Delayed Hilton hotel and repurposed Great Northern Hotel debated by Peterborough councillors

Peterborough’s much-delayed Hilton hotel was discussed at its council’s most recent meeting, as well as the Great Northern Hotel’s transition away from being a hostel for asylum seekers.

While the meeting was dominated by a vote of no confidence which saw Conservative leader Cllr Wayne Fitzgerald (Conservatives, West) deposed and replaced by Cllr Mohammed Farooq (Peterborough First, Hargate and Hempsted), other important matters were discussed.

Below, we give you a run down of some of the most significant.

‘Aim to make a profit on Hilton Hotel investment hasn’t changed’

The Conservatives defended their decision to loan developers of a new hotel on Fletton Quays £15m amid repeated delays and news that the council has taken the company into administration.

Hilton, the company expected to operate the hotel on its completion, said last month that the Hilton Garden Inn Peterborough “remains an important development for us” and that it still looks forward to welcoming guests despite the setbacks.

Cllr Chris Wiggin (Liberal Democrats, Hampton Vale) asked Cllr Fitzgerald about its viability at the meeting and asked how councillors can be assured appropriate due diligence will be completed on large projects in future.

“We have security on the property and I think I’ve made it publicly clear that we intend, with officers, to see the hotel built, delivered and to make a profit,” Cllr Fitzgerald said.

“That’s the aim and ambition of this council and it hasn’t changed.”

He added that the council, a secured creditor, gave “full due diligence to this agreement at the time” and that to suggest otherwise is a “slight on officers, let alone the council”.

The Hilton’s website currently says that its Peterborough city centre hotel is “coming soon”.

‘Asylum seekers housed at Great Northern should be moved out of Peterborough’

Cllr Chaz Fenner (Conservatives, Bretton) submitted a motion asking councillors to resolve to “support the government in its campaign to stop the boats and illegal immigration” and to lobby the government to find alternative accommodation outside Peterborough for those housed at the Great Northern.

The hotel, opposite Peterborough Station, has been a hostel for asylum seekers since November last year, but this is expected to end by February.

The motion kicked off a wider debate about various parties’ approaches to managing asylum seekers coming into the country, with Labour and the Liberal Democrats criticising the government’s record.

“It is indeed welcome news that the government is going to stop using the Great Northern Hotel,” group leader Cllr Dennis Jones (Labour, Dogsthorpe) said. “But their decision to stop housing asylum seekers in 50 hotels by the end of January, largely – and you may think unsurprisingly – in marginal Conservative constituencies, is not because people are being processed any quicker. They’re just being moved elsewhere.”

He went on to say that Labour would “clear the Tory asylum backlog” by hiring over 1,000 new case workers and fast track removals of those who have no right to be in the UK.

Fellow group leader Cllr Christian Hogg (Liberal Democrats, Fletton and Stanground) said that “government policy isn’t working”, especially its plan to re-route asylum seekers to Rwanda which would “cost a fortune” and is “morally wrong”.

Cllr Fitzgerald said that the government “wants tough action” unlike the “soft Labour side”.

“What’s been frustrated about Rwanda is opposition, human rights groups, all sorts of people frustrating Conservative party policy,” he said.

He also credited Peterborough’s Conservative MP, Paul Bristow, with being instrumental in lobbying immigration minister Robert Jenrick to remove asylum seekers from the Great Northern.

The motion was referred to the council’s growth, resources and communities scrutiny committee by Cllr Farooq.

‘Moving to another party should trigger a by-election’

A motion submitted by the Conservatives’ chief whip, Cllr Rylan Ray (Conservatives, Eye, Thorney and Newborough) stated that any councillor who crosses the floor to another party should be required, by law, to call a by-election.

It came after seven Conservatives resigned from the party this year and joined independent group Peterborough First – the group which then toppled the Tory administration through a vote of no confidence.

Cllr Ray said at the meeting that the councillors who crossed the floor “have decided they would only like to represent their interests rather than those that elected them”.

“They’ve abandoned the promises they were elected to deliver and in doing so they’ve abandoned the people they were elected to represent,” he said.

Cllr Ray acknowledged that councillors have crossed the floor to the Conservatives in the past, but said this was “long before my time” and that this wouldn’t be accepted by the current administration.

Cllr John Howard (Peterborough First, Hargate and Hempsted), now deputy leader of the council, was one of the seven who left the Conservatives this year.

He said that he “still stands as a councillor on all those values I was elected on” and that he “had no choice but to leave the party”.

“As the whip of the party, perhaps you should spend more time on the reasons the members left rather than constantly attacking them through motions,” he said to Cllr Ray.

Cllr Hogg, similarly, said that the loss of seven councillors “seems less about them and more about the culture you have within your group” and pointed out the cost of holding byelections.

“Are the Conservative leader and the local MP going to pop up with a large cheque from the Tory party to pay for these? I think not,” he said.

The motion was defeated.