New council administration 'still in honeymoon phase' one month on from vote that saw end to Conservative rule

Peterborough City Council’s (PCC) new leader has now been in post for a month after his predecessor was ousted by a vote of no confidence.

Cllr Mohammed Farooq (Peterborough First, Hargate and Hempsted) quit the council’s Conservative group earlier this year before landing the top job, previously held by Cllr Wayne Fitzgerald (Conservatives, West).

His administration is made up of a group of largely ex-Tories called Peterborough First, which took over with the backing of Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party, although the groups aren’t in a formal coalition arrangement.

It was a dramatic and virtually unprecedented move – but has it paid off?

Of course, that depends on who you ask.

Peterborough First, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens are largely positive about the council’s new direction, with greater transparency around decision-making and an improved relationship between PCC and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) among the most praised aspects of the current administration.

The Conservatives – which remain PCC’s largest party, despite now being in opposition – remain, unsurprisingly, sceptical of the group which broke from their ranks and tabled the vote of no confidence in their leader.

Combined Authority relationship has ‘improved fivefold’, new leader says

Cllr Farooq, firstly, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that Peterborough First works “so well together” with the majority of PCC parties and that he’s “just hoping the Conservatives do the same as well” in future.

He’s also working well with the CPCA, he said, and has had numerous meetings with the authority.

“Peterborough City Council’s relationship with the Combined Authority has improved fivefold,” he said. “I had no less than seven meetings in the first two weeks and in the process I have secured almost £25m funding for our city. This was never possible with the last administration.”

After taking over at PCC, Cllr Farooq replaced Cllr Fitzgerald on the board of the CPCA, which can award money to councils in the region for projects relating to transport, skills, growth, housing and the environment.

Cllr Fitzgerald said he “would disagree” that PCC’s relationship with the CPCA has improved over the last month and that the money Cllr Farooq has secured is new: “it was already in the bank,” he said.

During Cllr Fitzgerald’s tenure, the CPCA did award significant sums to Peterborough-based projects, such as £48m towards the new Station Quarter and more than £12m towards the new university.

Indeed, Cllr Farooq acknowledges that some of his £25m figure will be related to the continuation of these projects, while others – such as electrification of buses and a new bus depot – were underway when he became leader.

But money towards the depot has now been released to PCC after Cllr Farooq helped pass the CPCA’s overarching transport plan, which Cllr Fitzgerald has previously refused to do on the basis he believed it could pave the way for congestion charging.

Where is new administration’s vision? Conservatives ask

Cllr Fitzgerald, who remains leader of the Conservative group, says that his party “remains united” in the wake of the vote of no confidence which saw them removed from power in Peterborough for the first time in two decades.

“It’s actually nice not to have the responsibility for a while and let someone else shoulder the burden of leadership for a while,” Cllr Fitzgerald said. “But so far, I’m not seeing any great moves to improve the city, only continue the work of the Conservatives.”

He added that he’s “interested to know what the plan and vision of the new administration is, because they don’t seem to have one”.

Cllr Farooq says that, so far, the biggest change is his new relationship with the CPCA, but that he also wants to see greater connectivity between Peterborough and Cambridge.

“People in Cambridge have a significantly higher [income] and if we link the two cities very closely together, some of that prosperity can dissipate itself into Peterborough,” he said.

“In other words, Peterborough people can start working in Cambridge and start earning £50-60K as well and in the process bring that money and growth into the city and really improve the living standards of Peterborough.”

He also said he’s focussed on improving the council’s finances and children’s services – with Ofsted currently carrying out an inspection – which he says wasn’t done under the previous administration.

As Cllr Fitzgerald points out, Cllr Farooq and most of his cabinet were, until recently, part of the Conservative group, but the latter maintains that power was concentrated at the top.

Outside of the cabinet, “your role is almost the same as a Labour backbencher,” he said.

This is “nonsense”, Cllr Fitzgerald says: “ask any other member of the group”. He also says his administration did act to improve children’s services by ‘decoupling’ them from Cambridgeshire to make it more bespoke to Peterborough.

Relationship with other parties ‘still in the honeymoon period’

Communication between parties has been praised by the majority of group leaders.

“We’re still in the honeymoon period, but in terms of the flow of information to other parties, it’s been really, really excellent,” Cllr Christian Hogg (Liberal Democrats, Fletton and Stanground) said.

“To be honest, it’s a bit like a dream come true for us in the Greens because we feel our voices are being heard,” Cllr Nicola Day (Greens, Orton Waterville) added. “Those things we’ve worked really hard for in the council are being looked at much more seriously.”

Labour’s deputy leader, Cllr Amjad Iqbal (Labour, Central), said similar.

“The current leader is more open and transparent; he invites us in on all the decisions,” he said. “He consults us and we sit down and have a chat, a proper robust debate on things.”

Cllr Fitzgerald, though, says that he “couldn't have been more obliging with the opposition since I've been the leader” and that he has previously been publicly praised by them for being open and collaborative.

“They've created a divide that didn't exist previously,” he said. “All they've done is isolated and alienated all of the Conservatives.”

Still early days

It’s still, though, very early days for Cllr Farooq’s new Peterborough First administration and the leader is even yet to attend his first full council meeting in this capacity.

So perhaps its success can’t be judged yet – but it doesn’t have long before May’s local elections, which could change the balance of power in the council again.

The largest challenge in the short term is setting a balanced budget, which all councils must do by law. Planning for this will take place over the next few months.