Hugely successful Operation Horizon now morphing into newly created City Impact Team

Yesterday (Thursday, 13 August) was the last day of our hugely successful Operation Horizon, a 2-day focus on sorting out the issues that residents say blight their experience of going into the city centre.

Over the two days, an army of Peterborough City Council staff and councillors in brightly coloured green branded high visibility vests have been working alongside partners, including Peterborough Positive and Cambridgeshire Police.

As part of the crack-down, we have been:

• Engaged with 15 rough sleepers and directed them towards the Severe Weather Emergency Provision that’s been set up due to the hot weather.
• Hot washed Cathedral Square, Long Causeway and Bridge Street.
• Removed numerous (still waiting for a number, but over 50 bags) of litter.
• Issued 8 fixed penalty notices for anti-social behaviour, street drinking, anti-social behaviour and cycling down Bridge Street.
• Issued 126 Penalty Charge Notices (parking) and 71 moving traffic contraventions processed.
• Cleaned up the Embankment and riverside area.
• Total of 40 highways jobs raised, ranging from cleansing, vegetation, graffiti, potholes and street furniture works. Some were completed during the two days, and the rest will be completed in the coming weeks.
• Removed graffiti at Bishops Road Gardens, cutting shrubs and pruning trees.
• Inspected 21 businesses for food safety standards.
• Engaged with hundreds of city centre shoppers to educate them on how to recycle effectively at home.
• Identified 56 unlicensed HMOs and rented homes with poor safety standards and waste issues.
• Engaged with 61 taxi drivers to ensure they are conforming with licensing obligations.

And we are not going to stop there!

Also, as part of Operation Horizon, we have been gathering intelligence and data to ensure we can keep a focus on the above issues in the coming weeks and month.

Today we are launching a City Impact Team, which will create a daily plan for the city centre, coordinating staff more efficiently based on real-time intelligence.

This team will work with partners, such as Cambridgeshire Constabulary and Peterborough Positive to monitor and react to issues that need the most focus each day and to work on long-term goals, such as reducing anti-social behaviour.

Councillor Shabina Qayyum, leader of Peterborough City Council, said: “Operation Horizon was orchestrated to show that we are entering a new age of our approach in tackling city centre issues.

“Our city centre has so much to offer – a great variety of places to shop, eat and drink, fantastic visitor attractions such as our beautiful Norman cathedral, the museum, theatres and the Lido. Yet for too long it has been blighted by issues like street drinking, professional begging and unclean streets. Our residents have – quite rightly – said that it is deterring them from using our city centre and so we are now waging war on these issues.

“I’m beyond delighted with how much has been achieved over these past two days, but this is not the end! We have now created a City Impact Team which will go back to the basics of being visible, approachable and working with our partner organisations to tackle issues quickly and effectively.

“With the introduction of a Growth Board and a renewed focus on the growth and regeneration of our city centre and its establishment as a regional tourism hot spot, we need to get this right. Both for our residents and for our future prosperity.

“And this is not all we are doing, we have a new flytipping and littering campaign which will be launching soon, which will address issues in the wider city too, which we want everyone in our city to take part in.

“We are listening to you, and we are heralding in a cleaner, safer city for you all.”