Ravensthorpe, Netherton & Westwood Conservatives

14/09/2026

♻️ FREE BULKY WASTE COLLECTION – NOW AT 2 LOCATIONS
Put the date in your diary – Saturday, 13 February 2027!

After listening to residents who raised concerns about the original location, Cllr Gul Nawaz and I have decided to provide two collection locations to make the free bulky waste service more accessible and convenient for local residents.

📍 Lutton Grove: Westwood 10:00am–11:55am

📍 Willonholt: Ravensthorpe 12:05pm–2:00pm

This is a great opportunity to dispose of unwanted bulky household items free of charge and responsibly.

Please save the date, share with your neighbours, friends and family, and help us keep our neighbourhoods cleaner, greener and free from fly-tipping.

Please don’t fly-tip – use the FREE collection!

09/09/2026

🌿 SHRUB & HEDGE MAINTENANCE UPDATE – SUMMER CUTTING POLICY 🌿

I’ve received an update from Peterborough City Council regarding shrub and hedge maintenance across the ward.

During the summer growing season, the Council will only carry out cutting where there is a genuine and immediate health and safety concern — for example where vegetation is:

• Significantly blocking pavements or pedestrian routes
• Affecting visibility at junctions
• Creating risks for cyclists or motorists
• Obscuring road signs or important sight lines

Minor encroachment or issues that are mainly about appearance will generally not be dealt with during the summer.

The Council has advised that all shrub beds and hedges are scheduled for a full maintenance cut during the winter programme, normally between October and February.

📅 Our ward is currently scheduled for its annual cutback around November this year.

The Council maintains more than 750,000m² of shrub beds across Peterborough and says it has to prioritise its available resources towards locations presenting the greatest safety risks.

I appreciate that overgrown shrubs and hedges can be frustrating for residents, and I will continue to raise locations where there is a genuine safety concern.

If you are aware of an area where overgrowth is causing a serious obstruction or visibility issue, please send me the location and, where possible, a photograph so I can raise it with the Council.

05/09/2026

COUNCILLORS’ REPORT – OUT IN OUR COMMUNITIES, REPORTING ISSUES & DEMANDING ACTION

This Saturday afternoon, Cllr Gul Nawaz and Cllr Raja Sabeel Ahmed were out across Willonholt, Swanspool, Sandford and Smallwood, checking local problem areas and reporting issues that need attention.

We reported:

Fly-tipping along the walkway in Sandford.

Tree stumps in Sandford that need removing.

Overgrown hedges in Swanspool, affecting visibility, restricting access for mobility scooters and blocking the footpath.

Fly-tipping in Swanspool, near the substation.

Fly-tipping in Willonholt.

Highways barriers in Smallwood that have been left in place for some time and now need to be removed.

Residents deserve clean, safe and accessible neighbourhoods. We will continue to be visible, active and persistent in raising these issues and pressing the relevant services to take action.

We will keep standing up for our communities and making sure local concerns are not ignored.

02/09/2026

FREE BULKY WASTE COLLECTION – WESTWOOD & RAVENSTHORPE

A FREE Bulky Waste Collection will take place on Saturday 13 February 2027, from 10am to 2pm at Lutton Grove, giving residents in Westwood and Ravensthorpe a convenient opportunity to dispose of unwanted bulky household items responsibly.

We have chosen Lutton Grove because we believe it provides a convenient central location connecting Westwood and Ravensthorpe, helping make the service as accessible as possible for residents from both communities.

We appreciate that February may feel some way off, and we apologise for the later date. This was the earliest available slot we were able to secure. Rather than miss the opportunity, we wanted to make sure local residents still had access to this free service.

The collection will help residents dispose of unwanted items responsibly, reduce fly-tipping and support our efforts to keep the local area clean and tidy.

Residents should bring suitable bulky household items directly to the collection vehicles and follow the instructions of the operatives on site. Please note that ashes, soil, bricks, rubble, stone, gravel, concrete, sand, asbestos, oil, paint, tyres and trade waste cannot be accepted.

Please don’t fly-tip — use the free collection service.

Saturday 13 February 2027

10am–2pm | Lutton Grove

29/08/2026

Ravensthorpe Ward to Benefit from Free Bulky Waste Collections

This is really good news for residents, especially as fly-tipping and litter have been major issues in Ravensthorpe Ward.

Myself and Cllr Gul Nawaz regularly report fly-tipping, litter and other environmental issues, and we continue to work hard to help keep our area clean. We organise and take part in community litter picks, carry out regular ward walkabouts, and report issues on a daily basis.

A big thank you to my colleaguea Cllr Alex Rafiq for his hard work and persistence in pushing for free bulky waste collections across Peterborough. 👏🏽

I’m very pleased that Ravensthorpe Ward will also benefit from this initiative. Making it easier for residents to dispose of bulky waste responsibly should help support our ongoing work to tackle fly-tipping and keep our streets and neighbourhoods cleaner. 💙

I would also like to thank all the residents and volunteers who regularly take part in litter picks, report problems and help look after our community. Keeping Ravensthorpe clean is a shared effort, and your support makes a real difference.

We will continue to be out and about in the ward, listening to residents, reporting issues and doing everything we can to make Ravensthorpe a cleaner and better place for everyone. ♻️🧹

⭐️ Free Bulky Waste Collections City Wide ⭐️

Next week there will be an announcement From Peterborough City Council that Free Bulky waste collections will take place in all wards in Peterborough-

This will mean areas like Gunthorpe & Werrington will have there own collection points for Residents to use.

I have been working hard behind the scenes to push for this to happen on the request of residents 💙

See the below question which I submitted at the last council meeting back July-

Dear Councillor Rafiq,

Further to my previous email, I wish to inform you that the Deputy Monitoring Officer has now reviewed your questions.

Your question below has been accepted and will be put to the relevant Cabinet Member at Full Council on 29th July.

“In the Run Up to the local elections it was publicised in the Labour City wide leaflet that One of the key pledges was to provide Free Bulky Waste Collections across the City, Currently there are around 48 slots per year for Councillors across the City to book a Free Bulky Waste Collection for residents 24 of which are taken by our Two Parish Councils who’s collections funded by the Precept charge in the residents council tax, This doesn’t leave many spaces for the rest of us councillors to book slots for our residents.”

I also sent this earlier today at 12:04 today just hours before this was announced.
(I wasn’t going to let this go unanswered)

HI Adrian, Shabina,

I hope you are keeping well, Do we have any updates on Aragon being able to to get the extra budget for weekend hours/costs to double our capacity of Free Bulky Waste collection slots from 48 to 96?

Specifically, any updates on the below from the previous email you sent?

“In transferring this group of staff, I have been made aware that there may be a need to implement a local agreement to enable them to claim overtime. We will progress this and keep you updated as to the outcome”

I will be looking at doing some PR around this next week with the view to submitting a motion at next Full Council as in my opinion its an absolute no brainer & something that was promised in Labours Manifesto pre-election so they should be the ones trying to implement this as opposed to me sending chaser emails.

Kind Regards

Cllr Alexander Rafiq

🔵 Ultimately this is a Success for hard working residents of Peterborough who Pay their Council tax.

I would like to thank the Council & officers for delivering on this 👏🏽

28/08/2026

🚨 Speeding and vehicle nuisance – action needed across West Town, Netherton and the wider West Town area

Residents have repeatedly raised serious concerns about speeding, dangerous driving, excessive revving and vehicles circulating through residential streets across West Town, Netherton and the wider West Town area.

This behaviour is not acceptable. It is causing significant disturbance and, more importantly, putting pedestrians, cyclists and other road users at risk.

Cambridgeshire Police have confirmed they are aware of the concerns, including reports around Thorpe Road, Longthorpe Road, Mayor’s Walk, Woodfield Road, Westwood Park Road, Atherstone Avenue, Ledbury Road and the wider West Town area.

Police are considering targeted patrols, intelligence gathering to identify vehicles involved and suitable locations for enforcement. Joint activity with Community Speed Watch is also planned.

I have made clear that residents expect these concerns to be taken seriously and that visible action is needed.

Please continue to report incidents through 101 or the police online reporting system. Where safe, provide registration numbers, vehicle descriptions and any photos or video footage.

Every report helps build the evidence needed to identify repeat offenders and target enforcement.

I will continue pressing for action and will keep residents updated.

20/08/2026

🧹 WEST TOWN STREET CLEANING UPDATE

Following concerns I raised about street cleanliness around Mayors Walk, Nicholls Avenue and the surrounding roads, I have received an update from the council’s street cleansing team.

They have confirmed that the area is cleaned on a regular basis, with mechanical sweeping and litter picking taking place every two weeks. Mayors Walk is also visited on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to litter pick council-maintained areas around the shops and empty bins.

An additional inspection and litter pick has now been carried out, particularly in areas where parked cars prevent sweepers from reaching the kerb.

Importantly, the council has also confirmed that an inspection will now take place after each visit by the street cleansing team, with any further action scheduled where necessary.

I will continue to monitor the area and raise residents’ concerns where standards need improving.

18/08/2026

✅ Moorfield Road, West Town – Resurfacing Completed

Cllr Gul Nawaz has been out inspecting the newly resurfaced Moorfield Road in West Town.

The road had been in a very poor condition for some time, and both Cllr Gul Nawaz and Cllr Raja Sabeel continued to push for the necessary resurfacing works to be carried out.

We are pleased to see that the work has now finally been completed, making the road safer and much better for local residents and road users.

A big thank you to everyone involved in getting this much-needed improvement delivered for the community.

16/07/2026

🚧 TEMPORARY OVERNIGHT ROAD CLOSURE – MAYORS WALK, SPITAL BRIDGE 🚧

Residents and motorists are advised that Mayors Walk at Spital Bridge will be temporarily closed to through traffic to allow essential frame and cover repair works to be completed.

📅 Thursday 20 August to Monday 24 August 2026
⏰ Overnight only: 7:00pm to 2:00am

The diversion route will be via:

➡️ Mayors Walk
➡️ Grange Road
➡️ Westfield Road
➡️ Bourges Boulevard
➡️ And vice versa

Closure signs and confirmed dates will be displayed locally. Please allow extra time for your journey and follow the signed diversion route.

For further information, contact First Call Traffic Management on 01707 244592.

Please share this information with anyone who may be affected.

Cllr Raja Sabeel Ahmed
Ravensthorpe Ward

15/07/2026

🏴 PROUD OF OUR ENGLAND FOOTBALL TEAM — YOU GAVE THE NATION EVERYTHING! 🏴⚽

Well done to the England football team for an incredible tournament. You played with courage, passion, discipline and determination, carrying the hopes of the entire country with pride.

The final result may not have gone our way, but reaching the semi-final and competing against the very best is a huge achievement. Every player fought for the badge, gave everything on the pitch and showed the true spirit of the Three Lions.

Hold your heads high. You have inspired millions, united the nation and made England proud.

This journey may be over, but the Three Lions will rise and roar again! 🦁🦁🦁👏