Ex council leaders 'played casino with residents' livelihoods' in Peterborough, current leader says

Previous council leaders “played casino” with residents’ cash, its current leader has said.

Cllr Mohammed Farooq (Peterborough First, Hargate and Hempsted) dismissed suggestions his former party, the Conservatives, had been improving the council’s financial position by the time he took over in November, saying they were reckless with the public purse.

“You almost sink the ship and then you just drive it for half an hour and say you’ve saved the ship,” he said. “You haven’t saved it; you played casino with the livelihoods of the residents of Peterborough.”

Cllr Farooq left the Conservative group last year before launching a vote of no confidence in its leadership and administration alongside most of his Peterborough First group – with the informal backing of Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens.

In its final report before the Conservatives were removed from power, the independent panel which oversees PCC’s governance and finances said the council has “continued to make improvements in both the way that it manages budgets and in how it makes financial decisions”.

Current Conservative leader, Cllr Wayne Fitzgerald (Conservatives, West) has also defended the council’s finances, writing in his Peterborough Telegraph column that its £426m debt position is “deliberate” and represents investment in new schools, housing and culture and leisure facilities and should be weighed against its £630m in assets.

Cllr Farooq has particularly criticised the decision, made under the Conservatives, to lend around £15m to build a new hotel in Fletton Quays.

Although Peterborough First and others have criticised this because the Hilton building is, nearly eight years later, unfinished, with its developers having been taken into administration, this is also down to a difference of opinion about what a local authority’s function should be.

'Council should never lend to private organisations'

Cllr Farooq has said he wants to introduce processes that mean “never having the council in a place to lend money to private organisations and private individuals” and has said it should leave agreements with outside companies where they’re “not adding any value”.

This began under the Conservatives – with relationships with companies such as NPS Peterborough and Opportunity Peterborough coming to an end last year – but continued under Peterborough First, with companies such as Blue Sky Peterborough and the Peterborough Investment Partnership being wound up in more recent months.

Cllr Farooq, who has led the council for around six months, hopes to remain leader after the local elections on 2nd May.

“Let’s have continuity. We started the work, so let’s finish it,” he said.

Does council leader have personal ambition?

Labour leader Cllr Dennis Jones (Labour, Dogsthorpe) has said running the council has “never been a huge ambition” on a personal level – but does Cllr Farooq have personal ambition?

“That’s a very difficult question,” he said. “What I can say is that I started a number of projects and I’d love to see them through and if it’s not me, I would love the next person to see them through.”

Peterborough First – a party of 10 which are only standing four extra candidates in this year’s council elections – will work with all parties “for the best delivery of services to the council”.

While it’s open to working with other parties in future, “we are independents and we want to stay independent, away from any party politics,” Cllr Farooq said.

Is calling Peterborough First candidates 'independent' confusing?

Indeed, members of the group will appear as ‘Peterborough First Independent’ on ballot papers in the wards in which they’re standing, but Cllr Farooq insists this isn’t confusing – despite Peterborough First being registered with the Electoral Commission as a political party.

“When people run out of ideas and policies, they try to create confusion about the opposition,” he said of criticism of the term.

The group is a collection of independents, it says, who are free to vote as they wish in council decisions.

Cllr Jones has said an agreement between Labour and Peterborough First is the most likely outcome of the local elections, although it comes down to how people vote on the day.

What would Cllr Farooq do without his deputy?

But if there are changes to the current cabinet, headed by Cllr Farooq, he could find himself without his trusty deputy, Cllr John Howard (Peterborough First, Hargate and Hempsted).

As Cllr Farooq admits, the two are “inseparable” and have attended council engagements together since Peterborough First took over the council.

“John’s been at my side for the last six or seven years; even before we became councillors,” he said.

“You’ve seen John sticking with me and we’ve been through thick and thin. Whatever I do, I’ll always work with him. Whether we have some kind of role together, or whether we don’t, we’ll always be working together.”

Neither Cllr Farooq nor Cllr Howard’s seats are up for election this year, so, whether they find themselves in the council’s cabinet or not, they’ll both be serving Hargate and Hempsted ward next year.