1969: For many years the council had been under pressure to do something about the housing in Eastgate. 'Disgrace' and 'slums' had been words used to describe the area, so many readers would have been relieved when they read in this day's Peterborough Evening Telegraph reports that Eastgate was to be demolished and completely rebuilt by the city council at a cost of at least £2.25 million. It also reported the council's promise that it should not cost the ratepayers anything! In all, 200 houses in what it called 'this twilight area' would be demolished and replaced by 300 new homes. The council, it said, hoped to make a start on the project in about eighteen months and have it completed within five years. Less than two months later, the Peterborough Advertiser was reporting that a survey regarding this development scheme had revealed that many elderly residents were unwilling to leave their homes. Eighteen months later, the government approved the scheme and the Minister of the Environment confirmed compulsory purchase orders for various properties in the area. On 4 September 1972, the mayor of Peterborough, Mr Roy Topley, finally 'lifted the first sod' of the redevelopment plan.

Taken from The Peterborough Book of Days by Brian Jones, The History Press, 2014.