Cash promises will boost our city

Iregularly use the line “Peterborough’s time is now” when speaking about our city’s impressive ongoing development. We’re one of the UK’s fastest growing cities and we’re going to get bigger and better, thanks to the many exciting projects being delivered, such as our new university and Fletton Quays.

Our achievements haven’t always been recognised in the past and we haven’t had the investment we needed. But this is changing, and I’m delighted about it.

The government published its ‘Levelling Up White Paper’ last week, aimed at investing in infrastructure which improves everyday life across the UK.

Peterborough has already been promised £20 million as part of this scheme, which will be spent on the future development of ARU Peterborough University, which opens to students in September this year.

And we are also on track to receive another £50 million to deliver the Station Quarter redevelopment, subject to a successful business case being developed and signed off by the government.

The Levelling Up initiative runs parallel with the government’s Towns Fund, of which Peterborough will receive £22.9 million.

This will deliver projects such as a pedestrian bridge across the River Nene, a Lakeside Activity Centre at Nene Park and a Green Technology Centre to help students train for the latest design and manufacturing careers.

So, as you can see, Peterborough is set to benefit significantly from both schemes, with these key investments coming at exactly the right time.

I’m thrilled the government has listened to us and has seen how our city continues to grow and perform economically under the current Conservative administration.

Every pound spent in Peterborough will accelerate our city’s future growth, along with the skills, wages and careers of our residents, creating a better future for everyone.

Tackling climate change is a key focus for the council and we’re actively working towards making our activities net-zero carbon by 2030.

We’ve committed to an ambitious programme of work to achieve this because of the many benefits it will create for everyone, such as reducing fuel poverty, improving people’s physical and mental health, as well as creating jobs and opportunities.

As part of this drive, we’re leading the way when it comes to using alternative fuels. We promised months ago that we would replace diesel in our highways vehicles with the far more sustainable Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO).

I’m delighted that our contractor, Milestone Infrastructure, has now made this switch, which it anticipates will save around 170 tonnes of CO2 emissions a year (nearly 90 per cent).

This will also result in a reduction of polluting nitrogen oxide gases by 30 per cent, and particulate matter by 86 per cent, benefiting the environment and improving our air quality.

Whilst we cannot cut back on essential repairs and activities, this will greatly reduce the amount of polluting material being put into the air, which is something we can all welcome.

The council declared a climate emergency back in 2019 and since then has worked to improve what we do environmentally. We believe that as a large local employer, we must lead by example.

By getting our own house in order, we will seek to show what is possible and support Peterborough to become a net-zero carbon city by 2030.

We’ve had a few queries from people asking about the future of tourism services following a proposal in our 2022/23 budget to remove funding for this.

I want to explain why we are making this proposal and assure everyone we are still offering a service, both physical and digital. We’ve been open about our urgent need to make savings and the tourist information centre, which has been closed since the start of the pandemic, had previously seen a steady decline in visitors.

Since then we’ve been working with partners to enhance our digital offering. The Visit Peterborough website, run by Opportunity Peterborough, is jam-packed with information, including events, places to stay, bookings and other functions.

We fully accept that some people value having a physical information service available, but the world has changed and most people now access information on their phones and computers, so it is only right that we prioritise digital services.

However, we are not totally stopping a physical information service – there will be a limited service at the town hall from Monday to Friday and at Central Library from Monday to Saturday.

Finally, I took part in another highly enjoyable Ask the Leader session recently.

These sessions have been really beneficial and most recently we discussed subjects including the Key Theatre, Werrington Leisure Centre and cleaning in the city centre. You can watch it back on the council’s YouTube account.

If you would like to take part in the next Ask the Leader session on Tuesday, March 3, send your question to asktheleader@peterborough.gov.uk