Local Elections: Getting our city moving is vital

Simon Edens, chair of Peterborough and Fenland Liberal Democrats

I’m delighted to get the chance to write this week’s column as it gives me the chance to talk about an issue that matters to so many people in and around our city, writes Simon Edens, chair of Peterborough and Fenland Liberal Democrats.

As Chair of Peterborough and Fenland Liberal Democrats, I’m proud of what Liberal Democrat councillors do to serve the communities they represent.

One of our priorities is improving local transport and making it greener and more sustainable and reliable.

You can see full details of this, and other policies, in our Eight Point Plan for Peterborough here www.peterboroughlibdems.org.uk/manifesto.

I’m going to focus on public transport but we also want to see facilities for cyclists and pedestrians significantly improved across Peterborough.Given that transport accounts for almost 40% of Peterborough’s carbon emissions, the Liberal Democrats believe that an affordable, reliable, and efficient public transport service is vital to sustaining our city’s physical and economic growth.

By investing in public transport, we will ease congestion on our roads and cut emissions without limiting people’s opportunity to travel.Given the rising concern about poor air quality the Liberal Democrats believe that it is important that we cut harmful emissions from traffic as soon as possible. The Lib Dems will increase investment in our bus network to ensure that more residents have access to a reliable, regular, and environmentally friendly bus service.In the urban area we will improve the frequency of evening and Sunday buses and protect and improve the network of buses subsidised by the council.

In rural areas we will examine options for ensuring that residents have access to some form of public transport, whether a scheduled or a ‘demand responsive’ service.

We believe both the Combined Authority Mayor and Peterborough City Council have a responsibility to make public transport more accessible by reducing and simplifying fares and providing fast and frequent bus services.

Liberal Democrat city councillors will lobby the Department for Transport to help fund new railway stations in the north and south of Peterborough to make it easier for residents to use the railway and cut traffic travelling through the city centre to the railway station. Tories argue it can't be done but Lib Dems in Cambridge have proved it can and that city is on course to have two new railway stations.

Conservatives initially blocked the Combined Authority Local Transport Plan, which is key to delivering better bus services across Cambridgeshire.

For over a year now, they have argued that there is a secret plan by the Combined Authority Mayor to introduce congestion charging in Peterborough. There is one good reason why congestion charging hasn't happened in Peterborough, it’s because no such plan ever existed!

Likewise , claims that Council tax will rise massively to pay for new bus services are also a gross distortion. For a band D property, the tiny portion of council tax which goes to the Combined Authority Mayor will see an increase but for that Peterborough will see a new £1 concessionary fare for all young people under 25 and big improvements in bus services including the introduction of a new circular cross-city route. And most Peterborough properties are in Band A or B, so they will see only a small fraction of this increase.

Getting our city moving is vital to its future and Liberal Democrat councillors will always do what’s needed to make Peterborough an even better place to live, work, and relax.