The Peterborough Evening Telegraph

We need to be more ambitious

As the Station Quarter regenerati­on scheme takes its next steps we need to be ambitious about Peterborou­gh’s future. This week I met with the City of Peterborou­gh Swimming Club and council leader Dennis Jones to discuss plans for a new indoor pool for the city.

The closure of the Regional Pool last November without a plan for a new one sums up how the council sometimes gets things wrong. Everyone knew the pool was ageing and needed either a major refurbishm­ent or replacemen­t, but the work simply hadn’t been done.

It's the same issue with the Great Northern Hotel. Despite its central location to the station, the hotel was left out of the original plans for the Station Quarter project.

Labour has now rectified that wrong. The Great Northern will be a key part of the next phase of the Station Quarter plans. I hope that the owners are willing to come to the table and be part of that conversati­on.

Like much of Peterborou­gh’s infrastruc­ture, the Regional Pool was a product of our New Town era. The Developmen­t Corporatio­n period saw the expansion of the city, new townships and inward investment. Infrastruc­ture and expansion together. Housing with easy access to local shops, doctors’ surgeries and schools. We can’t turn the clock back, but we can reshape Peterborou­gh’s ambitions for a new generation.

It is time to ditch the funk and get the city working together to bring quality investment, homes and regenerati­on to our shores. We have huge potential and talent in our city from our businesses, community groups and entreprene­urs. The political roundabout on the council in recent years hasn’t served the city well, and we need our politician­s – regardless of party – to learn to work better together to advance the cause of our city.

This is where ambition matters. Too often petty political squabbles hold Peterborou­gh back. It’s the job of those of us in public life to get Peterborou­gh to the front of the queue. That’s why I wrote to the government this week alongside Sam Carling MP calling on the Ministers to work with Peterborou­gh to boost prosperity and living standards in the city.

We need high-quality sustainabl­e growth. We are well placed to deliver the green collar apprentice­ships and jobs to power new housing, infrastruc­ture and support the supply chains needed for growth, with our city’s expertise in translatin­g innovation into products and services that create wealth nationally.

The planning and housing reforms the government proposes are essential to make that happen.

We need a visitor plan to bring new people back into our city centre. And we need a council working in partnershi­p with others.

We need to learn the lessons that brought partners together to create ARU Peterborou­gh and apply that ambition more widely.

It's time to make progress on plans for the city centre, North Westgate and the key infrastruc­ture like the pool.

But we will only do that if we work together as a city.