Peterborough Lib Dems resign from ‘ineffective’ council budget group

Cllr Nick Sandford, leader of the group, whose two amendments to defer cuts that were debated at Wednesday’s Full Council meeting were both defeated, said: “We have always advocated cross party working on the council budget so that councillors can work together to tackle the big financial issues we are currently facing.

“But as the budget working group we have been presented with long lists of proposals that the cabinet has already decided it is going to implement.  

“Meetings have been held at too late a stage for anything we say to have any impact,  detailed papers have been passed round at meetings rather than being sent out in advance and any ideas of our own that we put forward have not been given proper investigation.  

“Tories in the group are obsessed with keeping discussions secret and to be honest there seems little point in opposition members being there.”

The Labour group has previously pulled out of the working group.

At the end of the Full Council budget meeting Cllr Sandford said: “The Lib Dem group will now focus on putting its own ideas forward and working with other opposition groups on the council where possible to develop positive proposals.”

In response, council deputy leader Cllr Wayne Fitzgerald said: “We’ve always been open to ideas from opposition parties and will continue to be so, there is nothing secretive about that.

“However, they must come up with viable alternatives and up to now they simply haven’t done so.”

Peterborough city councillors voted on Wednesday to approve budget cuts of £24 million over the next two years.

Robert Alexander, Local Democracy Reporting Service