POSH enough? Peterborough 14 Jun 13

There’s not a lot to link Cambridge and Peterborough. There’s a slow but not unpleasant railway line via the fens and there’s recent history of them being joined in local government but little else.

What we now know of Cambridgeshire used to include Peterborough. In 1965 the original county joined with the Isle of Ely and then in 1972 the Soke of Peterborough and Huntingdonshire were also added. But in 1998 Peterborough left to become an independent unitary authority leaving the Cambridgeshire which we’ve got today.

It’s a very different city. There’s no university of course, Peterborough is more of a working town, and perhaps the centre has been ravaged too much by developers. But it has its attractions and different doesn’t mean inferior, just different.

The developers have given the city a big shopping centre and because parking charges are much lower than they are in Cambridge many people go there to shop. There’s a mainline station which connects north as well as south and right next to it there’s the Great Northern Hotel where I used to get breakfast before taking a morning train to Newcastle.

But it’s not just shopping. There’s an impressive cathedral, you get the best view of this from the Frank Perkins Parkway, and just down the road there’s traffic-free Bridge Street and half way along that are the offices of Peterborough City Council at the Town Hall.

It’s not a grand city hall like Birmingham or Bradford and it doesn’t have the fine position of Shire Hall in Cambridge but it’s nonetheless typical of the civic buildings of its era which made statements about the strengths of the communities in which they stood.

I was in the Town Hall on Friday morning. I went to the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (shadow) Local Transport Board.

The meeting was due to start at 0900 so I reckoned to get in early and beat the Peterborough rush hour and then to enjoy a leisurely breakfast before it. Google Maps obliged by showing me where to park and locating a convenient Costa.

The car park was unmanned but offered me the opportunity to register and pay by mobile. Not so bad this time, last time I did it was in January and it’s not too pleasant trying to follow computer generated instructions when its sub-zero and sleeting. After some toing and froing and complementary text messages I successfully agreed the payment of £8 for 4 hours parking and was comforted by the computer telling me it would be quicker next time.

Then it was a short walk and it was a perfect world: Costa right next door to the Town Hall. And if I’d wanted there was a Starbucks in one direction (I wouldn’t) and an L4P in the other (I would). So a quick croissant and an Americano and I was ready for my meeting.

If you don’t go to a place you form impressions which are at best second-hand and anyway incomplete. From Cambridge any other city of similar size is going to look less exciting and this is unfortunately flavoured by news reports regarding the EDL and such like. But down on the ground most places have their advantages and to give it its due Peterborough has its share. It’s not just shopping centres and football rivalry. It’s also got a heritage.