'Silly political games': Peterborough council leader accused of risking transport schemes - but he insists there's 'no jeopardy'

“Silly political games” risk better bus, rail, walking and cycling facilities for Peterborough, the council’s Liberal Democrat group has claimed.

Group leader Cllr Christian Hogg (Fletton and Stanground) dismissed Peterborough City Council’s (PCC) leader Cllr Wayne Fitzgerald’s (Conservatives, West) concerns about some elements of a new regional transport policy as part of a political game.

"Wayne said he is speaking for Peterborough City Council in objecting to aspects of the Transport Plan,” Cllr Hogg continued. “But he only speaks for 26 out of 60 members of our council and the ever-shrinking minority of Peterborough residents who vote Conservative.”

The plan – or the Local Transport and Connectivity Plan (LTCP), to give it its full title – was due to be voted on at a Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) meeting last week, but this was delayed at the last minute amid criticism from Cllr Fitzgerald and other members of the CPCA board.

Cllr Fitzgerald said at the meeting that he’s “never supported this document in its current form” and that none of the CPCA’s officers have spoken to him about signing up to the LTCP or whether its content is agreeable to him.

“Officers may have had conversations, but they don’t make the decisions in Peterborough,” he said. “I do, and the council does.”

Some 50 pages long, not to mention the various area-specific appendices, the LTCP lays out ambitious transport plans for the entirety of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, with reducing private car use and improving public transport options at its heart.

It will now return to the CPCA at a later date, with the delay brought about over fears that Cllr Fitzgerald – among others including Fenland District Council (FDC) leader Cllr Chris Boden (Conservatives, Whittlesey East and Villages) – would vote it down.

“People keep telling me we need better bus services in Peterborough, better rail facilities and safer options for walking and cycling,” Cllr Hogg said after the CPCA meeting.

“The Transport Plan is key to giving us access to Government funding to bring about these improvements. Tory council leaders playing silly political games could put all this at risk."

Leader says he 'personally checked with ministers' possible risks

But Cllr Fitzgerald said that he personally confirmed with Government ministers that funding the CPCA is due to receive wouldn’t be jeopardised by the LTCP not being passed immediately.

"I have repeatedly expressed concerns to the Combined Authority via council officers that the Local Transport and Connectivity Plan in its current form is not something that the Conservatives in Peterborough can support,” he said in a statement.

“Even as late as the Saturday before the CPCA meeting I had a conversation with the mayor, Dr Nik Johnson, and reaffirmed my position. The night before the meeting, CPCA officers were working to amend the policy but it did not go far enough.

“To suggest the meeting was hijacked is simply not true. It was a convivial meeting, where there was discussion about the best way forward for the plan. In addition, there is no jeopardy in the funding we are due to receive from Government and I personally confirmed this with ministers prior to the meeting.”

Combined Authority mayor says there could be risks to future funding

The suggestion that failing to update the CPCA’s transport policy was also raised at the meeting last week, initially by South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) leader Cllr Bridget Smith (Liberal Democrats, Gamlingay).

CPCA leader Dr Nik Johnson agreed that not having an up-to-date LTCP could risk transport projects in the long-term, although he said that this could be avoided if all outstanding issues are worked out by the next meeting.

Speaking after the meeting, he added: “There are risks to current funding, but definitely future transport funding, because we have to have up-to-date documents which show that we have the latest evidence in regards to post-Covid recovery and that we are working towards Government policy around improving the environment.”

Cllr Fitzgerald has also clarified that, while there’s “a lot of good stuff” in the LTCP, it’s the suggestion of 20-minute cities (in which everyone lives within a 20-minute walk or cycle from the amenities they need), workplace charging schemes (in which businesses are incentivised to provide EV charging) or congestion charging.

“The Conservative administration in Peterborough will not be introducing 15/20 minute cities, nor will we support workplace charging policies or congestion charging,” he said.

None of these policies are mentioned in the Peterborough-specific appendix to the LTCP, although they are mentioned in the main document giving an overview of possible measures for the whole region.

Dr Johnson and others on the CPCA board maintain that Peterborough would not be forced to sign up to any of these measures; Cllr Smith said at the meeting that the LTCP is “a strategy; a menu from which we can all draw”.

It’s not forcing anything on Peterborough, so whatever your political preferences are, you’re not being forced to do anything,” she said.

Disagreements remain over how last-minute Cllr Fitzgerald’s opposition came; it also remains to be seen whether an agreement can be reached on the LTCP by CPCA’s next meeting.

Cllr Fitzgerald’s support is particularly crucial as, being the leader of a top-tier local authority (as opposed to a smaller district council) he is able to veto the plans.

But he has not, he clarified, “[used] my veto as has been reported elsewhere” at this point; there was “no vote for me to do so”.

The next CPCA meeting, at which the LTCP will be brought back, is on 26 July.