservative cabinet member Cllr Marco Cereste said: “I’m not sure when it’s going to re-open. I suspect that it probably won’t in the long-term.

“As far as footfall is concerned, the footfall at Bridge Street has improved dramatically since St Peter’s Arcade was closed.”

The former council leader was responding to a question from Labour and Co-operative member Cllr Heather Skibsted, who described the arcade as a “very helpful cut-through for people when they are shopping and for disabled parking”.

Leader of the council’s Liberal Demomcrat group Cllr Nick Sandford added during the meeting: “We were told that closure was temporary and it was due to Covid and we’re now being told by Cllr Cereste it’s going to be permanent.

“It does beg a lot of questions about the council’s commitment to its own transport policy where it says it’s supporting pedestrians and cyclists, yet it’s proposing to close one of the major pedestrian thoroughfares.

“Can we at least have a commitment that there will be some form of public consultation before that arcade is closed permanently?”

Cllr Cereste, cabinet member for waste, street scene and the environment, responded: “I don’t believe that closing the arcade will have any effect on our transportation in the city and, quite frankly, it would do everybody the world of good, unless you’re disabled, to walk that extra 25 yards around the buildings.

“So I don’t agree with you and, quite frankly, if you look at the numbers, the increase in footfall down Bridge Street is so great that actually it would make a huge difference to the shops and businesses down Bridge Street.

“So the temporary closure of St Peter’s Arcade was a temporary closure purely for safety, but now that we’ve seen a lot of the benefits from that then it may not open again.”

The council spent £300,000 revamping the gateway in 2014 when Cllr Cereste was leader, with works carried out to renovate the walls, floors and roofing and two new small shop units created.

At the time, Cllr Janet Goodwin, who was the cabinet adviser on business engagement, said: “St Peter’s Arcade is a beautiful historic arcade and one of our city centre assets.”

She added: “This latest scheme is part of the council’s vision to invest in and regenerate the city centre to encourage new businesses to relocate here as well as attracting visitors.”

In late 2016, the council controversially spent £8,000 on guards outside St Peter’s Arcade for 19 nights to ‘protect the public’ over Christmas and the new year.

At the time the arcade was a hotspot for rough sleepers, with the guards instructed to tell them what support was available and to call the police if there was any anti-social behaviour.

A Peterborough City Council spokesperson said: “St Peter’s Arcade is currently temporarily closed due to safety restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The city council is currently reviewing longer-term options.”