Climbing centre put on hold after funding setback

Plans for a £6m climbing and activity centre have been put on hold after a council rejected a bid for additional funding.

Nene Park Trust said it was "hugely disappointed" and would explore "every option" to find the additional £1m needed for the Lakeside Activity Centre at Ferry Meadows in Peterborough.

The city council voted on Thursday to award funding to other projects, including the station quarter regeneration and a new river bridge.

Numan Ali Iqbal, cabinet member for growth and regeneration at Peterborough City Council, said the project posed a "financial and delivery risk" even if it were awarded another £1m.

"The activity wall project would provide leisure and visitor benefits, and Nene Park Trust has committed some reserves," he said.

But he explained that an assessment completed by Peterborough City Council officers identified "concerns over cost certainty, remaining funding gap, financial sustainability and deliverability relative to the size of the additional request".

Adrian Oates, director of development and partnerships for Nene Park Trust, said: "We're hugely disappointed by the council's decision."

He said the £1m being requested was the "final piece of the jigsaw" for the project, which had already secured investment from the trust and the Towns Fund regeneration programme.

"We've worked hard to redesign it at a much lower cost, secured an experienced operating partner and committed significant investment of our own," he said.

Nene Park Trust submitted scaled-back plans for the activity centre in July, which featured a 22-metre (72ft) outdoor climbing tower, indoor roped climbing, bouldering, a cafe, a children's play area and accessible changing rooms.

It had initially planned to build an Olympic-size 34m-tall (110ft) climbing wall, but this was deemed unviable because of the cost.

Peterborough City Council had already committed £1.45m from the Towns Fund towards the project.

On 1 October, the council's cabinet voted to allocate additional funding to five other projects.

That included £1.5m for Peterborough's Station Quarter, which went over budget after the discovery of more than 60 skeletons beneath Queensgate roundabout.

A project to build Cygnet Bridge over the River Nene, which has also gone over budget, was allocated £1m.

Money was also awarded to Peterborough Central Library, Peterscourt, a business incubator, and the green technology centre.

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