Category: Peterborough

North Westgate – Currently A Barnacle

08:08 Wednesday 22nd February 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: .. plans have been approved for the redevelopment of the old Royal Mail sorting office. At the moment it’s just a massive car park. Well included in the plans is a block of offices, a supermarket, a landscaped area for the public, and the potential creation of around 600 jobs. Now the site on Bourges Boulevard is set to be part of that railway station regeneration. It will improve the look of the whole area, as you come into Peterborough from the railway. Earlier, Councillor Lucia Serluca, who chaired the meeting last night, approved the plans, because she thinks it’s vital to revitalising the city. (TAPE)
LUCIA SERLUCA: They are going to put a 4,300 square metre food store, and an 805 square metre for other shops and offices. And obviously it will create over 600 jobs over there. It will just .. it will be a great gateway into the city really from the train station, and the development and the regeneration there can only aid in the way Peterborough is moving forward. (LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Well if you were listening yesterday you know we discussed the plans, and MP Stewart Jackson voiced concerns that he thought the North Westgate development was still being neglected, and needed to be brought back to the table. But when we asked Council Leader Marco Cereste if work to regenerate North Westgate was a possibility, he didn’t seem very keen. Continue reading “North Westgate – Currently A Barnacle”

Secrets and Lies

Tuesday 21st February 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

Peterborough Tories fall out in deselection row.

CLLR.RAY DOBBS: I think there’s been a witchhunt. There is a divide in the Conservative Party, and there’s those who support Marco, and those who don’t. I’m seen as being a Marco man, and seeing as how the selection committee is made up five members who don’t support Marco in any way, what chance have you got? .. South of the river are predominately Marco’s men. And anything north of the river, they would prefer another Leader. .. They never stop bickering, and trying to score silly political points, although we are one Party. And we should act as one Party. .. It’s not a case of sour grapes. It’s reality.

CLLR. MIKE FLETCHER: There’s definitely a split. And I know, the decision to oust Pat Nash was made at least six months ago. And for Wayne Fitzgerald to claim she has not been deselected is just a play on words. Of course she’s been deselected. They knew they were going to deselect her. And what’s more, Pat herself had already been told or heard of rumours, that she was going to be deselected, several weeks ago. .. John Peach and Wayne Firzgerald persuaded me to stand as a Conservative, because I told them then I was going to stand as an Independent. They wanted me to stand as a Conservative to form an alliance to get rid of Marco Cereste. They know that’s the truth. I know it’s the truth. Everybody else knows it’s the truth. And then they found they couldn’t do that. They hadn’t got quite enough votes. And so, in the end, I’m so disillusioned with them, I decided to take the bull by the horns and go where I can vote to my own conscience, and for the benefit of the people of South Bretton, who elected me. With the Conservative Party, it’s more like a dictatorship. They sit round like a bunch of nodding donkeys, and they’re told what to do by two or three people. And they follow that line.

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North Westgate – Time to Get On With It

08:10 Tuesday 21st February 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: The long hoped for North Westgate development, remember that? David Shaw is one of the men behind it, planning adviser to Hawksworth, who’ve been trying to get this North Westgate development sorted for, how long David?
DAVID SHAW: Ooh, a very long time. Eighteen years. I really am beginning to get a little old, I think.
PAUL STAINTON: I was going to say, you must have been a boy in short trousers when it started.
DAVID SHAW: I was nearly. I’ve been trying to get things to happen in the city centre for nearly thirty eight years. Queensgate did succeed, but with North Westgate we’re not having any success. Continue reading “North Westgate – Time to Get On With It”

BBC Facebook Policy

A listener in Peterborough posted a picture up onto the BBC Peterborough Breakfast Show Facebook wall.  In order to see the content on that BBC produced site it is necessary to register an account with Facebook, a private company. In this case, the listener’s point seems to be that his/her next door neighbours have erected a structure in the garden, and he/she believes that this might be used as residential accommodation for Eastern European migrant workers.
Continue reading “BBC Facebook Policy”

Selective Licensing – A Potential Bonanza for the Council

08:12 Wednesday 15th February 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

JOANNE HODGES PETERBOROUGH CITY COUNCIL: .. we’ve also got the thing called Selective Licensing, which is another tool that we’re considering using within the Millfield and New England area. That means that all rented accommodation within that area would need to be licensed. So it would allow us to work with landlords, and landlords that don’t comply, to tackle things like anti-social behaviour, and the fact that they don’t give rent books, tenancy agreements, litter, that kind of thing. It would give us a lot more control over those issues. Continue reading “Selective Licensing – A Potential Bonanza for the Council”

13 Trees in Bridge Street Peterborough

07:40 Tuesday 14th February 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

ANDY GALL: We need to get an understanding about the reasons for the trees being cut down, so that we can move forward with the discussion.  So we’ll be able to speak to Andrew Edwards who’s from Peterborough City Council. Good morning Andrew.
ANDREW EDWARDS: Good morning. How are you this morning?
ANDY GALL: Pretty good. So can you tell us a little bit about the reasons for removing some of the trees please.
ANDRE EDWARDS: OK. The first thing to mention of course is that we don’t make a decision to take out trees lightly. And this has been a very well thought through, discussed and considered option. But in essence we’ve taken professional advice, looking at the trees, and the key thing here is to give a public space that will be there, not just for our generation, but for the generations to come.
ANDY GALL: And also during the process though, is it .. people want it to look aesthetically pleasing right now as well as in the future, so will it be done sympathetically?
ANDREW WILSON: Oh yes. We will do it in the best way possible. We’re very keen for the public realm that is produced as a result of taking these trees out to meet the needs of people of today and the future. The reason though that we are looking at taking these trees out is to ensure the life of the remainder. We could leave them in. We could say, right, we’re not going to do anything with these trees. And then, after a couple of years, you’ll see some of the trees starting to struggle. Some of them starting to die. And there’s a chance that we could lose considerably more than the thirteen we’re planning to take out at the present moment.
ANDY GALL: OK Andrew. Thank you very much for talking to us. And apologise for it being a little bit brief, but we certainly got the salient points from you. That’s Andrew Edwards from Peterborough City Council.

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Council Budget Numbers “Suspiciously Round”

08:07 Monday 13th February 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

ANDY GALL: Peterborough City Council has made more changes to its budget, but it still has a budget deficit of £2.7 million. The amount Enterprise has to save has been reduced by £320,000. Enterprise, of course provides a number of services for the City Council, including street cleaning and looking after parks and trees. The amount being invested in trees is £250,000 less, and crossing patrols have been saved as well, which would have been an extra £43,000 for the Council. Nick Sandford is the Leader of the Liberal Democrat Party in Peterborough, and joins us in the studio now. Good morning Nick.
NICK SANDFORD: Good morning Andy.
ANDY GALL: So what do you make of these figures then? Continue reading “Council Budget Numbers “Suspiciously Round””

Peterborough Pwned

08:18 Thursday 9th February 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: The debate on the proposed rise in council tax in Peterborough continues to rage. Government Minister Bob Neill has urged the people of this city to lobby the Council over plans to raise council tax by nearly 3%, rather than accept a Government grant which would avoid such a rise. Mr. Neill joins Eric Pickles, the Taxpayers Alliance and MP Stewart Jackson in condemning the proposal from the Council. It’s a topic that’s splitting the Tories nationally .. and locally? Well, here’s Marco Cereste, Leader of Peterborough City Council. Morning sir.
MARCO CERESTE: Hello Paul. How are you.
PAUL STAINTON: I’m alright. Have you got another revolt on your hands here? Continue reading “Peterborough Pwned”