Tag: Opportunity Peterborough

Peterborough Studios Home to BBC Cambridgeshire Breakfast Show

17:23 Wednesday 16th May 2012
Drive BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: Following the BBC Trust’s local radio licence review, BBC Radio Cambridgeshire is to keep its Peterborough studios. Paul Stainton will broadcast a new county-wide breakfast programme from the city from August. The remainder of the station’s output will continue to come from Cambridge. The station’s editor, David Harvey, said the new programme would maintain quality journalism that would appeal to the whole county. He joined me a short time ago with more details of why this has all been necessary. (TAPE)

DAVID HARVEY: Well two things have come together Chris at the same time. The BBC Trust have reviewed what local radio does, why we exist, and what people want from their local BBC. That’s a process that takes place every five years. And it received some 14,000 responses in various forms. And at the same time, as we’ve been talking about for some time now, Delivery Quality First has been taking place, which is a review of how we spend our money, effectively, on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, or your money, the licence fee payers’ money. In the last settlement that the BBC did around the licence fee with the Government, the licence fee was fixed until 2017, and then there were some additional costs that were taken on board. The BBC have to fund the World Service and the BBC Monitoring, and also fund a partnership with Welsh Channel 4, and support the set-up of new local TV services, and the potential roll-out of high-speed broadband. So all that coming together, as well as obviously the recession, and the general squeeze on public service bodies, has meant we have less money to play with, here at BBC Radio Cambridgeshire.

CHRIS MANN: And BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, let’s point out, is quite unusual. It’s got two centres, both Cambridge and Peterborough, which is quite rare in the UK. Now are they going to continue? Continue reading “Peterborough Studios Home to BBC Cambridgeshire Breakfast Show”

Weeping and Wailing as Green Bank Long Shot Kicks the Bucket

07:21 Friday 9th March 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: The Government announced yesterday where the UK’s Green Investment Bank will be based. You may remember we’ve been bidding for it, we’ve been expecting it, hoping for it, looking for it. Well we didn’t get it. We were snubbed. It’s gone to Edinburgh. Edinburgh of all places. What was Vince Cable playing at? (TAPE)
VINCE CABLE: Edinburgh has a very good financial centre. A lot’s happening in the green industry front. London is a centre for specialist banking. We want to tap into both of them. And we’ve had a competition which showed that those two were the two cities that came out on top. But this is a big step forward. By the end of this year the Green Investment Bank will be getting out good projects. So we’re well on the way to making Britain a world leader in green investment.” (LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Well, disappointing for Peterborough. Opportunity Peterborough disappointed too. They put the bid together for the city. Neil Darwin, Director of Economic Development is here with a little frown on your face this morning. Continue reading “Weeping and Wailing as Green Bank Long Shot Kicks the Bucket”

Hand Made in Peterborough

08:24 Tuesday 25th October 2011
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

ANDY BURROWS: With two months to go until Christmas, a campaign has been started to get people to buy hand made in Peterborough. We’re being asked to support everything from school Christmas fairs, to the hand made markets in Peterborough city centre. The group Hand Made in Peterborough says it supports the local economy, and is better quality and value for money. Jo Taylor has been off to find out what it’s all about. Continue reading “Hand Made in Peterborough”

Alconbury Enterprise Zone is Excellent News for Peterborough

07:12 Wednesday 17 August 2011
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

ANDY GALL: Neil Darwin is Director of Economic Development at Opportunity Peterborough, and can speak to us now. Good morning Neil.
NEIL DARWIN: Good morning Andy.
…………..
ANDY GALL: Alconbury have been chosen as the Enterprise Zone by the Government.
NEIL DARWIN: Indeed.
ANDY GALL: Peterborough did apply but wasn’t selected.
NEIL DARWIN: That’s right.
ANDY GALL: Your thoughts this morning?
NEIL DARWIN: We’re really pleased. The important thing was we got an Enterprise Zone in the area, and it’s fantastic news that we have indeed got one. The important thing is that having Alconbury deisgnated means that it’s good for Peterborough, irrespective.
ANDY GALL: Does it mean though that because Enterprise Zones in the ’80s, when they came about, they were sort of blue-chip companies would be drawn to them, but then they became sort of employment blackspots.
NEIL DARWIN: Indeed. It’s a very interesting policy line the Government have taken. Some of them did work in the ’80s. Some of them failed miserably. And again, what the Government have done this time is say that they’re going to focus on growth, growth-focused areas. What they mean by that is they’re going to put them in places like Alconbury, rather than in the middle of Blackburn or Burnley or places of that ilk.
ANDY GALL: But what kind of industry is it going to attract in the current climate?
NEIL DARWIN: At the moment we’ve been talking to Urban & Civic who own the site down there. They’re very keen to try and attract overseas business to the area. And there’s still plenty of demand for that, around some of the modern technologies that are coming forward. So biotech and all those sorts of things. So it’ll be interesting. From a Peterborough perspective it will be very interesting to see how it takes off. And actually the important thing for Peterborough residents is actually having, as Urban & Civic have described in the proposal, up to 6,000, 7,000 jobs. It’s having those jobs on the doorstep, because it’s actually very commutable from Peterborough. So there’s a real win-win there, in terms of having jobs on the doorstep.

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Cowgate Rent Reduction Call to Kickstart Revival

08:19 Thursday 21st July 2011
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Plans to regenerate Cowgate, Bridge Street and Long Causeway are going on show today. The aim is to make the areas more pedestrian-friendly, restore historic buildings and encourage independent shops. Now Steve Bowyer is Head of Economic Development at Opportunity Peterborough, He was on earlier. He said the plans are designed to increase footfall on Cowgate. (TAPE)
STEVE BOWYER: I have shown investors down Cowgate, and they liked the street, they think it looks good, it works well, but a lot of the comment is about footfall. So anything we can do to drive footfall, to make it a more interesting place .. and we’ve seen what footfall’s done in Cathedral Square. If we can get that down Cowgate, and attract the businesses, because businesses as we’ve said before, businesses follow people. And if this really inspires that area, it’s got to be good news. (LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Well John Drewnicki is Chairman of the Cowgate Traders Association. Morning John.
JOHN DREWNICKI: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: What do you think of the plans? Continue reading “Cowgate Rent Reduction Call to Kickstart Revival”

Marco Cereste Tightens His Grip on Peterborough

08:08 Tuesday 17th May 2011
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: It’s all change at Peterborough City Council following an eventful meeting at the Town Hall last night. Council Leader Marco Cereste made a few changes to his Cabinet. Matthew Dalton and Wayne Fitzgerald given new roles. Meanwhile, Councillor Paula Thacker was unveiled as the new Mayor of Peterborough, taking over from the very very hardworking Keith Sharp. Here to explain the changes is the new, old, Leader, Marco Cereste. Good morning.
MARCO CERESTE: Good morning Paul. How are you?
PAUL STAINTON: I’m very good. Congratulations on your reappointment as Council Leader, or Leader of the Conservatives, or both, or whatever.
MARCO CERESTE: Thank you.
PAUL STAINTON: So, a few changes Marco. Why did you feel you needed to shake things up a bit? Continue reading “Marco Cereste Tightens His Grip on Peterborough”

Marco Cereste and the Takeover of Peterborough

This website started out in January 2010 with the intention of looking at how the BBC covered issues in Peterborough and the surrounding areas.

It quickly became caught up in the furore surrounding Peterborough City Council’s spending on consultants, an issue which has dragged on ever since, and is still dragging on, due to the resistance encountered on the part of Council to disclose the full facts. Continue reading “Marco Cereste and the Takeover of Peterborough”

The Future of Peterborough

08:06 Wednesday 27th April 2011
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: A bit of a spat has broken out. Not-for-profit organisation Growborough is being criticised for treading on the toes of another organisation, by launching an advertising campaign to attract new businesses to Peterborough. Publicly funded economic development company Opportunity Peterborough, you may have heard them on the show yesterday, launched a similar strategy in London just a few months ago. We talked about it having the name tag on taxis and billboards and everything else. Well Rowen Squibb is from Growborough. Morning Rowen.
ROWEN SQUIBB: Morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: What is going on here? We have Opportunity Peterborough, who up until probably I would say a year ago we were some of their fiercest critics. They didn’t really do the job properly, according to lots and lots of people. Nothing really got delivered. But they appear to be doing the job now. They appear to be doing what they said on the tin. Continue reading “The Future of Peterborough”