Extra £1m needed for climbing tower in doubt

A request for an additional £1.07m to fund a city's new climbing tower is in doubt after council officers recommended the cash be spent elsewhere.

Nene Park Trust submitted revised plans in July for a £6m Lakeside Activity Centre featuring a 22m (72ft) climbing tower.

However, a report due before Peterborough City Council's cabinet on Thursday said the proposed activity wall at Ferry Meadows should not receive additional Towns Fund money at this stage, although it could be reconsidered "if anything changed".

Adrian Oates, director of development and partnerships at Nene Park Trust, said the charity was "very concerned and disappointed" by the proposal.

"We are now trying to find out why this decision has been made without the usual consultation, and why our project has been left out at this late stage when it had previously been recommended to receive this funding," he added.

He said the business case for the centre was "robust" and offered "exceptional value for money".

In the council report, officers said the scheme would deliver leisure and tourism benefits and noted that Nene Park Trust had committed some of its own reserves to the project.

However, it said there were concerns over "cost certainty, remaining funding gap, financial sustainability and deliverability relative to the size of the additional request".

It came as the authority was deciding how to redistribute £4.5m of Towns Fund cash made available following the sale of two regeneration assets: the former TK Maxx/New Look building on Bridge Street and the Goods Shed at Fletton Quays.

The climbing centre is ranked last among six projects seeking a share of the funding.

The station quarter regeneration project was top of the list.

It requested £1.5m after going over budget due to a combination of international events and the discovery of more than 60 skeletons beneath Queensgate roundabout.

The £8.3m Cygnet Bridge project, linking Fletton Quays and the Embankment, is next in line, with officers recommending a £1m allocation towards landscaping, infrastructure, lighting and CCTV.

Three other projects are also recommended for additional funding: £1.24m for Inspire Education Group's Centre for Green Technology, £350,000 for Central Library and £250,000 for Peterscourt.

The climbing wall project has already been scaled back from plans approved in 2021 for a 34m (110ft) Olympic-standard climbing wall.

The revised proposal would deliver a smaller facility focused on bouldering, with a reduced-height climbing tower.

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