Peterborough councillors have final say on budget raising Council Tax in April

There were no real surprises in who voted what as Peterborough City Council (PCC) members had their final say on next year’s budget which balances the books but includes a five per cent increase in Council Tax.

Conservatives and Peterborough First councillors voted in favour of it, while Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors abstained.

Only Cllr Ansar Ali (Independent) voted against, citing feedback from people in his ward who don’t want to pay more tax, and as such the budget passed.

The Greens were more of a mixed bag, with two votes in favour (Cllrs Nicola Day and Imtiaz Ali) and one abstention (Cllr Heather Skibsted).

That just leaves one Independent – Cllr Julie Stevenson – who abstained.

The vote, which was taken at Peterborough Town Hall on Wednesday evening, confirms that Council Tax will rise by 4.99 per cent in April.

It is projected to rise again by 4.99 per cent the following year and 2.99 per cent the year after that.

Unsurprisingly, Conservative members of the Council including leader Wayne Fitzgerald and Cabinet Member for Finance Andy Coles spoke in favour of the budget they have worked on, with the latter calling it a “truly collaborative effort”.

Summing up its aims, he continued: “This budget is focussed on managing inflation, keeping a tight control on spending and managing demand by increasing the level of preventative and early-intervention services we provide.”

More surprising is that Cllr Christian Hogg, leader of the Liberal Democrats group, agreed that there was an “unprecedented openness” in the budget’s creation, with the Conservatives taking on board other parties’ ideas.

But, he continued, the extent of their proposed road building schemes “fly in the face” of the Council’s climate change targets, so his group would abstain while he was “content” for the budget to pass.

Green leader Cllr Nicola Day agreed that “for the first time, our Green Party budget ideas have been given full consideration”, while outgoing Labour group leader Cllr Shaz Nawaz said he was impressed by the style of debate on the issue after previous years' “petty, personal attacks".

But Cllr Amjad Iqbal (Labour) contested that opposition ideas “were not fully incorporated” into the budget, which he said was “discouraging”.

Cllr Dennis Jones, who will succeed Cllr Shaz Nawaz as Labour group leader, was also more critical, saying PCC’s end-of-year report card would still read “can and must do better” as the “dire financial straits” it has previously been in have not completely gone away.

He questioned, for instance, the assumption that pay for PCC staff will rise by three per cent against the backdrop of inflation that could rise above ten per cent and what he sees as the Council’s over-reliance on voluntary work in dealing with issues such as fly-tipping.

The Council’s current medium-term financial plan shows a budget gap next year and the one after.

So, while Council leaders celebrated this year's successful budget vote, PCC still has work to do to achieve financial sustainability in the future.