The plans are still at an early stage
A Peterborough City Council cabinet member has suggested the Embankment could become home to a state-of-the-art youth activity hub as part of plans to redevelop the city centre.
Councillor Mohammed Jamil revealed the ambitious initiative on the council’s monthly ‘Ask the Cabinet’ podcast while discussing the new Cygnet Bridge with Council Leader Shabina Qayyum.
“We’re looking at a Youth Zone to go on the Embankment to go with the Lido and the new swimming pool,” Cllr Jamil said.
Cllr Jamil said the new purpose-built hub would be a “very innovative” space that would be “very successful in attracting youths and trying to keep them off the streets”. The councillor added: “They’ve set these things up in places like Wigan, Bolton and East London.”
The existing Youth Zones mentioned by Cllr Jamil are expansive, state-of-the-art facilities developed by OnSide, a national youth charity.
According to its website, the charity’s aim is to “build a network of state-of-the-art, multimillion-pound youth centres in the UK’s most disadvantaged areas [that] are incredible spaces filled with energy, inspiration and highly skilled youth workers who truly believe in young people”.
OnSide’s Youth Zone in Wigan town centre boasts 15 dedicated areas, including four 40-metre floodlit football pitches, an art room, music room, and climbing wall. It is open to all young people across the town aged from 8 to 19 (up to 25 with additional needs). Cllr Jamil explained that “different youth zones are different in different places”.
The Youth Zone in East London typically offers 20 activities, including fitness, dance, arts, music, media, self-improvement, and sport. A four-court sports hall offers facilities for badminton, football, netball, and basketball, as well as a separate climbing wall.
Elsewhere there is a fitness suite with the latest gym equipment, an outdoor kick pitch, and a kitchen and café area selling healthy food and drink. Dedicated areas for dance, music, film, and multi-media, arts and crafts, gaming and DJ-ing, martial arts, and boxing facilities also feature.
Speculating on how a Youth Zone specific to Peterborough would look, Cllr Jamil said: “It could be computers, it could be employment skills, it could be a whole host of things that youth are interested in.
“We’re just looking to see what the concepts are around the country. Once we’ve sat down and said ‘this is the model we want’ then we’ll let [people] know.”
The Councillor, who is also Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Governance and Deputy Leader of the Labour Group, acknowledged that the plans are still in the early stages.
“We’re still at the infancy stage of doing it and it’s a concept for us,” he said, “but we’re very serious as an administration about getting this done.”
Adding newly constructed buildings to the city centre would require funding. “We’re looking to secure funding to be able to put that on the Embankment,” he said. “We [the council] would have to fund some of it but we are actively looking to make sure that it happens.”



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