Retiring Peterborough City Council leader on his biggest achievements, regrets, successor and fears for the future

The retiring leader of Peterborough City Council believes he has left the city with a bright future after securing a number of major breakthroughs in landmark development schemes.
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Conservative Cllr John Holdich announced today (Friday) that he was retiring from local government in May after 43 years, leaving a vacuum at the top of the council with its finance chief Cllr David Seaton also not seeking re-election in a few months time.

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But he believes he has laid the platform for Peterborough to thrive in the coming years, even if he is less optimistic about the future of the council which he admitted could even be replaced in the future, possibly by the county’s mayoral authority.

Cllr John HoldichCllr John Holdich
Cllr John Holdich

In an interview with the Peterborough Telegraph, Cllr Holdich, who has been council leader since 2015 having previously been cabinet member for education and housing, also touched on some of the more controversial moments of his tenure at the top, including the introduction of security guards to deter rough sleepers at St Peter’s Arcade in the city centre and a large rise in allowances for councillors at a time of budget cuts.

The leader, who is stepping down to spend more time with his wife Barbara after struggling with arthritis, told the PT: “With the arthritis not getting any better - you have got to be a councillor for four years (if re-elected in May).

“I really could not face doing it another four years. People said why don’t you slow down, don’t be leader, be a backbencher. But I’ve always believed if you’re going to do something, I want to do it as well as I can.

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“I’ve thought about this long and hard with my wife. She has a lot of outside interests which she will pack up. Hopefully with the time off we will do things we’ve always wanted to do. We’ve already booked a holiday to India.

“But I have to find something to occupy my brain. I can’t spend all my time in the garden! I’m going to stay on at City College Peterborough (where he is chair of governors) and will still be around.

“It’s sad because there’s been a Holdich on a council for forever.”

But with more than three months left of his time in charge of the council Cllr Holdich, who represents Castor and Glinton, is hopeful of leaving a lasting legacy.

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Having already seen the regeneration of Peterborough’s South Bank through the Fletton Quays development - which is delivering hundreds of apartments, new offices, a gin and whiskey distillery, a Hilton hotel and retail and leisure outlets - he said progress is being made on transforming the Station Quarter, with an announcement imminent.

Moreover, he said there is good news at North Westgate - which has long been earmarked for redevelopment - with the buying up of properties set to go ahead to allow the council to deliver a major project just north of Queensgate Shopping Centre.

And at Northminster, following the demolition of the multi-storey car park which was said to have reached the end of its life, moves to bring about a new market, flats and shops are afoot.

“I would like to see them on the road before I go - they are going to transform Peterborough,” the council leader said.

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Other achievement he picked out include upgrading all of the city’s schools at a cost of more than £400 million, and helping children with learning difficulties find new opportunities at the city’s two colleges, eventually leading to many finding jobs and being able to live independently.

“That’s what I became a councillor for - I will miss it,” he added.

There have been regrets during his time as leader, though.

The PT asked about three controversial episodes - the introduction of security guards over Christmas at the rough sleeping hot spot of St Peter’s Arcade in the city centre at a cost of £8,000; the decision by the Tories to vote through a 27 per cent rise in councillors’ basic allowances at a time of austerity (as well as a rise in special responsibility allowances); and the controversial decision by the council to lease 72 properties at St Michael’s Gate in Parnwell from a developer which had evicted the existing tenants.

On the security guards, Cllr Holdich said: “In retrospect we would not do it again, but we did it because people were walking through excrement and urine to get to restaurants and Christmas parties.

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“They did not feel safe so we put in security guards for reassurance, but in the end more rough sleepers went in there which was not the object.

“Some people did respect what we did, but others were against it.”

On the decision to vote through a pay rise for councillors of a minimum £2,138 a year each (costing the council £186,000 annually), the council leader said: “We lost our internet allowance and all of our travel. We lost what some people call ‘perks’ but are tools to do the job.

“So the rise was not as big as you thought. And councillors had not had a rise for eight odd years.

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“The job has completely altered - we’re more liable now. Councillors earned the rise and we’ve not had another one since.”

And on St Michael’s Gate, which led to the Conservatives receiving strong criticism from opposition parties and campaigners, he said: “The truth never seems to surface.

“The first thing the council knew about it was when people were coming in with their notices to leave.

“More than 400 people have now stayed in those properties and it’s saved the council a lot of money.

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“When we then bought the properties people kept saying we were paying too much money, but we paid the going rate and it will save us £600,000 a year.

“We’ve also taken this up with government as we did not want it to happen again and they’ve clamped down on it.

“I don’t regret what we did but we could have handled the publicity side of it better. A lot of people were not telling the truth about it.”

One last task for Cllr Holdich is to help balance the books at the council, with millions of pounds of savings still needing to be delivered despite £24 million of the deficit being wiped out this week.

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However, government cuts have made the task harder and harder, and there is a fear about what happens next.

Cllr Holdich is adamant that big change is coming to local government, with one possibility being that the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority - led by metro mayor James Palmer - could take on the responsibilities of the city council to save public money.

The council leader, who is also deputy mayor of the combined authority, said: “If local government is going to survive something has to happen. We can’t survive as we are.

“We really have not got enough money - it’s regrettable. We have to keep cutting, and we are now cutting the staff.

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“I could see the combined authority having the powers to oversee (what happens in Peterborough). It would not be beyond the powers of the Government to do that.”

As for who succeeds him in the top job in Peterborough, should the Conservatives have enough seats for a majority on the council following May’s local elections (possibly with the help of others), the party’s next leader will also be in charge of the authority.

Voting will take place for the new Conservative group leader a few days after the election, and asked for his thoughts on who will go for it, the current leader said: “I genuinely have not thought about it.

“We have a good group with good talent. I’m sure my deputy Wayne (Fitzgerald) will go for it, but you do not know who will be elected.

“I think I’ve left the group in good hands.”