Peterborough News 10th November 2010

A summary of the Peterborough Breakfast Show from BBC Radio Cambridgeshire broadcast from 06:00 to 09:00 on Wednesday 10th November 2010.

Topics:
Investigators into the multi million spend by Peterborough City Council on consultants, in an inquiry originally launched in March of this year and promised by September, defend their decision to delay publishing their findings again, for another three months, until February 2011.
The ousted Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee wonders why after almost a year he still has no straight answers to his questions about Peterborough City Council’s use of consultants.
Peterborough City Council is one of the local authorities planning to turn off street lighting to save money.
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Peterborough News 9th November 2010

A summary of the Peterborough Breakfast Show from BBC Radio Cambridgeshire broadcast from 06:00 to 09:00 on Tuesday 9th November 2010.

Topics:
The rising cost of care for the elderly: BBC examines an example of a traditional family setting where three generations live under the same roof, and families are neighbours.
A senior councillor is concerned that raising the cost of allotments for pensioners by a factor of three will cause many to abandon the activity. He reminds us that Council have often in the past sold off allotments for housing, and wonders how this fits in with Council’s bid to be Environment Capital.
Many will assemble in Sainsburys Car park at 10pm on Friday 12th November to sleep rough in aid of the Peterborough Soup Kitchen. Mayor Keith Sharp is leading the effort.
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Peterborough News 8th November 2010

A summary of the Peterborough Breakfast Show from BBC Radio Cambridgeshire broadcast from 06:00 to 09:00 on Monday 8th November 2010.

Topics:
Council plans to cut £500,000 from its social care budget every year for the next five years. The BBC looks at how individual clients might cope, and what the likely effects will be on the cost to the end-user.
People living in Peterborough are being invited to participate in a new kind of personal tour of the city, identifying and talking about locations that matter to them and have had a big influence on their lives. The Council initiative is called “Take me to”
Queensgate Shopping Centre prepares for Christmas with an Acting Centre Director, who is upbeat about the trading prospects, with decorations up and new shops trading.
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Peterborough News 5th November 2010

A summary of the Peterborough Breakfast Show from BBC Radio Cambridgeshire broadcast from 06:00 to 09:00 on Friday 5th November 2010.

Topics:
Cowgate will get a £350K makeover with cash from English Heritage, the Council and businesses themselves.
Leighton Primary in Orton will get a £650K makeover. The front of school will become the back and vice versa.
Hindus commence their Diwali celebrations at the weekend at the Rock Road centre.
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Peterborough News 4th November 2010

A summary of the Peterborough Breakfast Show from BBC Radio Cambridgeshire broadcast from 06:00 to 09:00 on Thursday 4th November 2010.

Topics:
The DVLA in Peterborough has wind of plans to close the regional offices and move the functions to Swansea. 30 jobs are at threat in Peterborough, 1500 nationally.
Peterborough City Council has submitted plans for a scheme to install electric vehicle charging points in this region.
The Co-op in Stanground has been slapped with a temporary alcohol retail ban after being caught twice selling alcohol to under-age customers.
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Peterborough News 3rd November 2010

A summary of the Peterborough Breakfast Show from BBC Radio Cambridgeshire broadcast from 06:00 to 09:00 on Wednesday 3rd November 2010.

Topics:
Peterborough City Council are considering selling off the family silver to maintain their spending levels. There seems to be an issue on whether land sales would be a bad idea in a depressed market. What has not been made clear is how planning permission issues would affect the outcome. Selling plots of land to developers who then apply for planning permission to build houses would obviously benefit the developers most. But it would clearly make more sense for Council to grant outline permission before selling, and the legality of this has not been made clear.

Peterborough Council’s highest earners are hunkering down in their bunkers over suggestions that they might like to take a small voluntary paycut in these times of austerity. Council are still claiming that the scrapping of the Deputy Chief Executive post is an example of their willingness to tighten their belts. In fact, the post was vacated in March, long before austerity became the watchword. The real reason for scrapping the post is that it was created in the first place specifically for a consultant, who became the focus of unwelcome attention when it became clear that Council were spending many millions on consultancy without any clear and evident benefit to the taxpayers.

Some but not all of the general population consulted are prepared to get excited about a new tenant for the Woolworths building.

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Peterborough News 2nd November 2010

A summary of the Peterborough Breakfast Show from BBC Radio Cambridgeshire broadcast from 06:00 to 09:00 on Tuesday 2nd November 2010.

Topics:
Peterborough City Council have agreed to pay £175,000 to refurbish the Woolworths Building in order to encourage TK-Maxx to lease the property from the private landlords some time next year.
As it becomes apparent that Council budget cuts are affecting those least able to cope, questions are being raised about why the councillors themselves and the top earners at the Council have not offered to accept any cuts to their income.
The BBC Peterborough studio is afflicted by equipment failures for a second day in a row.
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Peterborough News 1st November 2010

A summary of the Peterborough Breakfast Show from BBC Radio Cambridgeshire broadcast from 06:00 to 09:00 on Monday 1st November 2010.

Topics:
Peterborough City Council set out to defend their new and unpopular budget proposals.
The local TUC Chair expresses his concern at budget cuts which affect staff and vulnerable service users.
The local MP attacks funding for translation services and the provision of trade union facilities for staff.
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