Political View: Elections cancelled in Peterborough…well not completely!
There will be flurry of polls in May to see seats filled where Councillors have stood down or sadly passed away, and indeed there is the first of these by-elections today (Thursday) in Fletton & Woodston Ward, writes Conservative Group deputy leader Steve Allen.
Voters are heading to the polls to elect a replacement for Cllr Nick Thurlborne, who sadly passed in December.
In these febrile political times let us hope that a sensible choice is made.
Labour nationally is suffering from a crisis of confidence with nearly half of British adults rating the government’s performance as poor; with a majority disappointed with what Labour has done since the 2024 election, and the party trailing in the polls with markedly negative approval ratings.
In Peterborough we are suffering a minority Labour administration propped up by a questionable coalition of Liberal and quasi-Independent Peterborough First Councillors.
It is inevitable with local elections kept to a minimum for the forthcoming two years there will be a continued period of Political inertia locally, this of course contrasted with a febrile National landscape.
In Peterborough we continue to see the leader of the council claiming the Conservative administration ‘ran the council into the ground’ and quoting the current debt level of in excess of £527Million.
Whereas the debt levels are high and interest payments challenging, the investment in the future of our city has been consistent. Since 2012 we have built new schools to cater for the high demand for school places and a fast-growing city. Road repairs and improvements to the parkway system have ensured our city has kept moving, and the Energy from waste plant at Fengate has generated a high level of income combined with savings in Landfill tax.
The purchase of Sand Martin House at Fletton Quays, not only provides of City with modern office accommodation for the Council but importantly saves the money as borrowing costs for the acquisition sees less outgoings than the rental we would have paid, resulting in a valuable book asset. These decisions are regarded as failings?
Offset the debt against essential assets, and as we all appreciate from arranging our own finances, that rather than ‘mortgaging our future’ as is claimed, we saw a period of sensible financial investment.
Since 2012, the council has delivered capital investments worth £1.1billion, which included investment into new schools, infrastructure, housing, regeneration and digital technology.
This has been funded in several different ways:
£577m from borrowing
£497m from grants and contributions, mainly from Government
£59m from leases, capital receipts from selling assets and loan repayments
Set against the claims of poor financial management we should balance the lightness of never governing! It’s easy to stand on the sidelines and throw metaphorical rocks!
Reform are masters of this method of challenge, and they've experts as they never had to do anything, apart from shouting criticism from the sidelines.
Alternatively, there is the ‘new broom knows better version’ which we are enduring as practised by our local governing coalition.
Despite the continual barrage of negative claims against Conservative successes, we now see an administration which has a Council Website section dedicated to a number of specific pages under the heading of Myth Busting.
This indeed makes edifying reading
In berating the Conservatives, it is surely a stance of the facts don’t matter, but by just maintaining a negative narrative and claims that now we are in charge all will be well.
Locally and nationally, Labour will see their promises found out, and the huge parliamentary majority be proven to be more troublesome than ever envisaged.