Someday soon: Opportunity knocks, but it seems that, in Peterborough, it does little else. But that may now change
Taking on the role of chief executive of Opportunity Peterborough could be viewed by some as a poisoned chalice. But that is what Stephen Compton did last month, accepting, by his own admission, the huge challenges facing the urban regeneration company. “Peterborough has flat-lined for a period of nearly 20 years,” he says.
That admission is not mere hyperbole. The walk from the shabby, provincial-looking railway station to Hammerson’s Queensgate shopping centre in the heart of the city takes you past a multi-storey car-park slip road and through a grubby pedestrian overpass that is much the same as it was in the early 1990s. The only thing that has changed is the tenant mix in the shopping centre.
However, Opportunity Peterborough’s challenge goes further than merely regenerating an outdated city centre built on an outmoded urban planning model. There is also the property industry and the local populace to convince.
Local agents are naturally proud of Peterborough and its potential, but are jaded by the lack of progress. One, who did not wish to be named, asks: “Why does Opportunity Peterborough exist?”
William Rose, director of Savills, is not surprised by this. “We are a bit cynical up here,” he says. “There are lots of ideas and plans. A new chief executive comes along, they get a new consultant to look at a new masterplan, and people wonder whether any of it will actually happen.”
Martin Blackwell, managing director of local agent Blackwell Consulting, adds: “Opportunity Peterborough is driven by targets, comes forward with plans and then consults later. It should be the other way around.” He argues that this approach has led to schemes such as the redevelopment of the city’s football stadium being delayed as the club’s own plans clashed with the authorities’.
Opportunity Peterborough was formed three years ago this month, and is made up of representations from Peterborough council, English Partnerships and East England Development Agency. It does not have the funds to develop in the way that the former Commission for New Towns did, but is taking on the role of regeneration facilitator.
Compton is its second chief executive, and there is confidence that he will stay for some time and, most importantly, get things done.
But he admits that the approach to redevelopment in the past has been ad hoc and piecemeal, and is acutely aware of the city’s reputation.
Losing businesses
“Companies that are growing need staff, but staff don’t want to be here,” he says. “We are losing businesses because there isn’t the space to accommodate them in the city centre.”
Historically, commercial development has been concentrated in out-of-town business parks. In recent years, large-scale industrial development has flourished. There is, however, a recognition that the focus of development should now move back to the city centre, particularly now that Peterborough is vying for the vacuous title of Green Capital of the UK.
The city has a long-neglected waterside, an underused historic core with a 13th century cathedral, that less-than-salubrious railway station, and retailing in need of a boost.
To add insult to injury, Peterborough is the largest city in the UK without a university.
What, then, is Compton doing about it? He says this year will definitely be a year of action. The city centre action plan, public realm strategy and South Bank masterplan should all come to fruition over the next 12 months (see panel).
If all goes to plan, work on the public realm could start by the end of the year, and, if developer interest is secured for the South Bank, development could start next year.
A relatively smaller undertaking, but one which is nonetheless psychologically significant, is the Carbon Challenge. Peterborough has been chosen, with a number of other cities in the UK, to demonstrate good, environmentally friendly, residential development. It will choose a preferred developer for a 463-unit scheme on the South Bank in May.
“The Carbon Challenge will help to give Peterborough credibility, as it doesn’t have a reputation for delivering,” says Compton.
Another project that Opportunity Peterborough cites as an example of something happening is the Green Quarter. Here, land owned by ING Real Estate and Network Rail around the railway station will be redeveloped with green offices, leisure and retail.
Negotiations are under way to secure office prelets for a first phase of 125,000 sq ft, with a planning application expected in the early summer. However, it will be market forces that determine how quickly the scheme is delivered, with ING apparently holding out for at least 60% of the space to be signed up before going ahead.
Rents are so low in the city centre that development isn’t viable without a prelet,” says Blackwell. Indeed, the last office space in the city centre was completed 12 years ago.
Progress on Hammerson’s and Morley’s extension to the Queensgate shopping centre is at the whim of the council and those parties whose property is subject to a possible compulsory purchase order. A planning application was submitted last autumn, but the council could not say when it would go before the planning committee. And Hammerson will not issue a timeline.
This year could be a good one for Peterborough. The will is there – from Opportunity Peterborough at least – and, the economy notwithstanding, if all parties pull together, there is a possibility that something might actually happen.
Peterborough regeneration: plans and action
City centre action plan: Drawn up by design consultant EDAW, it looks at the entire city centre, outlining what development happens where. Public consultation finishes on 20 March and, depending on Peterborough council’s core strategy, final plans could be adopted by the end of the year.
Public realm strategy: Designs will be ready for public exhibition at the end of the month. They include improvements to the public realm in the city centre, such as clearing Cathedral Square of burger vans and what Stephen Compton, chief executive of Opportunity Peterborough, describes as “other dross”, and creating a public square. The four- to five-year project will be funded by public sector and developer section 106 agreements.
Station Quarter regeneration: on land owned by Network Rail and ING Real Estates. ING, along with Green Ventures and Opportunity Peterborough, is drawing up plans for a 250,000 sq ft office-led scheme on the site of a former sorting office that it bought last year. A planning application is expected in the summer for the first phase of 120,000 sq ft, but ING is unlikely to go ahead without 60% prelet.
North Westgate: is effectively a 600,000 sq ft extension of Morley and Hammerson’s 750,000 sq ft Queensgate shopping centre. A planning application was made last autumn but no date for a decision has been given. A local pub owner, whose premises fall within the site, has submitted a 4,000-signature petition opposing the scheme.
South Bank: Initial ideas for a masterplan of the waterfront area are being presented at the public consultation for the city-centre action plan. The completed masterplan for a residential-led, mixed-use scheme will be presented in May. Site assembly is ongoing. Part of the site has been earmarked for the Carbon Challenge – a 463-unit, eco-friendly residential scheme. Three consortiums are bidding for the contract to develop the scheme, and developer selection will be made in May.
University: Funding has been secured from East of England Development Agency for a campus in the city centre for Anglia Ruskin University. It will be the first university campus in the city.
