Peterborough's new Lib Dem mayor will chair council meetings 'even-handedly' and support wellbeing causes

A long-standing Liberal Democrat councillor has become the new mayor of Peterborough.

Cllr Nick Sandford (Paston and Walton) was elected to the role at Peterborough Town Hall on Monday, 22nd May.

His duties will include attending civic events, acting as an ambassador for the city and promoting the work of his chosen charities, which Cllr Sandford says he has given a health and wellbeing theme.

They are: Deaf Blind UK, Sue Ryder Thorpe Hall Hospice, Peterborough Environmental City Trust (PECT) the East Anglian Air Ambulance and MAGPAS.

The mayor also chairs Peterborough City Council’s (PCC) full council meetings, which Cllr Sandford says he will endeavour to do “even-handedly”, and has the casting vote when councillors are split down the middle.

But he hopes it will rarely come to this.

“I think there will be issues we can’t agree on and will have to have a vote and I do have the casting vote in the event of a tie,” Cllr Sandford said.

“But, hopefully, we will try to argue things out and reach agreement on them rather than going to a vote on every issue.”

Cllr Sandford also believes he has an important role to play in “promoting Peterborough” and “bringing together the diverse range of communities that we have”.

After his election as mayor, he donned a multi-coloured scarf presented to him by the ambassador for East Timor in order to “symbolise what a diverse and colourful place Peterborough is”.

Judy Fox elected as Deputy Mayor

Cllr Sandford’s Deputy will be Cllr Judy Fox (Peterborough First), another long-standing councillor, while mayoress will be Bella Saltmarsh, who was a PCC councillor from 2006 to 2019.

She has remained involved in the council as alderman, which is next in status to mayor.

Cllr Sandford said that Cllr Fox is “really hard working”, demonstrated by the fact she had the largest margin of votes of any councillor elected to PCC in this year’s local elections.

Her involvement will also mean the support of her husband, Cllr John Fox (Werrington), he said, who is “very keen” on charity work and has discussed setting up some of his own charity events.

The outgoing mayor is Cllr Alan Dowson (Labour, Fletton and Woodston), who said he raised £26,000 for charity during his term.

His Deputy was Cllr Shabina Qayyum (Labour, East).

The role is held for a year and is usually bestowed on the council’s longest-standing councillor.

It is separate from the role of mayor of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA), who has a more direct role in the region's transport and infrastructure projects, and remains Labour politician Dr Nik Johnson.