Opposing View: Dark day for local democracy and decision making

For those of you interested, it will be item 7 on the cabinet meeting papers which you can find online.

I am well versed in the importance of the locality asset review, a year ago I was the cabinet member responsible for it. I also know some very hard decisions will need to be made. However, when Peterborough First were running the council administration, we made some major changes to how decisions were made on assets and slowed the process down enough so that we could fully understand the impact each community centre has on its part of the city. I spent much time personally visiting sites and talking to the users, living and breathing the spaces and understanding exactly what the buildings on this list were doing.

We also had greater transparency by sending fellow Councillors an update list on the progress being made on the review, to ensure political involvement in all decision making. I can imagine how many sites the new cabinet member has visited so far. I can tell that by the awful decision they are going to make at cabinet.

The Peterborough First administration worked on the basis that no community group should be made homeless, and the stop in time allowed us to look at getting the best out of each asset for the community and for the council. Some spaces were to be sold where they had no use, other spaces were to get funding to help make them fit for the future. We also ensured that every key decision would go to the cabinet member or the cabinet for approval -a vital part of democracy and decision making.

Where are we now and does the new administration hold dear the same values? If this decision is approved, from that point on it will now have nothing to do with the Labour administration and instead they will allow unelected officers do the dirty work. But remember this Peterborough: the administration cannot shirk the outcome. By approving this paper, they will be responsible for throwing away the ability to have any say in what happens next with our beloved and vital community spaces.

Yes, hard decisions will have to be made, and yes many may not be popular but all the more reason for some political accountability and oversight. The Labour Cabinet looks to be writing off a whole list of community assets to never be discussed by the cabinet itself or put to any political test ever again. If this is approved, it will be a dark day for democracy and a dark day for decision making.

Officers are all professionals and have worked hard through the council’s financial challenges: but they aren’t publicly accountable. Councillors elected by residents are held publicly accountable. We are elected by residents to represent their views. If we don’t, we would be unelected. This is a vital part of democracy. The decisions for our city should be democratically served, and there is a worrying trend of the tides turning with councillors having little to no input into decisions that affect this City. It’s not good enough.

A minority administration is one thing, but when elected members are left with no say at all, what sort of council are we? I want to assure you that as the shadow cabinet, and at the shadow cabinet meeting on this matter, I will be forthright in my view. Be assured, we are elected to serve the public and we will continue to fight for transparency and public accountability. Lets hope our voice is heard loud and clear and the administration reverses this terrible decision.