Sara Bristow, wife of Peterborough's MP, to run for Werrington council seat

Sara Bristow will stand as a Conservative candidate for Werrington in this year’s local elections, her husband MP Paul Bristow has announced.

Ms Bristow says it “wasn’t an easy decision” to stand but that Peterborough City Council (PCC) “could be doing so much better” on local issues. Mr Bristow shared news of her candidacy on social media.

Two council seats in Werrington are up for election on May 2nd: one held by Cllr John Fox (Peterborough First, Werrington) and another other recently exited by Stephen Lane, who was also a member of Peterborough First before he resigned mid-term for personal reasons.

Two elections will be held in Werrington on 2nd May this year

The area in north Peterborough has become something of a political battleground, particularly because of a row over whether the council is compelled to fence off Werrington Fields for use by Ken Stimpson Academy and its decision to close off three footbridges in local beauty spot Cuckoo’s Hollow over safety concerns.

Ms Bristow says she would “work alongside Paul to reverse these disastrous plans” in relation to fencing off Werrington Fields if elected and resign if she can’t achieve this.

“My plan for Werrington Fields is simple – bring back the compromise that Paul and campaigners were involved in negotiating,” she said. “This would mean a smaller area would be fenced off for day-to-day school use, but keep the rest open.”

‘Political opportunism’

Cllr John Howard (Peterborough First, Hargate and Hempsted), deputy leader of PCC, said “residents should think carefully if this is political opportunism on a sensitive issue”.

“Werrington has had a Conservative MP since 2019 and a Conservative council administration for 23 years until 1st November: they were never able to resolve the issues with Werrington fields,” he said.

“What could one candidate on their own do that nobody else in the previous 23 years of Conservative control on the council have been able to collectively achieve with their MP?”

Cllr Fox has previously said he’s against fencing off the entirety of Werrington Fields and also wants to see a smaller portion fenced for use by the school.

He has also suggested Ms Bristow’s campaign is political opportunism, pointing out that Mr Bristow has praised him and his own wife Cllr Judy Fox (Peterborough First, Werrington) as hard-working councillors in the past.

Fence issue escalated to PM

The council’s position is that a decision from the Secretary of State that it wasn’t permitted to change the use of part of the fields to public land in order to fence off another part for the school meant it was effectively compelled to fence off most of the fields to safeguard the children who use them as playing fields.

But it also said it would seek a community use agreement to continue some level of access for residents.

It has since paused plans to fence off the fields in order to allow Mr Bristow and Labour’s parliamentary candidate Andrew Pakes to hold further talks with the Department for Education about a possible compromise.

Ms Bristow’s position, as well as that of Mr Bristow and some local campaigners, is that fencing off the fields, or not, is entirely a matter for the council.

The issue was escalated to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who said at Prime Minister’s Questions that “the council can provide for some of that land to be fenced and [...] the department would be comfortable with that, provided that the overall site remains educational land”.

Ms Bristow says she and her husband have worked together before, as they would again if she was elected to the city council.

Mr Bristow is also likely to have to defend his seat in the near future, although the date of the next general election is yet to be announced.

“Before Paul was our MP, we worked together at a company that campaigns for better health care outcomes in our NHS,” she said. “That is where we met, had our first argument, and fell in love.”

This year’s local elections will take place on 2nd May.

It should be noted that Werrington’s two seats will have candidates running for parties other than the Conservatives and Peterborough First, but other candidates have not been named as yet.