Tough financial choices for new councillors in Peterborough

A third of councillors will be elected on 2 May

Local council elections take place in Peterborough on 2 May.

The authority has had tough financial decisions to make in recent years. The government told it to sell some of its assets to plug a budget deficit.

The new cohort of elected representatives will have to carry on making decisions on whether to sell a number of buildings, and set council tax rates.

The council is a unitary authority and residents of a Band D property will pay £1,666 for council services in 2024/25. This excludes precepts such as those paid to the police and fire service. In 2020/21, the figure was £1,398.

Property sale

A list of 79 places being considered for sale was published in the autumn.

The list of buildings the council wants to sell includes community centres and libraries. It also plans to demolish the Regional Pool, which has had a series of problems including asbestos, legionella and Raac.

In the village of Eye, a petition was set up to save the local youth centre and library building which was identified as one of the 79 buildings that may be sold.

Their future is still uncertain but options have been presented to possibly secure its future, or relocate services very close by.

Dale McKean set up the petition and says they are still in limbo on what the future holds. They are hopeful a solution involving funding from the government's youth investment fund will allow it to stay in place.

Dale McKean started the petition to save the library and youth club in Eye

The centre houses a library and a youth centre, which is used by a number of local groups including the local Brownies.

Mr McKean says he would like to see the council operate a senior youth club in the village, something which was stopped five years ago because of a lack of funding.

He says it is really important for young people in the village to be able to access services near where they live.

What the party leaders say

The party leaders are listed in alphabetical order by surname below.

Nicola Day, Green party leader in Peterborough, represents the Orton Waterville ward on the council

The leader of the Peterborough Green party, Nicola Day, said it was "impolite" to inform user groups to move out of a venue at short notice.

"The council have taken a long time to consider the sale of community centres," she said.

"We have been reassured that the current administration have taken a holistic approach to this asset review and are listening to communities and user groups.

"As Greens we believe we should be managing our centres well and be making better use of them, as well as focusing on how to stop the costly mistakes of the previous Conservative administration running into millions repeating itself.

"To inform user groups that they may be having to move at short notice is impolite and unnecessary."

Mohammed Farooq leads the Peterborough First group of independents

Mohammed Farooq is the leader of the Peterborough First group of independent councillors and is currently the council's leader. His group runs the council with the support of Labour, Liberal Democrats and the Green party.

They took over the administration of the council in November 2023 after a vote of no confidence in former Conservative leader Wayne Fitzgerald. .

He said their priority with the building sell-off was to "not make anybody homeless".

Some venues, like the community centre in Eye, were "past their sell-by date", he added.

They want to focus on providing new or repurposed accommodation that is "fit for purpose for the next 60 to 70 years".

Wayne Fitzgerald is the leader of the Conservative group

Wayne Fitzgerald is the leader of the Conservative group.

His administration started the work of the so-called locality review, which identified the list of buildings that could potentially be sold.

"It's essential the work continues," he said. "What's on offer [in the buildings] is more important than the building it is offered in."

He said that "re-provisioning the services is key" and some buildings were not worth saving.

He emphasised that working with all the groups affected was important.

Christian Hogg is the leader of the Liberal Democrats

Christian Hogg is the leader of the Liberal Democrats and said they needed to "look at how we got into this predicament in the first place".

Mr Hogg says two decades of bad decisions by the Conservative administration, like "selling off the football ground at a loss", has left the council in a difficult place.

He said that a lack of investment had led to some buildings "quite literally falling apart".

He thinks they need to look at the portfolio and how they can be better utilised.

"There is a need to sell some to bring other facilities back up to a good level," he said.

Dennis Jones is the leader of the Labour group

Dennis Jones is the leader of the Labour group.

He said "each one [of the buildings] needs to be reviewed" in a "systematic" way.

He has also put blame at the door of the former Conservative administration, saying that the council "nearly went broke".

For that reason, he said the council needed "capital receipts" to help improve the finances.

He has urged any groups with concerns about the plans to get in touch with them so they can discuss it.

The election takes place on Thursday, 2 May and a full list of candidates standing is available on the Peterborough City Council website.