Supporting homeless people and rough sleepers is something that the council does throughout the year, but the issue becomes really pertinent in winter.
With dropping temperatures and darkening days, this is a really tough time for anyone on the streets as I saw with my own eyes last week.
I spent an evening with the council’s Rough Sleeper Outreach Team as it carried out its annual rough sleeper count in Peterborough. This takes place every autumn and requires local authorities to submit counts or estimates, creating a snapshot of rough sleeping across the country, with figures released at a later date.
We were out for three and half hours after midnight with the teams, along with Cllr Alison Jones our Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities and our Chief Executive Matt Gladstone. The count involved five teams covering the whole city, looking for people sleeping rough. My team went out as far as Marholm and included Orton Mere, Bretton and Westwood.
It was an eye-opening experience and gave me a first-hand experience of the team’s fantastic and often difficult work. Officers are out and about in all conditions, usually when most people are safely tucked up in bed, offering vital support for people sleeping rough and a pathway out of it.
The team identifies and assesses rough sleepers, offering tailored support. Each rough sleeper is provided with an individualised streets-to-home pathway, addressing barriers to maintaining accommodation.
We’re doing some great work with partners to support homeless people and rough sleepers in Peterborough, particularly in the colder months and recently received a £75,000 grant from government to assist.
One example is our Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme (SHAP), through which we purchased 25 properties to help rough sleepers with multiple and complex needs, ensuring they are given intensive support to help them get back into permanent accommodation.
With temperatures dropping substantially this week, we’ve also opened up our Severe Weather Emergency Provision (SWEP) which sees officers working with charities to ensure that shelter is available to all verified rough sleepers in Peterborough.
If you know someone who is sleeping rough or about to become homeless, please contact us for help. Call 01733 864064 during office hours or 01733 864157 outside of office hours.
We all know that Peterborough is a welcoming, tolerant city, and our community has a proud history of helping those seeking refuge.
However, I firmly believe that the use of the Dragonfly Hotel for emergency accommodation for asylum seekers is the wrong decision. Together with city MPs Andrew Pakes and Sam Carling, I’ve written to the Home Office calling for answers to some serious questions about the situation.
Aside from our concerns, the arrivals do need support and help from services, and we are therefore offering additional help to enhance that which is being provided by the Home Office together with our partners.
This situation is attracting a lot of interest from the public, as well as some quite unsavoury comments and unsubstantiated rumours on social media. I completely understand how people feel, but I ask them not to get drawn into some of the very nasty comments that are being made and to bear with us whilst we continue to liaise with the Government on this matter.
Cracking down on anti-social behaviour, particularly in the city centre, is a focus for the council and our partners, including the police.
As part of national Anti-Social Behaviour Week, which is currently taking place, Cllr Alison Jones went out on patrol with our Prevention and Enforcement Officers and city centre policing teams.
The aim was to see first-hand the issues and opportunities in the city centre and how we can better tackle these. I know that cycling in Bridge Street continues to be an issue and is something that we are enforcing as part of the city centre Public Space Protection Order (PSPO). There is always debate on this issue in particular, and it is something we can review when the PSPO is due for renewal, but for now it is important that we enforce the cycling restrictions.
Our officers patrol the city centre daily, sometimes with the police, as we want to tackle the issues that we know exist in the city centre. It is even more important at this time of year, when the city centre is busier and we want it to be welcoming and attractive.
On the subject of which, the city centre will certainly be thriving tomorrow night for our big Christmas lights switch-on event.
You may have noticed that our 40ft Norwegian Spruce Christmas tree has been installed in Cathedral Square ahead of the event, which gets under way at 5pm.
The lights will be switched on by Father Christmas himself, accompanied by Cheryl Fergison (Heather from Eastenders) and Peterborough Mayor, Councillor Marco Cereste. There will also be a variety of local acts, providing fun for all the family.
Once again I would like to thank all of our sponsors for their generous donations, ensuring that the switch-on takes place and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone there!
Finally, I was delighted to see our city’s new cinema open its doors at the weekend, with crowds flocking to the Odeon at Queensgate. I’m thrilled because we work with partners such as Queensgate to attract people to the city centre and having a world-renowned cinema chain here is a major pull.
I can’t wait to experience the new silver screens for myself. I just need to check what’s showing – hopefully a nice festive favourite like ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’.