Happy New Year! And all good wishes to you for 2025.
The start of a new year is traditionally a time to look ahead and consider new opportunities such as starting a hobby or joining a group.
If you’re looking for a new challenge for 2025, have you considered the many volunteering options available locally?
Volunteering is a subject close to my heart as I have volunteered, on and off, for the past 50 years. I find it a great way to meet new people, learn different skills and change my perspective on things. I met my wife Alison whilst volunteering for the Samaritans. She was a volunteer here in Peterborough, whilst I was a volunteer in Eastbourne at that time. So, if you wondered what brought me here over 25 years ago, now you know.
Our city has a wealth of volunteering opportunities, whether it’s supporting vulnerable adults, enriching the cultural scene, aiding community cohesion or providing a lifeline to those most in need, the hours that they give helps build a city where everyone feels welcome, included and supported.
Volunteers are also a key feature of many of the services delivered by the council and our partners, and we could not support the number of people we do in the ways that we do without them.
For example, most of the city’s food banks are run by faith groups. We also have community hubs which are a mix of faith and community groups, plus a couple of charities. Collectively, these hubs and food banks are helping people struggling with the cost of living.
In addition, Peterborough is blessed with a fantastic network of faith leaders who have a track record of supporting one another and showing a united front. This results in strong community cohesion, which was evidenced by the city’s response to the riots in many parts of the country last summer.
There are far too many other examples for me to list here, but you can see what a vital role these groups play and how your life and the lives of others can be enhanced by taking part.
I’m proud to say that the council is also encouraging its staff to volunteer. We recently signed a policy allowing staff up to two days per year to spend on volunteer projects. Staff can support any activity that positively affects the community, help vulnerable people in our society and/or help to improve the environment in Peterborough. I think this is a fantastic initiative.
As regular readers will be aware, we need to make savings of £23m next year to be able to continue to meet the needs of residents and invest in the areas of greatest need.
As a result, we recently published our budget consultation which sets out how we can meet the challenge, which includes spending more money to meet the rising levels of demand in areas including Children's Services, Adult Social Care and Housing Need.
We are going to have to make some big calls going forward and I’ve never shied away from that. There are also huge opportunities for increased co-operation and partnership working right across the city, which I hope we can develop over the next 12 months.
The budget consultation runs until Tuesday 14 January so there is still plenty of time to share your thoughts with us. Councillors will consider what you tell us ahead of setting the budget next month. Have your say by visiting www.peterborough.gov.uk.
Whilst we are actively working as a local administration to make Peterborough an even better place to live, work and play, several government-led initiatives are also set to have a positive impact on our city.
Whitehall has made a number of funding announcements in recent weeks, such as an extra £100 million to upgrade GP estates across England, making facilities fit to deliver effective, quality care as well as starting to hire 1,000 extra GPs.
Continuing with a health theme, Peterborough will be boosted with a new multi-million-pound Community Diagnostic Centre due to open in Eastgate this summer. The facility will be open seven days a week, speeding up scans and tests and cutting waiting times.
There has also been a national commitment to help end homelessness and here in Peterborough we will benefit with the council getting £2.5 million as part of its Homeless Prevention Grant and £2 million to deal with rough sleeping.
Improving the environment is one of the council’s key priorities and we’re always looking at ways we can help achieve this.
We want to cut down on the amount of waste that ends up in landfill and that’s why we’re currently supporting the Mooncup programme by encouraging women in Peterborough to start using a reusable period product which is protecting the environment.
The reusable Mooncup menstrual cup contains no plastics or toxins and can last for several years. By switching to a reusable Mooncup, each person can avoid throwing away about 264 single-use menstrual products every year. This has a significant impact on the environment as disposable menstrual products add 200,000 tonnes of waste to UK landfills annually.
We’re currently promoting messages around the Mooncup campaign on our social media channels over the coming weeks, so please look out for these. Mooncups will be available for Peterborough residents shortly.