Political View: There's always a surprise in the politics of Peterborough

In the politics of Peterborough, you can always expect a surprise or two along the way! Last week we welcomed our newest member of the Conservative group, with Councillor Asim Mahmood joining us. Asim is an experienced Councillor with cabinet experience, and he has been warmly welcomed by everyone in our group. Of course, the inevitable praise from the political group you join, alongside some of the spikier comments from the political group you leave behind is inevitable as sadly Councillor Mahmood has found. There’s always a human at the end of the noise, and when someone leaves a political party, or joins another one, never underestimate the huge emotional demands of the decision. Nobody does this lightly. Any good councillor is ward first, city second and then party third, and beyond doubt Councillor Mahmood will serve residents as hard working as always. He joins a collegiate group, focused on being a responsible and robust opposition, and we are a happy group. Yes, we have a broad mix of views and strengths and weaknesses, but we come together for a common cause and for our core beliefs. Asim will play a part in our group and he is very welcome. These decisions are always personal (I’ve worn the t-shirt!) but it’s always for the individual and one thing I’ve learned, you can never please everyone no matter your decision.

I chaired the Sustainable future city council scrutiny committee last week. I really have missed chairing scrutiny committees. I’m not sure if other councillors of officers would agree! I always try and keep proceedings light-touch as I believe everyone gets more out of them this way. We covered a very meaty agenda and everyone asked some good questions too.

I write this column post-cabinet, which sadly I couldn’t attend this time, and pre-full council. I don’t believe there will be many fireworks at the full council it’s a relatively light agenda to take us into the calmer month of August. Some big-ticket announcements did go through cabinet. The youth zone, we are happy to see a concept initiated by the Conservatives come to life. We believe it shouldn’t duplicate services already offered in the city but bring a fresh offering. However, like all big-ticket projects, we will need to watch the finances, and the devil will be in the detail. And as I’ve said before, we really need a vision for the whole embankment. We can’t keep dropping these buildings on the space before there is a full vision and public consultation.

Cabinet agreed a major refurbishment for the Jack Hunt swimming pool, which of course is a welcome news piece, however it puts a major strain on the already limited swimming provision in the city. We will lose this vital pool for 24 weeks, and we have questioned the urgency of the timing in the circumstances, and whether we can offer alternative provision. Whilst plans for a new regional pool continue to gather pace, we still don’t have a spade in the ground, so we need to look after the limited swimming provisions we currently have in place.

We also saw cabinet agree our combined authority mayors plans for a free parking scheme in the city. We really hope this scheme gives the city centre a vital boost. And the city centre gets another welcome boost with the announcement that Peterborough Positive will continue as the city’s business improvement district body. Pep and his team have done some fantastic work these last few years, and we will support them in the years ahead.  Onwards and upwards is the message!