Peterborough City Council leader and MPs call on Government to give fairer funding to Peterborough
The leader of Peterborough City Council and the city’s two MPs have called on the Government to increase funding for the city.
Cllr Shabina Qayyum, leader of Peterborough City Council – along with North West Cambridgeshire MP Sam Carling and Peterborough MP Andrew Pakes – have issued a call for the Government to permanently increase funding for Peterborough in the upcoming Fair Funding Review.
The review, launched after Labour won power last year, will update council funding formulas to provide more support for areas with higher deprivation and local needs.
This comes as the government looks to build a fair playing field and stop the wave of councils going bankrupt which started in 2018 and has since then seen 11 councils issue “Section 114 notices” – which are reports declaring they’ve effectively gone bust.
None of these have happened since Labour came to power, and increased annual government funding for councils to over £69 billion earlier this year – a 6.8% increase.
“As Peterborough’s council leader, my job to bang the drum for our city – and that’s exactly what I’ll always do"
The trio of political leaders in the city – who all represent Labour – have now called for more funding for Peterborough.
Cllr Qayyum said: “As Peterborough’s council leader, my job to bang the drum for our city – and that’s exactly what I’ll always do. We’ve made huge progress in getting our city’s finances on a sustainable footing, but the deck is still stacked against us thanks to slashed funding for our council under the last government. We now need this Labour government to right those wrongs.”
“Now it’s time to see fairer funding baked into Peterborough for good"
Mr Pakes MP added: “We’re seeing this government back Peterborough – with £20 million for a new pool being the latest example of serious government investment in our city. What a change from the Conservatives, whose last Prime Minister openly admits he changed funding rules to take money out of deprived urban areas.
“Now it’s time to see fairer funding baked into Peterborough for good, and we’re launching this campaign to make sure the government hears that.”
Mr Carling MP said: “Under the Conservatives, Peterborough and Cambridgeshire were short-changed from biased funding formulas and serious cuts to local government funding that forced councils nationally to make £24.5 billion of cuts to services.
“But we’re seeing a real effort to turn that around now. The government is providing £40 million for communities in Peterborough to invest in communities and families for the long term. The next step in restoring pride in our region needs to be giving our councils the funding they need.