It’s been quite a year for the Green Party locally, regionally and nationally. After last week's elections we have increased our numbers of councillors across the country to 859 . We are now in control of over 40 councils and leading the way, writes Green Party group’s Nicola Day.

Congratulations to Paul Bristow for becoming the next Mayor of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough, and well done to our Green party Mayoral Candidate Bob Ensch. Bob did a great job representing our progressive policies on environmental and social justice.

Paul Bristow promised lower council taxes. It will be interesting to see how he implements this. Cash-strapped councils such as Peterborough, are struggling to fund services because of government austerity measures. Many cities including Peterborough have had little choice but to raise council tax. Will Paul pull finances from the Combined Authority to enable his pledges to be met? Is that even allowed?

Paul pledged to have a football stadium built on the Embankment. The Embankment is the last large remaining green/blue space in our city. It is nestled amid many flats with residents who don't have gardens. As Fletton Quays develops this will be a space that needs some sensitive regeneration, however as greens we are totally opposed to it being concreted over with a stadium and car parks. We believe in increasing green space, not building all over it. What are his plans for the athletics stadium? The Tory run Peterborough City Council appeared not to factor this into their plans when they were on a similar stadium building mission a couple of years ago. All sports are important, and hopefully Paul will reflect on how many hundreds of local youngsters use the athletics facility.

placeholder image — Peterborough Green Group’s Nicola Day

Peterborough people are acutely aware of the Hilton Hotel fiasco. This was a Conservative led plan to loan money to a developer to build a hotel. They went bankrupt and now the council are left with the problem of trying to get the hotel built, and hopefully sold. The fiasco should never have happened. We believe that taxpayers money should be spent only on local services and not on vanity projects that turn into a financial mess. We would be appalled if the same thing happened to the Embankment - a public space should always belong to the public.

The Greens are supporting The Green Backyard, a unique, much loved and well used community green space. We are challenging the site being replaced by 48 dwellings, and are disappointed that the labour administration did not implement the recommendations voted on successfully by the draft local plan scrutiny committee to remove this site from those earmarked for development. The Green backyard is home to a number of vital community projects including: project Abundance, Refill, Where the Wild Ones Learn, UDGAM, Mens Shed and Bike Service Repair. It also hosts a number of important community cohesion events. We will fight to protect this space from planned development.

•I am stepping down as Green Group Leader & Cllr Heather Skibsted will replace me. Heather is a principled councillor and is sure to serve Peterborough well.