Tag: Hawksworth

Peter Breach – North Westgate in a nutshell

09:26 Thursday 19th March 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PETER BREACH:

“Well Peterborough’s a special place. It’s a major city, and North Westgate has been as you’ve indicated in serious need of regeneration for quite a long time. Now’s the time to get on with it.

“The concept is a new regional leisure centre caught in the heart of Peterborough city, driven by a multiplex cinema, eight screens or more, a large piazza around the church, restaurants, shops, bars, a food hall, and a large number of apartments. And indeed some offices and possibly even a health hub.

“The aim is to make it somewhere that not only Peterborians but others living within a twenty or thirty mile radius will see as an attractive place to visit and spend time, popping into a coffee shop or a restaurant as they stroll through the piazza.

“A lot of effort has gone into this. There’s support from all parts of the city. Marco Cereste the Leader, Stewart Jackson the MP, and all the councillors we’ve met have been extremely supportive, and indeed everyone we’ve met. So I have every hope this is going to be delivered now.

“At this stage we are starting discussions with major funders for this sort of scheme. It may even be overseas funding. We’ll have to see. But it’s too early to strike a deal until the outline consent is secured, which we hope will be before the end of this year.”

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Peterborough District Hospital Site Sold For Housing

08:25 Tuesday 26th November 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: It’s been derelict for more than two years, but now the former Peterborough District Hospital site has finally been sold. Since the new PCH site opened at Bretton, Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have been trying to sell the site to plug a huge shortfall in the budget. Interim Chief Executive Dr Peter Reading explained why the sale had taken so long to go through.
(TAPE)
DR PETER READING: Well two reasons really. One is the collapse of the property market caught the Trust cold several years ago. They originally were planning to develop it themselves in a joint venture, and the collapse in the property market really wiped that option out. They then went down what was a bit of a blind alley, looking at a particular deal that was put forward by a developer by an unusual route, and then eventually decided that actually the best thing to do was to go to the open market and get an open market price. The Hospital, which has been a bit of an eyesore and a bit of a risk for three years since we closed it, will now be demolished, and between 300 and 350 new homes and a school will be built on that site.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Now the new owners planning that housing development are Lands Improvement Holdings. The NHS will receive £7.75 million up front from the sale of the land, which is just a fraction of the debt owed by the new Peterborough City Hospital. Joining me now is MP for Peterborough Stewart Jackson. Stewart, morning.
STEWART JACKSON: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: Now you’ve called for this to be hurried up and get the sale moved on over and over and over. It’s been a long time coming, hasn’t it?
Continue reading “Peterborough District Hospital Site Sold For Housing”

Peterborough Solar Farm Setback But A Glimmer Of Hope For North Westgate

07:49 Friday 25th October 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[D]OTTY MCLEOD: Council plans to build a solar farm on tenants’ farmland in Peterborough have been thrown into doubt, after archeologists discovered a number of artefacts believed to be from the Roman and Saxon eras. The findings were made earlier this week, but have been kept under wraps by the City Council officials. The archeological digs are being undertaken after experts from English Heritage and Cambridge University warned that the three sites being earmarked for the energy project could be riddled with remains. Peterborough City Council archeologists are now conducting tests to find out how old the finds are. Joining me now is Dr Francis Pryor, the man who discovered Flag Fen. Francis, does this surprise you at all?
Continue reading “Peterborough Solar Farm Setback But A Glimmer Of Hope For North Westgate”

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”

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”