Opportunity Peterborough

Tom Hennessy Many people will be aware of Opportunity Peterborough’s work to drive economic growth in the city but the company, whollyowned by Peterborough City Council, is about to embark on an exciting new adventure. Tom Hennessy, Chief Executive of Opportunity Peterborough, shares their plans for the future and his ambition to really put Peterborough on the map. Opportunity Peterborough started as an urban regeneration company in 2005. Urban regeneration companies were established to tackle large scale master planning and regeneration projects and Opportunity Peterborough played a significant role in major schemes such as the removal of the Corn Exchange building from in front of St John’s church in the city centre, and the regeneration of Cathedral Square. Back then the company had three major shareholders – Peterborough City Council, the East of England Development Agency (EEDA), and English Partnerships (latterly the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA)). Around 2010/2011 the regional development agencies, including EEDA, were closed and replaced but Local Enterprise Partnerships, and the HCA’s remit changed, leaving Peterborough City Council as the sole shareholder. Many local authorities closed their urban regeneration companies down but Peterborough City Council continued to invest into Opportunity Peterborough whose remit changed from urban regeneration company to economic development company. One of the key activities Opportunity Peterborough was tasked with was promoting the city to attract more inward investment in the form of businesses looking to expand into, or relocate to, Peterborough in order to drive jobs creation in the city. Opportunity Peterborough works closely with planning departments, location consultants, accountants, chartered surveyors, developers, and the Department for International Trade in order to secure such investment and has delivered an impressive track record in this field. In 2020/21, Opportunity Peterborough supported the creation of 700+ jobs, injecting an additional £21m into the local economy and providing a return on investment of about £150 per £1 currently invested in Opportunity Peterborough by Peterborough City Council. And this is before the cost of construction, and the uplift in business rates received by the council is taken into consideration. Building on this fantastic record, Opportunity Peterborough has now taken responsibility for the Visit Peterborough website and social media channels. Instead of focusing purely on attracting new investment, Opportunity Peterborough will now be taking a broader, place marketing approach to the promotion of the city, encompassing inward investment, visitor economy, business tourism, and talent attraction.

So what is it that makes Peterborough such a great city?

First of all, Peterborough is a city of opportunity, whether that be to raise a family with its high rates of good and outstanding schools, affordable housing, green spaces, and plethora of activities; to start a business in the fastest growing, most entrepreneurial city in the East; or for you to reach your potential with its study opportunities, buoyant jobs market. Many people only know Peterborough as a ‘new town’, given its designation and rapid expansion in the late 60’s and early 70’s, but the city is steeped in history and nothing could be further from the truth. Due to the preserving nature of the surrounding fenland area, Peterborough is home to some of the finest examples of Northern European bronze-age settlements and artefacts in the world, discovered at sites including the 3,500 year old Flag Fen and Must Farm, also known as ‘Britain’s Pompeii’ for the richness of preserved materials including the 3,000 year old Must Farm boats. Peterborough also has a fine, 900 year old cathedral that has seen its fair share of drama having been ‘sacked’ by Hereward the Wake, for its own good of course, and having been the burial place of two queens. Mary Queen of Scots was briefly buried at the cathedral before being moved to Westminster Abbey, and Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife (and one true love it is said) remains buried there to this day inspiring very many Spanish tourists to make the pilgrimage to visit and lay pomegranates on her grave. Later the city became known as an important logistics hub on the burgeoning railways, and from the late 19th century and for much of the 20th century, Peterborough was the UK’s leading producer of bricks, infamous for its hardwearing Fletton brick. Today Peterborough is a fast-paced, ambitious city. It is the second fastest growing city since the turn of the century; it has the fastest growing economy on the East of England; it was recently named the 4th most entrepreneurial city in the country; and a report from the Centre for Economic and Business Research predicts Peterborough will be one of the fastest growing economies of 2021.

And to those of us who know the city, it’s good to hear, but not too surprising. Peterborough’s star is in the ascendance. It has always been well placed logistically, sitting on primary North-South and EastWest routes, and now it is only 39 minutes to central London by train – closer to London than half of London. Coupled with its digital infrastructure, being one of the first Gigabit Cities in the country, and affordable land and property, Peterborough has seen a boom in inward investment in the last few years, especially in the manufacturing and logistics sectors. This is all fantastic news for residents and businesses alike. A vibrant and resilient economy is essential for our businesses to be able to grow and to provide a variety of high quality, well paid, secure jobs that will enable residents to maximise their life chances, to achieve financial security at the very least, but ultimately provide them with fulfilment and enable them, and challenge them, to reach their full potential. Of course, in order to take advantage of these opportunities residents will need the skills demanded in order to compete. After many years of discussions, we are now seeing the new university, ARU Peterborough, coming out of the ground on the embankment. Opening in 2022 to its first cohort of 2,000 students, ARU Peterborough will expand over the next decade to host 12,500 students at full capacity. ARU Peterborough will be a university designed from the ground up as a university for the 21st century. From its sustainable and flexible study environments to the nature of the delivery of its courses, much of which will be vocational, embedded in the local business community, to give students the broadest range of skills they need to succeed and to give businesses the employees they need to hit the ground running. If we are lucky enough to love what we do for work then we are blessed indeed. But even then work and study aren’t the only things in life. Peterborough’s leisure, heritage, and cultural offerings are endless with something for everyone. From Flag Fen, the museum, cathedral to Burghley House; from rowing, cycling, sailing to rugby, football, and martial arts; from bars, clubs, and restaurants to the Nene Valley Railway, RailWorld, Ferry Meadows, and the countryside that inspired the great poet, John Clare; from the best stand-up comics to classical music recitals; from TruckFest to world famous horse trials, a multitude of festivals, and the largest beer festival outside of London - you’re spoilt for choice in Peterborough. And right now you can enjoy an exciting calendar of spectacular, weird and wonderful street performers in the city centre in the run up to Christmas, and from December this year until May you will be able to enjoy an evolving exhibition of some of the world’s best street and modern artists at the Peterborough Museum, including multiple pieces from Banksy, Damien Hirst, Kaws, Pure Evil and more. And this is before we start talking about the £22.9m the city has secured from the Towns Fund in order to kick start its £600m regeneration programme, the £20m it has secured to build the universities ‘Living Lab’, the cutting edge R&D centre being brought forward by Photocentric and ARU Peterborough, or the potential relocation of the football club creating a new, state of the art multi-purpose venue for the city. Peterborough has a lot to be proud of right now and the future is even brighter. Opportunity Peterborough sees it as a great privilege and a great responsibility to be entrusted with putting the city’s best foot forward, changing people’s perceptions of the city both within and without. We look forward to working in collaboration with everyone who wants to see the best for our great city, and to welcoming ever more guests with whom we can share it with.