Section 5 of 5

Have your say before 19 October

The council has said the plan "will be updated following the consultation" — and that its vision statement will be written from what people say. Your response genuinely matters, especially if it is specific about your street or neighbourhood.

The essential links

Complete the survey Consultation page Read the full draft (PDF)

Survey closes 19 October 2026. The survey is online-only (Microsoft Forms). If you cannot use it, contact the council via the consultation page and ask for an accessible alternative — and tell them you had to ask.

What the survey actually asks

Based on the live form (checked 7 September 2026), the survey routes you as an individual or an organisation, then takes you through the same themes:

whether you agree with the draft plan's vision;
activities you know of that are already helping adaptation in Peterborough (open text — your chance to name groups doing good work);
which adaptation measures matter most to you;
interest in joining a steering group or receiving updates;
your preferred information channels;
how prepared you think households/businesses/your organisation are;
a rating grid of ~13 possible benefits of adaptation;
your experiences and priorities for flooding, heat and drought separately;
final comments on the plan.

The council says it takes "only a few minutes"; in practice an individual respondent faces roughly nineteen question screens including the rating grid, so give yourself ten minutes.

Making your experience count

Name your place. Say which estate, street or ward you mean (the draft maps risk ward-by-ward — use its language: Bretton, Dogsthorpe, Eastfield, Welland, the city centre, Fengate, Hampton, Ravensthorpe, Orton…). "The road flooded outside my house in 2021 and again this August" is worth more than "flooding is bad".
Separate what happened from what should happen. First describe the experience (heat indoors, water where it shouldn't be, the hosepipe ban, the smell after the storm), then the fix you want to see.
Ask for dates and names. "Who owns this action, when does it start, and how will you report progress each year?" — the draft itself recommends an officer, a steering group and annual public reports. Ask the final plan to commit to them.
Mention what you've noticed the council or others already do well — the survey explicitly wants to hear about existing good work.
If you respond for an organisation, note whether your organisation has been affected by extreme weather and whether it could help deliver adaptation (venues, volunteers, expertise).

Local organisations worth naming

The survey asks which organisations are already helping the city adapt. All of these are active and verifiable (checked September 2026):

Verified local organisations working on adaptation-related activity
Organisation	What it does (adaptation relevance)
PECT	Mini-forests and tree planting, community food growing (Dogsthorpe), Warm Homes energy advice — shade, drainage, resilience.
Nene Rivers Trust	Catchment restoration and education; hosts the Nene Valley Catchment Partnership — flood and drought resilience.
Nene Park Trust	~900 ha of riverside green space, flood meadows, net-zero commitment — natural cooling and flood storage.
The Green Backyard	Community growing garden on Oundle Road — food security and skills for a changing climate.
Project Abundance	Market garden and food-growing workshops at The Green Backyard — local food resilience.
Flourish Peterborough	Convenes the Peterborough Food Partnership — city food-system resilience.
Light Project — Garden House	Seven-day-a-week hub for people facing homelessness — natural partner for heatwave cooling provision.
FoodCycle Peterborough	Free weekly community meal from surplus food — venue and support network.
Council CRF community partners	~20 funded local hubs (churches, charities, community centres) — the ready-made network for cooling refuges.

Check opening hours before relying on any venue in an emergency. The council's Severe Weather Emergency Provision for rough sleepers already triggers on heat warnings, not just freezing nights.

What happens after you respond

The council will update the plan following the consultation and bring it forward for adoption. As of 7 September 2026 no results report date or adoption timetable is published — one of the things this report recommends you ask about. Worth knowing: this consultation was originally planned for January 2026 and launched eight months late, and the council's own scrutiny committee asked for it in November 2025 — so the final plan's governance (officer, steering group, annual reports) is what will determine whether the eight-month delay matters.

Sources

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