Peterborough's newest Green Party councillor sets out her priorities after winning by-election
Peterborough’s newest councillor has spelt out her priorities after winning election to the authority.
Katherine Sharp was the successful candidate in Thursday’s by-election in the Fletton and Woodston ward.
The Green Party representative finished 185 votes ahead of Reform’s Ryan Gallagher in second and received 664 votes in total.
Cllr Sharp’s success marks the continued growth of the Greens in Fletton and Woodston after Ed Murphy won a seat in the ward at the May elections with over 1000 votes.
Cllr Sharp has become the seventh Green representative on Peterborough City Council, moving the group just one behind the Liberal Democrats, Peterborough First and the cohort of independents.
Cllr Sharp has named road safety and getting to grips among her first priorities after stepping into the job.
She said: “It feels very, very good. This result was not a massive surprise but it is still a surprise.
"I had an amazing team around me today, who have worked really, really hard.
"I supported Ed with his campaign for the May elections. We have worked really hard together and been out in the ward since November.
"We worked super hard to win that election and we thought we’d get a break but then there was a by-election called so we were straight back out knocking on doors again.
"My first priority is dealing with road safety. There was a fatality on Oundle Road recently. Ed has already worked on getting a motion to council and getting some restrictions in place and we need that to happen before more people are killed or injured. That’s a massive thing for me.
"Parking is a huge issue as well. They are my top priorities but anything anybody brings to me will be dealt with.
“I just want to say thank you to everybody who has helped me. The team around me have been so good for so long. We have all worked really, really hard for this result.”
The make up of Peterborough City Council is now:
Conservatives 13, Labour (and Co-operative) 11, Liberal Democrats 8, Peterborough First 8, Independent 8, Greens 7, Reform 5.