I'm a proud Peterborian and will take any opportunity to talk up our wonderful city and its many positive attributes and the work we are doing to make it even better.
I'll also happily accept that Peterborough isn't perfect and there are aspects that could be improved, like the look and feel of our city centre.
Our residents have – quite rightly – told us that issues like street drinking, professional begging and unclean streets are deterring them from using our city centre and so we are waging war on these issues, heralding in a cleaner, safer city for you all.
This week the council is leading a special two-day operation, focussed on cleaning up our city centre streets and tackling the issues which blight the area.
I donned a high vis vest and joined councillors, staff and partners for Operation Horizon, which took place on Wednesday and Thursday. Streets are being jet-washed, street drinkers handed fines, trees pruned and weeds removed, litter picking taking place on the Embankment, parking enforcement taking place particularly around taxi ranks, along with rough sleeper outreach work.
Operation Horizon shows that we are entering a new age of our approach in tackling city centre issues, which is all about council services working closely with our partners including the BID, police and others to see a real change for the area. This isn’t a criticism of the work of council staff as they do a fantastic job, it is about bringing our resources together in a concerted effort, along with partners, to look at how we can work differently and dedicate more time to areas where we know attention is needed, such as cleanliness.
As well as our two-day hit squad, we will be creating a City Impact Team which will go back to the basics of being visible, approachable and working with our partner organisations to bring about long-lasting change.
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 cathedral, the museum, theatres and the Lido. We have so much to offer as a city, and we cannot allow the issues we know exist to impact that.
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.
We have a renewed focus on our city centre and residents will be able to see a change in the look and feel of our city centre over the coming weeks and months.
And this is not all we are doing, we have a new fly-tipping 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.
Young people across Peterborough will be receiving their A-Level results today and I would like to wish everyone the best of luck.
If your results aren’t what you wanted or you feel unsure about your next steps, don't worry or panic because there are plenty of options and support available.
For example, you can visit a free Careers Event taking place today from 11.30am until 4pm at Peterborough Youth Hub at the Weston Homes Stadium, where you can get advice on further education, employment and training.
A similar event will be held next Thursday (20 August) for young people receiving their GCSE results. You can find out more details about both events on our social media pages.
Anyone in need of careers advice can also visit https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk or call their helpline on 0800 100 900. Anyone who is feeling anxious or struggling can visit www.keep-your-head.com/cyp