'Youth zone' to receive half of £2.5m Govt funding for Peterborough

Peterborough’s new ‘youth zone’ will receive the lion’s share of a £2.5m Government grant allocated to the city for projects which promote its “pride in place”.

The youth zone, which Peterborough City Council (PCC) says will be an “inspirational hub of energy and support”, has been assigned £1.25m of the funding by the Council alongside the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA).

The creation of a youth zone follows a drop in the number of centres and clubs in Peterborough from six in 2010/11 to two in 2018/19.

PCC is yet to confirm the location of the youth zone, but has previously revealed a shortlist of possible spots and said it will work alongside the young people’s charity OnSide to deliver the project.

It has also said it will provide “state-of-the-art facilities” where classes and activities that promote informal learning and life skills will be provided for children and teenagers.

A Council report says: “Youth Zones aren’t youth centres as you may know them.

“These are inspirational hubs of energy and support packed with state-of-the-art facilities.

"They’re a message to young people that someone really believes in them and has invested in their future.”

The money comes from the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) which “succeeds the old EU structural funds” while being “unshackled” by their restrictions.

At a glance, Peterborough’s share of the funds will go towards:

Youth Zone for Peterborough - £1,255,000 Peterborough Digital Incubator - £309,000 Peterborough Cultural Alliance - £265,000 CPCA Skills - £254,562 Lincoln Road Regeneration - £150,000 Local Resilience: Flood and Climate Risks - £100,000 Programme management split between PCC and CPCA - £100,000 Community Carbon Literacy - £87,000 CPCA Fly Tipping - £5,000

Most of these projects will also benefit from other pots of funding; for instance, widening footpaths on Lincoln Road and adding cycle parking will cost £3.4m while building the youth zone will cost upwards of £10m.

The ‘digital incubator’, which will receive the next-biggest portion of the funding, is a support programme for students and entrepreneurs setting up businesses with a digital specialism, PCC says, which will be delivered online.

Networking events, workshops and seminars will also take place at ARU Peterborough’s ‘Living Lab’ which will be built this year on the Regional Pool Car Park and at The Vine, which is also an ongoing PCC project.

“Carbon literacy” training about climate change, meanwhile, will be offered to schools, businesses, community groups, charities, public sector organisations and Parish Councils, while the 'cultural alliance' will be made up of events, installations and touring visits.

PCC’s Cabinet agreed this week to endorse the way the money has been allocated.

The report they were presented with makes reference to the funding being “brought in to replace EU funding for regional projects” with the aim of giving “local leaders a greater say in how money is spent”.

Across the UK, £2.6bn is available from the UKSPF for the period April 2022 to March 2025.

From 2014 to 2020, when the UK officially left the EU, the UK received £15.3bn (roughly £2.4bn a year) from the EU’s Structural and Investment funds.

Other EU funds were also available, though, and on average the UK received £5.6bn per year from the EU between 2010 and 2018.