City MPs welcome £40m of regeneration funds

A city's MPs have welcomed £40m of government funding to support community regeneration and neighbourhood upgrades.

The Labour government has announced Peterborough will benefit from the Pride in Place programme to support deprived communities.

Two neighbourhoods are due to receive £2m each year for the next decade: the Paston, Gunthorpe and Welland area, and Orton Malborne and Goldhay on the edge of the city.

"This will be a significant boost for Peterborough," said city Labour MP Andrew Pakes.

He said he hoped there would be investment in community facilities and opportunities for young people and families.

"I want to hear from local people, charities, and businesses - how we can use this to improve Paston, Gunthorpe and the Welland," he said.

"These ideas will feed into the new neighbourhood steering group we are setting to give residents a say over how this money can improve the city."

Residents will be invited to join a neighbourhood board to decide how the money is spent, which could also be used to tackle littering or for building sports facilities.

Sam Carling, the Labour MP for North West Cambridgeshire, said: "This funding is a huge opportunity for Orton - giving our community the long-term support it needs to improve services, create more opportunities for young people, and invest in facilities that will make a real difference to daily life.

"What matters now is working together to put residents' voices at the centre, so the money is spent in ways that make a real and lasting difference to our community."

Peterborough City Council's Labour leader Shabina Qayyum also said: "By putting power into the hands of our residents, the government is enabling local people to decide how best to restore pride in the area they live."

The government investment will see 169 areas receive £2m every year for a decade, while a further 95 places will get a one-off payment of £1.5m.

Spending will only be approved if community groups and local organisations have been involved in deciding how the money will be spent, the government says.

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