Section 2 of 5
The draft plan
What the council is actually proposing: an evidence base, roughly eighty scored actions across the three hazards, and a proposed governance structure — but, as yet, no committed budget to deliver it.
What kind of document it is
The draft was written by consultants SLR under a £100,000 grant from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (allocated via the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority), with an evidence base developed jointly with neighbouring authorities. It is not a planning document: if adopted, it becomes a corporate strategy, setting out the council's approach and a menu of measures with named lead organisations. The council says it "will be updated following the consultation and will be considered for adoption" — consultation page, and it was previously considered by the Economy, Inclusive Growth and Environment Scrutiny Committee in November 2025. Read the full draft: Appendix 1 report (PDF, large).
How the evidence was built
The analysis uses the SSP5-8.5 high-warming scenario (consistent with at least 2 °C of global warming by 2050 and ~4 °C by 2100), at the 50th percentile of model outputs — a deliberately precautionary "reasonable worst case" approach. Climate projections came from SLR's ClimSystems data, mapped ward-by-ward onto local assets, deprivation, land use and conservation data, and shown on an interactive platform (SimAnalytica "Compass: Climate"). Risks were scored (likelihood × consequence × exposure × sensitivity), and each proposed action was scored for risk reduction, feasibility, cost and whether it is a "low-regrets" measure.
The draft also maps where risk and deprivation overlap: the most deprived neighbourhoods — parts of Central, East, Dogsthorpe, Ravensthorpe, Bretton and Orton Longueville — are in or near the areas projected for the worst flooding and heat. That spatial honesty is one of the document's strengths.
Flooding
Peterborough floods from the River Nene (fluvial), from overwhelmed urban drains (surface water), and — in the Fens around the city — from pumped drainage failure. Major recorded events include 1947, 1978, 1998 and July 2021. The draft's zone maps name the areas of greatest projected exposure: Welland, Dogsthorpe North, Rivergate, Boongate–Eastfield, Eastgate/Gladstone and the Eastgate/Fengate fringe, plus critical assets such as substations and Anglian Water's treatment works near Flag Fen.
Top-scoring measures include: real-time flood alert and responder communications; sensor-based "smart" drainage maintenance; wetland and green-infrastructure expansion with the Nene Rivers Trust, Anglian Water and the Nene Valley Catchment Partnership; and urban retention basins ("water plazas"). Notably, Anglian Water has already delivered a ~£10 million storm-capacity upgrade at Flag Fen Water Recycling Centre (two storm tanks, completed 2025) that directly reduces sewage-related flood risk as the city grows — an example of adaptation happening ahead of the plan.
Context the draft does not dwell on: the Environment Agency's 2021–27 capital programme lists no new-build Nene flood-defence scheme for Peterborough, though national flood investment is rising (£5.2bn 2021–27, £10.5bn to 2036). The EA is developing a catchment-wide Nene Water Management Strategy (engagement active from August 2026) that the city's plan should feed into.
Extreme heat
Heat risk is city-wide but worst in dense, paved, low-canopy areas — the draft names the city centre, Millfield, Eastfield, Fengate, Hampton, Bretton and parts of Orton. Projected impacts include more heat-related illness and deaths among older and vulnerable residents, strain on health and social care, transport failures (overhead lines and rails), higher cooling-energy demand, and greater risk to people sleeping rough.
Top measures: heatwave action plans with Met Office alerts and checks on isolated people; a city-wide "heatwave incident command" linking ambulance and hospital capacity; prioritised care for the elderly and children; cooling centres; and — in the "Enhance Natural Systems" goal — tree corridors and green space targeted at low-canopy, high-deprivation areas, which is exactly where the draft's own mapping says heat will bite hardest. The plan notes the city's 2019 overhead-line failure and rising cooling-degree days (59.8 today, ~112 by 2040): more air-conditioning demand on a grid that, nationally, issued its first-ever summer electricity margin notices in June–July 2026.
Drought and water
Peterborough sits in one of England's most water-stressed regions. Its supply comes entirely from Anglian Water's "Ruthamford North" zone — surface water stored in Rutland Water and Pitsford, refilled from the Nene and Welland in winter. The draft's drought measures span water efficiency and rainwater harvesting, support for farmers (cover crops, agroforestry, drip irrigation), community food growing, habitat corridors and riparian shade planting along the Nene, and volunteer biodiversity monitoring.
This section of the draft reads as the least developed. Its treatment of supply-side risk leans on Anglian Water — whose leakage fell only 3.9% against a 16.4% target in the last price period, and whose bills rise £140 (+29%) by 2030 under the AMP8 settlement. The proposed Fens Reservoir near Chatteris will not supply Peterborough (it serves other zones); and the draft's own measure list includes energy-intensive options such as desalination, flagged by its own scoring as low priority.
People, homes and infrastructure
"Protect People" covers emergency planning, health and social care resilience, homelessness (heat and cold), and support for low-income households to recover and prepare. The housing angle is thinner: the draft mentions improving insulation and cooling in care homes and supporting retrofit, but its measures for existing private rented and social homes are mostly aspirations. Context worth knowing: 24.5% of Peterborough households (~20,700) rent privately; the council has owned no council housing since the 2004 large-scale transfer to Cross Keys Homes (~13,000 homes today); and the city's levers over private rented conditions are selective licensing (2024–29) and a new citywide additional HMO licensing scheme (from January 2026).
Governance and funding as proposed
The draft proposes, but does not establish:
- a check on staffing, potentially including a dedicated Climate Change Adaptation Project Manager (possibly part-time or shared between councils);
- an internal council taskforce and a Multi-Agency Climate Adaptation Steering Group (NHS, emergency services, planning, housing, utilities);
- KPIs — cost of flood events, heat-related hospital admissions, delivery status of actions — with annual public progress updates and a formal review at least every five years.
On money, the draft is candid: "financial constraints could limit the pace and scale of dedicated climate adaptation initiatives", and it lists grant pots to bid for (flood and coastal resilience programmes, Defra's Plan for Water, Warm Homes funds and others), Combined Authority co-funding, partnership funding, and community small grants. What it does not contain is a council budget line, a named owner with a start date, or a commitment to fund the officer and steering group it recommends.