Opposing View: Who can you trust to balance the books?

It will be a strange experience for me to attend the meeting as an opposition member, rather than presenting it, and to watch someone else take credit for the balanced budget which I had been responsible for until November last year.

You may have read stories in the press about the number of Councils across the country who have had to issue what are known as S.114 notices – usually described as “councils going bankrupt”.

Latest reports from the Local Government Association say that one in five councils are likely or very likely to be in this situation this year or the next.

Peterborough’s financial situation is very different.

The council was heading towards S.114 territory in 2021 with a predicted £27 Million gap in the budget. Councillor Wayne Fitzgerald responded by obtaining very experienced external advisers to assist in getting the council back into the black.

I remember well the significant challenges the council faced to get the budget to balance.

We had to make quick and unpopular decisions, such as closing the Key Theatre for a short time and cutting back on what had been optimistic spending plans on new buildings, roads and the like.

I spent many hours with opposition councillors going through the plans to be sure that the books balanced. All council departments had to find savings while protecting the vulnerable members of our community, but I was delighted in March 2022 to present a balanced budget to council.

What was extraordinary, however, was despite all the work to show opposition councillors why the savings were necessary, nearly all of them abstained or voted against the budget.

It was only thanks to the Conservative administration and the casting vote of theMayor that the budget was passed.

The following year, we had a projected overspend of just over £20 million to deal with. Another round of negotiations and planning, and some extraordinarily good work by officers again allowed me to present a balanced budget in March 2023. This time a sense of realism prevailed among opposition groups. There was only one vote against and it passed easily.

We had all done a good job, and this was recognised by the Local Government Chronicle Awards, where Peterborough was shortlisted as Most Improved Council 2023.

I was looking forward to my third budget – the council’s financial situation was stable, we had only to find savings of around £2 million , and while that would change as new demands came up, the tough work had been done and the sacrifices made to be financially sustainable.

The November change in administration hasn’t really had much of an impact on this year’s budget– the additional £4 million of costs that appeared during the year from inflation, social care payments, extra support for the homeless and in the ongoing effects of inflation were manageable.

I will be voting for this mostly Conservative budget this year, but what for the future?

Peterborough First haven’t introduced any new initiatives since they took over, and if you look at the last Cabinet meeting online they seemed to be more worried about reviewing community centres than discussing the final budget papers they are about to bring to full council.

You have to ask if a small group of councillors who seem to focus on very local issues, who have been against necessary development for economic growth, who have nothing new to bring to the table and who have a problem with loyalty really have the wherewithal to take the city’s finances forward.