Council opposition groups say no to congestion charging in Peterborough after Conservative 'mud-slinging'

“No ULEZ or congestion charging in Peterborough,” read the banner held up by Peterborough City Council (PCC) opposition groups outside the town hall this week.

The leaders of the council’s Labour group, Liberal Democrat group and independent group Peterborough First were among those who put their names and faces to the message.

The groups say that they have faced “mud-slinging” from the ruling Conservative group – which has suggested that if control of the council changes hands, road charging in Peterborough could be on the table.

This is because opposition groups didn’t support a motion they brought to full council ruling it out, they say, as well as the reference to the possibility of congestion charging in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority’s (CPCA) Local Transport and Connectivity Plan (LTCP), drawn up by the region’s Labour mayor.

But the opposition groups are adamant that there would be no charges for drivers on their watch, such as through the implementation of Ultra Low Emission Zones (ULEZ) in which the most polluting vehicles have to pay a daily charge to use the roads of a particular area.

Banner is a 'graphic illustration of how we all feel'

Cllr Dennis Jones (Labour, Dogsthorpe), leader of the council’s second largest party, said that the banner was a “graphic illustration of how we all feel and that what the Conservatives are saying is arrant nonsense”.

The Tories have created a “bogeyman”, he continued. “I’m trying to work with the business improvement district and we’re looking at ways that we can make the city centre attractive. Why would we penalise people for coming in?”

Cllr Christian Hogg (Liberal Democrats, Fletton and Stanground) and Cllr Chris Harper (Peterborough First, Stanground South) – leader of their respective groups – said similar.

“It’s a storm in a teacup,” Cllr Hogg said. “They can’t think of anything to criticise us for so they’re using this as something to keep hitting us with. Last year it was the coalition of chaos.”

Conservative ULEZ claims are a 'political stunt'

Cllr Harper added that the Conservatives’ claims that opposition groups want to introduce congestion charging are “purely a political stunt”.

Switching to walking, cycling or public transport should never be “an ‘or else’,” he added. “It’s all about choice.”

Another member of Peterborough First – who resigned from the Conservative Party earlier this year before rejoining the opposition group – Cllr Mohammed Farooq (Peterborough First, Hargate and Hempstead), described the Conservatives’ stance as “mud-slinging, to see how much it will stick”.

“It’s very unfortunate that the Conservative Party have created these hypothetical situations and are dwelling on them for political point scoring,” he said.

“We know where this comes from: the Uxbridge by-election which they had no hope of winning but won it on the back of that.

“But Peterborough will never, ever under our watch – or the Lib Dems or Labour’s watch – introduce ULEZ or congestion charging until we have an alternative transport system which runs from one end of the city to the other which, frankly, will take decades to implement.”

The Conservatives narrowly won a by-election in Uxbridge in July, with winner Steve Tuckwell MP attributing his success to the unpopularity of London’s ULEZ scheme and its proposed expansion.

Conservatives say row could have been avoided if opposition groups ruled congestion charging out earlier

Back in Peterborough, the Conservatives say that the row over congestion charging – which has played out in the council chamber, in the press and on social media over the past two months – is really the opposition parties’ fault.

“I’m delighted to see the other parties say that they won’t be supporting ULEZ or road charging,” Cllr Steve Allen (Conservatives, Eye, Thorney and Newborough), the ruling party’s deputy leader said in response to their banner.

“But it’s a great shame they didn’t support the Conservative motion when it was put in front of full council and we wouldn’t have had all this malarkey.”

Cllr Ishfaq Hussain (Conservatives, Dogsthorpe) brought this motion to the council in late July, which was essentially a document calling on all of his fellow councillors to reject any possibility of congestion charging in the city.

The motion failed, with all but two opposition councillors voting against it; they said it was unnecessary as nobody had suggested congestion charging in Peterborough, while the Conservatives said that this is evidence they’re open to the possibility.

More recently, council leader Cllr Wayne Fitzgerald (Conservatives, West) vetoed the CPCA’s LTCP which refers to the possibility of “fiscal measures” to limit private car use, saying that it could pave the way for opposition parties to introduce congestion charging if they took over the council.

CPCA leader, mayor Dr Nik Johnson, says that the document contains a range of options for every different part of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and that nothing would – or could – be imposed on transport authority such as PCC.

Those who held the banner outside the town hall were: Cllrs Jones, Hogg, Harper, Farooq, Ray Bisby (Peterborough First, Stanground South), John Howard (Peterborough First, Hargate and Hempsted), Sandra Bond (Liberal Democrats, Gunthorpe), Richard Strangward (Labour, Bretton), Mohammed Haseeb (Labour, North), Samantha Hemraj (Labour, East), Amjad Iqbal (Labour, Central), Asim Mahmood (Labour, North), Shabina Qayyum (Labour, East) and Labour parliamentary candidate Andrew Pakes.

The only major PCC opposition party not represented was the Green Party.