Opposing View: Missed opportunities

We are always grateful to them for providing us with security and protecting our nation and its values, a role that is more critical than ever before in these uncertain times.

Last week’s city council meeting saw a democratic question asked of the Labour administration… should they continue to run our council, or should we go for a change?

Meetings such as these also present an opportunity to review the past year’s performance. So, to many this was not a vote of no confidence, but more like an annual AGM. I voted for the motion to have a change as I felt there had been little to no progress made in the city and projects started during our administration had been either shelved or were moving at a very slow pace. In the process, residents are paying the price. Furthermore, where there have been opportunities presented, they have been missed through lack of vision or poor understanding.

Devolution (local government reorganisation) was and is one of those opportunities, where we had a perfect opportunity to maximise the benefits to Peterborough based on the stated criteria… deprivation, skilled employment, training/education, culture and area synergies. In my view, an ideal proposal would be a merger with Huntingdon and St Neots along the A1 corridor. This would give us access to the Cambridge Silicon Valley and pharmaceutical industries uplifting growth for our city and increasing wages per capita. Our combined authority mayor is working on improving transport links and with Station Quarter on the horizon this would have been a perfect time to change the lives of our residents for better, forever.

Unfortunately, with no vision or understanding of this issue by the Labour administration, which made no contribution to this process, we have been placed together with Fenland towns such as Wisbech and March with the remainder of the county as the proposed second unitary authority. This will result in more deprivation for Peterborough and less growth opportunities.

Consultation is now open, and I would urge residents to make maximum representation on this to ensure that Peterborough does not miss out on future growth.

On the topic of growth, over the last few years most of our capital investment has come from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority and as devolution takes place more and more funding will be available from this source. Having a seat on the top table and ensuring Peterborough gets its maximum share of the investment is crucial.

I was astonished therefore to find that the Labour administration declined the offer of the deputy mayor role from the Conservative mayor, putting politics before our city and people. It is always for this very reason we ask our residents to vote for Peterborough First Independents. We will always work in the best interests of residents with no political pressure from above or elsewhere.

Our city (approx. population 230,000) must have a swimming pool. About 18 months ago, when the policy of demolishing the regional pool came to the Cabinet we asked for a business plan for a new one, to be presented to the Cabinet in June 2024. To this day no business case has been presented, and in fact this administration does not even know what kind of pool it wants, 50m or 25m, never mind delivering one.

Creating a high skilled workforce, attracting skilled industries, delivering adequate infrastructure and increasing city centre footfall are key elements for the prosperity of any city. Our administration prepared a city centre and tourism strategy for Peterborough designed to increase footfall. Again, a year has passed, and no progress has been made.

Hilton Hotel: it was a tragedy this council loaned £15m to a private investor, who played casino with taxpayers’ money and went bankrupt. I made it clear 18 months ago that building and running hotels is a specialised commercial function and beyond the capability of our council. We would sell the hotel and concentrate on core services, protecting the vulnerable and facilitating sustainable growth. Another example of no progress leading to deterioration of the building while piling up costs in security; this administration hasn’t been able to even put up a sale board on the property.

In summary we feel that in the 12 months since they took over, neither the leader nor the Cabinet have been able to properly grasp their remit or individual portfolio responsibilities; you need only to look at the council meeting from last week to see they were unable to answer any questions on council business, either from the public or members, and too often the reply is ‘we will get officers to send you an answer’.

Now that the Labour administration is likely to be running the council until next May’s elections, we strongly recommend they learn from their mistakes over the past year and start afresh by focusing on core priorities such as protecting the vulnerable, growth, education and environment.

We will work collaboratively to get Peterborough moving again. At the same time, we will continue to scrutinise all their policies and hold them to account as an effective opposition.