Pride of Place is 'once in a generation opportunity'

In September 2025, the government awarded Peterborough £40m through its Pride in Place programme to help regenerate two of the city's most deprived areas.

Under the scheme, the combined neighbourhoods of Paston, Gunthorpe and Welland - and Orton Malborne and Orton Goldhay - will both receive up to £2m a year over the next decade.

What could the cash mean for the communities it will transform?

The government is investing in 169 areas across England, each receiving up to £2m a year for 10 years. A further 95 places will receive a one-off payment of £1.5m.

It says funding proposals must be shaped by locals, and volunteer board members, chosen by Peterborough City Council, will help decide how funding is spent and identify priorities.

Two community champions - Jonathan Jelley MBE and Ejaz Moghul - were chosen to lead independent boards tasked with regenerating the neighbourhoods.

Jelley described the funding as a "once in a generation opportunity" for communities that had felt overlooked, and said residents should be at the centre of decisions about the area's future.

"It's a 10-year opportunity to give the residents of Paston, Gunthorpe and Welland, the investment, voice, and confidence to create the future they want for themselves," he said.

Jelley said early feedback from Gunthorpe, Paston and Walton residents suggested they wanted cleaner, safer neighbourhoods, better facilities and stronger community connections.

He said more engagement was needed before any major spending decisions were made.

"We need at some point to go back from this early dialogue and check back with the residents that we've heard correctly and that we've got the right ideas before we start pinning investments to those things," he said.

"I know 10 years is a long time, but we absolutely need to make sure that the actions we take in this period have longevity."

Jelley said some residents were sceptical about government-funded initiatives and there was a wider lack of trust in public institutions.

He said one of the programme's challenges would be demonstrating progress through smaller improvements that people could see.

"The only way you mitigate it [distrust], is to listen to people, understand the priorities, identify some short term quick wins that we could actually do something about very quickly," he said.

"When we deliver the park bench, when we clean up an area, when we do the things that people want quickly, they begin to believe something might be different this time."

He also pointed to the example of a local resident who had joined the board after previously feeling frustrated about conditions in the area, describing it as the kind of community involvement he hoped to encourage.

Jelley said: "This is about us being in the deepest roots of those communities using all networks and channels available to reach as many people as we can.

"We've got a government set target, a minimum of reaching 10% by the end of November.

"In my area, Paston, Gunthorpe, and Welland, there's something like 12,500 residents. So if you do the maths, we need to reach 1,200 people who have to have engaged with our programme.

"We're making very good progress towards that, and I'm very confident we will not only meet that, we will excel it."

Andrew Pakes, Labour MP for Peterborough, described the investment as a "game changer" for some of the city's most deprived communities.

Shabina Qayyum, leader of Peterborough City Council, said governance arrangements were being finalised so funding could be released quickly and residents could begin to see improvements.

Paul Bristow, Conservative mayor of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, welcomed the investment but said it was important the funding was used effectively.

Do you have a story suggestion for Peterborough? Contact us below.

Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.