Political View: Working hard to get best deal for you

This has caused quite a few controversies with talks of an increase in council tax above the usual 4.99% (some even touting an increase of 9.99%!!), and also with the potential mothballing of the Lido swimming pool.

The Peterborough Green Party has been, from the outset, pushing back on these proposals, and we are working hard with our five councillors in getting the best deal for our residents.

We do believe in collaboration and will work with all members who are committed to recognising efficiencies and savings whilst at the same time protecting what is most important for our residents. What we don’t want to do is just go with the flow and do what is expected of us and vote with the administration.

We’re pleased to report that after significant pushback from our Green councillors (as well as others), the administration have now confirmed that the council tax increases above 4.99% is no longer on the table. The budget that will be brought to us in February to vote on will “just” have the usually 4.99% increase to the amount collected. Green councillors went on record to state that they would not support a budget which would be increasing council tax at a higher rate than other authorities.

What I do find frustrating is both our Labour MP and our Conservative candidate for Combined Authority Mayor playing political games with the proposed mothballing of the Lido. I feel that their “petitions” are just a data gathering exercise and If they were truly opposed to the closure of the Lido, why does Andrew Pakes MP not pick up the phone and tell Labour Leader Dennis Jones to push back on this? With a Labour administration in power at the council level, a Labour MP, and a Labour Government in Downing Street, surely there are better avenues available to Peterborough’s MP of getting the right outcome than starting a petition?

Greens have opposed the mothballing of the Lido from the very first time this item was tabled. We are told that this could save £400k annually, but we are waiting on a breakdown of the numbers to see why, given the high level of volunteers and the limited opening time.

Our councillors have offered several ideas for the officers to look at to find other ways of making their budget balance, and we’re hopeful these will be included in the upcoming budget before it is voted on at Full Council. We are confident that we can get there and we can save this important community treasure. We don’t want to be serving on a council that cuts all non-statutory services back to the bone. We want Peterborough to be a vibrant city and we want our council to make it as attractive a place to live as possible.

We are also looking at alternatives to the other cuts being proposed. One that seems to have struck a real chord with many residents is the planned closure of Woodston Library in the Fletton and Woodston ward. Although we do not have any councillors representing those residents (currently all three of the Fletton and Woodston councillors are part of the Labour administration), we did see that residents have banded together and prepared a petition to bring to a Full Council meeting in December. At that meeting there was much confusion over what happens next, with a vote being taken on whether or not anything should be done at all. Green councillors spoke at the meeting in support of the Woodston library and with a mere £12,000 a year in savings expected, it felt like keeping this library open would not impact on council finances in the slightest. In fact, this represents less than 0.01% of the council’s annual budget!!

As always, we will continue to push back against anything that has an impact on the quality of life for our residents. If anyone has any questions on the Peterborough Green Party’s stance on the budget, or anything else, please do get in touch and if there’s something important to you that you want looking at, we’ll be happy to support you in this.