Opinion: 'Let’s see a council more responsive to residents' needs and not headline-grabbing', writes Christian Hogg

I want to talk about how our council is currently evolving with councillors reassessing their allegiance to a party against the priorities of the communities they were elected to serve.

The Liberal Democrats have always believed that decisions should be made at the most local level possible and that our councillors need to remain accountable to their electors, and the residents of the City of Peterborough as a whole.

Over the last couple of years, we have seen a direction of travel from the administration to be more collaborative with opposition parties to get better outcomes for Peterborough, we need to continue to evolve this approach further.

There is still lots more that can be done, including lifting the lid on the workings of the council by increasing transparency.

We need to unpick the convoluted arrangements that see decisions where one council-part-owned company is selling a council car park to another council-part-owned company – and all that is mentioned in a report that went to the Shareholders Cabinet was a single line, containing no reasoning or plans for the future of this land. We have seen too many councils ‘playing the market’ only to get their fingers burned.

Let’s see a council that is more responsive to its residents' needs and not just looking at headline-grabbing projects.

We have a regional pool that is on its last legs and a recent plan as a replacement seemed less than ambitious with no diving provision and only a 25m length, if we are to have a Regional Pool we need one that lives up to the title and can host regional events, do we really need a conference and banqueting centre to be a higher priority for our city?

We also need to look after our disabled community and c, could this be incorporated into a new regional pool?

If this resonates with you get in touch with your local ward councillors and ask them to get your voice heard.