‘It’s been a great journey’ – former council leader Mohammed Farooq steps down after eight years’ service

Mohammed Farooq, who is the Deputy Leader of Peterborough First and current Cabinet Member for Growth and Regeneration shared his decision earlier this week, saying it has been “an immense privilege to serve the Hampton community and the wider city.”

Sitting down with the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the former leader of the council said “personal reasons” had led him to make the decision:

“I want to focus on my health and my family,” he said, “so I thought this was perhaps the right time to step back.”

Cllr Farooq has represented the city’s Hargate and Hempsted ward since 2018.

“I’ve done eight years – two terms – and I think I’ve made my contribution.”

Charity supporter and community champion

Mohammed Farooq first made a name for himself when he set up and ran several successful restaurants in and around Peterborough.

Alongside this, he supported a wide range of community fundraising efforts and charitable initiatives.

One notable project saw him lead efforts to raise over £70,000 to purchase a state-of-the-art cardiac echomachine – a much-needed piece of life-saving equipment – for the children’s ward of Peterborough City Hospital.

His efforts and achievements saw him receive the British Empire Medal in 2017.

Savouring his coffee, the former businessman and philanthropist is in a chatty and relaxed mood, recalling how his entry into local politics eight years ago was entirely accidental.

“It’s a funny story!” he said.

“I used to run restaurants… and it was a coincidence that two ladies walked in by the name of Sheila Scott and Janet Goodwin.”

The two ladies in question were both city councillors in 2018.

“They used to be regular customers at my restaurant [and] their offer was: ‘Farooq, you do a lot of work for the community, why don’t you become a councillor?”

The popular community figure initially dismissed the idea, giving the ladies a curt ‘No.’

“They said ‘Farooq you have to because, as city councillor, you will have access to [a] £200m budget which you could use to support all the community groups and all the community members with that funding.’

“They talked me into becoming a councillor!

“I saw that as an opportunity to make sure that money is spent on the very core of the community, i.e. the people who need it most.”

Entering the chamber

After being elected on a Conservative ticket at the 2018 local elections, the novice councillor made an effort to work with members of all political persuasions and backgrounds.

“I came in [to the council] on the back of community work, making a difference to people, not differentiating the colours of the parties,” he recalled.

However, he freely admits that he was pretty green when he first entered the chamber:

“I was naive in politics,” he said, “but then I learnt quickly.”

“Trying to make a difference to people’s lives,” he said, was his key objective.

During his first term however, the Conservative councillor became disillusioned with his party.

In June 2023, he – alongside several other Conservative councillors – left the party to join Peterborough First.

Later that year, he was made council leader after a vote of no confidence was carried against the then leader, Conservative councillor Wayne Fitzgerald.

Up until then, the Conservatives had been leading the council for more than 20 years.

From November onwards, the council was run by Peterborough First – with Farooq at the helm – as a minority administration, albeit one made up largely of Tory defectors.

Becoming leader

“When I became the leader of the council, growth and protecting the vulnerable were my two key priorities,” he said.

“Protecting the vulnerable is absolutely the key fundamental job of the council.

“But to do that, you always have limited funds and that’s where growth plays the key part.”

“If you have a good growth strategy then, more income comes into the council, more prosperity comes into the city, uplift in poverty and deprivation takes place and then – in the process – less people need protection…”

However, Cllr Farooq’s tenure in the top job was brought to a juddering halt in 2024 following the Labour Party’s success in the local elections.

While the elections in May left no single party with overall control, Labour’s 19 seats made it the largest party.

Acknowledging the situation, Cllr Farooq resigned, saying he wanted the council to choose a new leader who commanded a majority as that would be “vital for the stability of the council.”

Recalling the time, Farroq is typically philosophical:

“In life you get low points when you’re not prepared for something,” he mused.

Despite this, he looks back on his time as leader with some pride:

“Part of the leadership is… about being able to carry other people with you,” he said.

“One of my biggest achievements was when I was able to carry the whole chamber to vote for my budget while I was the leader.”

A good councillor

Cllr Farooq’s most recent role has been to hold the post of Cabinet Member for Growth and Regeneration in the coalition council’s Labour-led cabinet.

As an astute businessman with an MBA in Economics, it is a role in which even Farooq’s rivals would agree he has excelled.

A constant thread throughout his personal and political life, Farooq once again repeats the fact that his aim during this time was to help the city’s most vulnerable

“That is particularly close to my heart because I am someone who himself has come from a deprived background,” he said, “[so] I appreciate how valuable that help is.”

No longer a naive councillor but a seasoned political ‘big beast’ with a wealth of experience, the 60-year-old feels comfortably imparting opinion on what being a good councillor is all about.

“Every councillor,” he shares, “their fundamental principle is making a difference to people’s lives.”

“If they keep that reference point at every policy juncture, every move they make, then I think the council can’t go wrong.”

The end of an era

Councillor Mohammed Farooq attended his last council meeting on March 25.

When asked what he will miss about about being part of the furniture at Sand Martin House, he replies simply:

“I think I’ll miss everything.”

At the only point in an interview which has been warm and positive, Farooq becomes slightly melancholy – and just a tiny bit emotional.

“It’s been a great journey,” he says quietly, “A lot of good things come to an end.”

With customary grace and his ever-present sense of duty he adds: “If the council needs me then I can always come back again!”

So what’s next for Mohammed Farooq?

“I might be tempted to have a holiday,” he says, laughing: “I haven’t had a holiday in the last eight or nine years!”