Two long-serving councillors ousted from Peterborough council in local elections

Two long-serving councillors lost their seats on Peterborough City Council (PCC) in this year’s local elections.

Liberal Democrat Nick Sandford and Conservative Gul Nawaz had each served more than 20 years.

Mr Sandford lost his Paston and Walton seat to Conservative Alex Rafiq by just five votes.

He has spent the last year serving a term as Mayor of Peterborough, a role usually occupied by the longest-serving councillor yet to undertake it.

He was also previously the Lib Dems’ leader and remains their parliamentary candidate for the general election.

Mr Sandford was first elected in 1996 and has served for 28 years, originally sitting as a Liberal councillor before joining the Liberal Democrats.

Mr Nawaz, who lost Ravensthorpe to Green Qaiser Farid, has served on PCC since 2002.

He was beaten more decisively, by 101 votes.

Mr Nawaz has also served a term of Mayor of Peterborough, in 2019/20.

Four other serving councillors also lost their seats, while a further seven chose not to run again.

Conservative Andy Coles, who was first elected in 2015, was cabinet member for finance while the Conservatives were in power and played a major role in preparing the council’s annual budget.

He was replaced by Labour’s Daisy Creedon-Blakemore, running for a council seat for the first time at just 18 years old.

Conservatives Bryan Tyler (Gunthorpe) and Ishfaq Hussain (Dogsthorpe) both served for a single term before losing their seats to the Liberal Democrats’ Ann Shaheed and Labour’s Jason McNally respectively.

Conservative Jackie Allen also lost her seat after one term, but stood in Orton Waterville – where independent Kirsty Knight won – rather than her original seat in East ward.

Going forward, there are 16 councillors who were not already serving on PCC joining the cohort this year, or around one in four of the total number.

Not all are new faces, though: Conservative Irene Walsh, Green Imtiaz Ali and Labour’s Jason McNally and Angus Ellis are returning councillors.