Opinion: Time to stop being overlooked by Combined Authority
I’m sure, like many people you are totally fed up with politics, it feels like election after election after election - but the upcoming Combined Authority Mayoral election is arguably the most important election when it comes to determining Peterborough’s future, writes Sophie Corcoran, Paul Bristow’s election campaign manager.
Throughout the General Election we would have heard the same old routine sound bites - ‘putting Peterborough first’ or it’s ‘time for change’ - usually all meaningless.
But now, it really is time for change - and time for Peterborough to be put first.
For too long, we have been left behind. Viewed as Cambridge’s poorer sister and that’s certainly how we are treated within the Combined Authority.
The money, the investment, the opportunity, and the attention all go to Cambridge. Peterborough gets left with little. We are simply not benefiting from this arrangement. We have seen our Council Tax precept tripled and our services are declining.
There has been talk of expanding the ‘revenue raising and demand management schemes’ into Peterborough - we all know what that means, a congestion charge.
We are paying the price for the Combined Authority but are seeing none of the benefits.
Peterborough would be better off without the Combined Authority holding us back. I see and believe in our city’s future - those in Cambridge do not.
We need a fairer deal for Peterborough. Peterborough for once needs to be put first. Our cities are not the same. Cambridge is an academic city, and we are a working city. The challenges we face and the needs we have are incomparable.
However, there is no reason, why we as a city, with great transport links to London and major cities in the north, should be lagging behind Cambridge - our city has potential, but we need a politician who is on our side and not stuck firmly in the back pockets of people in Cambridge
It is time for all of us to stand up, be bold, be brave and make a clear statement that we want a fairer deal for Peterborough and that we are no longer going to accept being second best.
I think it’s time we bring our involvement in this farcical scandal filled Combined Authority to an end or at the very least put someone who cares about Peterborough’s interests at the heart of it.
Until now, many of you may have only met me or heard of me when I have come knocking on your door campaigning for others at various elections.
But I want to make sure that as a city we are no longer ignored and we can climb out of the shadows of Cambridge, as that is the only way we will truly progress as a city.