Extra oversight of Peterborough council to continue with progress 'slower than anyone would have wanted'

Increased oversight of Peterborough City Council’s (PCC) governance and finances is expected to continue beyond its planned end date, with progress towards improvement having been “slower than anyone would have wanted”.

An independent panel began monitoring the council in December 2021 after it requested exceptional financial support from the government with the expectation that it would produce update reports every six months for two years.

But PCC councillors will be asked to approve the panel’s continued scrutiny for another year at a council meeting next month, for the sum of £86,000.

While the “effort and the progress over the last two years has been commendable”, the council still faces “immense” challenges, the panel’s latest report says.

Council resources had to be diverted to change of leadership

One of these is political stability: the report says that, in the lead up to the successful vote of no confidence in PCC’s former leader, Cllr Wayne Fitzgerald (Conservatives, West), resources had to be diverted to ensuring a smooth transition of power to Cllr Mohammed Farooq (Peterborough First, Hargate and Hempsted).

“During this period the Chief Executive and the Senior Management team had to give an unusually large amount of attention in providing advice, guidance and support to all groups,” the report says. “This was a diversion from the focus on strategic planning and transformation work intended to put the Council on a sound footing in the medium and long term.”

Because of the vote, Peterborough First – a group of 11 – now make up the council’s administration, replacing the Conservatives, a group of 23. This “increases what was already a high degree of uncertainty about decision making in the Council chamber”, the report says, particularly as Peterborough First doesn’t have a formal agreement with other opposition groups such as Labour and the Liberal Democrats whose support they will have to rely on in key votes.

Council also facing ongoing budget pressures

PCC is also facing significant budget pressures in coming years, with a £6.4m overspend forecast next year.

The council has identified £3.4m of savings to combat this, the report says, but these still need to be verified and cuts approved by councillors. The rest is likely going to have to come out of the council’s diminishing savings.

The panel recommends that PCC appoints an overall director of transformation and that it considers, again, a move to all-out elections. It should also accelerate its work on managing its assets, it says, which is “only now beginning to gather momentum”.

But this has proven controversial with some councillors who have called for greater transparency around the council’s assets review.

PCC has drawn up a list of 79 community buildings including libraries and leisure facilities it’s considering selling off – but has not made the list public.

While some councillors say they accept that the list shouldn’t be released before any decisions are made, others have said that the public should be involved in the decision-making process from an earlier stage. PCC has reiterated that it currently has no plans to make the list public.

Councillors will vote on extending the duties of the independent improvement panel on Wednesday, 6th December.

The panel is made up of independent members, including its chair, with expertise in council governance and finance as well as PCC councillors and staff.