I’ve been loving the spring sunshine recently which has certainly kept my spirits up during this traditionally hectic period.
And there will be no rest for us councillors as we hit the campaign trail over the next few weeks ahead of elections on 7 May.
On this subject, I want to remind everyone that you must be on the electoral register to cast your vote. The deadline to register is midnight on Monday 20 April and it only takes five minutes to apply online at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote.
I was up at the crack of dawn last week visiting our waste and refuse collectors at our depot. They work tirelessly on the frontline keeping our city clean and are part of Peterborough Limited staff who will be transferring across to the council on 1 April.
It was great to speak to them ahead of the transfer, which our administration and dedicated officers have delivered. We have successfully negotiated pay, terms and conditions with the staff and Trade Union representatives who have praised our efforts.
These important services will be managed by the council directly, as opposed to subcontracting to a partner organisation. I also want to thank our Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, Councillor Angus Ellis for all his great work on this – we said we would reset the dial on key services and we’ve kept our word.
Whilst we’re making positive changes locally, our Labour government is also working on progressive polices nationally, such as tackling flytipping. I was delighted to hear their new plans for punishing flytippers by getting them to clean up waste and pay the costs.
If introduced, these proposals would give local authorities new powers to issue flytippers with conditional cautions instead of being taken through the courts, which can be time consuming. So watch this space!
Potholes are up there with fly-tipping as one of my biggest bugbears. Here in Peterborough, we are using effective machinery to repair them as I witnessed last week by seeing the famous Dragon Patcher in action near Castor. The impressive machine takes just few minutes to repair potholes, allowing traffic to pass almost immediately afterwards – you can watch the footage on our social media accounts.
I was also honoured to attend the official opening of our latest Family Hub at the Gladstone Community Centre.
The hubs have been a huge success story since launching in 2023 and we now have six venues across the city. They provide high-quality support for families with children aged 0-19 or from pregnancy up to age 25 for young people with special educational needs (SEND), offering parenting and family support, access to financial advice and learning through play sessions.
In more positive news, we have appointed two community leaders to chair new boards which are being set up to deliver lasting change in Paston, Gunthorpe and Welland, as well as Orton Malborne and Orton Goldhay,
The boards will give residents the chance to spearhead regeneration in their local area after £40 million was pledged for community enhancement in Peterborough as part of the government’s Pride in Place initiative, following a campaign by the city’s MPs, Sam Carling and Andrew Pakes.
I’m delighted that we have appointed Jonathan Jelley MBE JP to chair the Paston, Gunthorpe and Welland Board, and Ejaz Moghul to chair the Orton Malborne and Goldhay Board. They both have the knowledge, skills, passion and commitment to ensure this huge investment is well spent.
Finally, don’t forget that our Lido opens for the 2026 season on Saturday and I can’t wait to go for a dip! This year marks the venue’s 90th birthday and there will be plenty of celebratory events over the coming months for everyone to enjoy.