Tag: Peterborough City Council

Cambridgeshire Police Commissioner candidate warns of incipient privatisation

10:24 Monday 1st February 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: We’re also talking anti-social behaviour. Many of you getting in touch today with your stories. We heard from John earlier. Les from Cambridge says “After nine months of stone-throwing against my window amongst other things my support worker organised mediation. Any way, I think we need to join up the thinking between unemployment, anti-social behaviour and immigration.” says Les from Cambridge. Obviously I haven’t seen any studies that do link those, but maybe there is something there says Les in Cambridge. But if anti-social behaviour is making your life a misery we’d like to hear from you this morning. And how do you think we should stop it? We heard about the Arbury Estate in Cambridge earlier, where residents say drug use and poor driving were causing problems. Well now a row has broken out in Peterborough about how the city there should tackle anti-social behaviour. Some councillors say they want council staff to be able to tackle anti-social behaviour, which includes aggressive begging. But others are concerned about the scheme and want it thrown out. One of them who wants it thrown out is Labour councillor Ed Murphy. Ed, morning.
ED MURPHY: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: What’s wrong with it, on the face of it, tackling anti-social behaviour?
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Cash-strapped council raises rates and defers interest repayments

17:20 Friday 29th January 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: It looks like council tax will be going up by 4% in Peterborough next year. It’s one of the proposals in the City Council budget, announced today. Despite facing a deficit of £24 million next year, the Council is maintaining that no services will be cut. Our Political Reporter Hannah Olsson has more.
HANNAH OLSSON: It’s a legal requirement that every council must present a balanced budget, and this year hasn’t bee easy. Councils are facing a significant reduction in the amount of money they get from central government, alongside an ever-growing demand on their services. Peterborough City Council has a £24 million gap in its budget for next year. The first half of savings were announced at the end of last year, and today we found out about the second half. Many councils including Cambridgeshire say they’ll have no choice but to cut services, but Peterborough City Council say they’ve managed to pull the political rabbit out of the hat and balance their budget, and still provide the same services they are at the moment. I asked David Seaton who’s in charge of finance at the Council how they’ve done it.
DAVID SEATON: We’ve done it through things like the benefits of growth that we’ve seen, the extra income from council tax, the extra income from business rates, our innovative ways of doing things. And we’ve talked before about our customer experience programme, what that can do for us, and also the joint working we’re doing with other councils, and the income we’re getting from that.
HANNAH OLSSON: As David mentioned there, the key reason that Peterborough is in a healthier position that other councils is that it’s had so much growth in recent years. Peterborough is the third fastest growing city in the UK, and with new homes being built and new businesses opening, the Council simply gets more money.
CHRIS MANN: Yes Hannah but even with that, the Council still needs to find an extra £24 million next year. So how are they going to do that?
HANNAH OLSSON: Well one of the ways they’re saving money is through some clever refinancing of the Council’s debt. They’ve already told us in budget part one how they’ll be extending the debt on their assets from 25 to 42 years. They’ve now said they’re also going to be making these debt repayments more like mortgages, so the rate of interest is higher, but means the repayment is the same over the whole period, which in short means they won’t cost them as much now. There’s also going to be some savings in their staff costs. They’ll be closing their office between Christmas and New Year, stopping all the automatic pay increases for around 20% of council staff, and changing the way their staff are paid for travel. And of course they’re also planning to raise money by putting up council tax by 4%. Councils always have the option of increasing tax by 2%, but this year the Government also said they could add on an extra 2% as long as this money is spent on adult social care. Earlier in the week we heard that Cambridgeshire County Council isn’t planning on taking the Government up on this extra 2% offer, but Peterborough is.
CHRIS MANN: So ratepayers will want to know just how much does this extra money, this 4% rise, work out at.
HANNAH OLSSON: Well for the average Band D property, the council tax increase would work out at an extra 87p a week. Now the Band D property is a benchmark people use when we’re talking about tax rises. But it’s worth saying that the average property in Peterborough is actually Band B, so they would see an increase of 67p a week. This rise would add up to an extra £2.4 million for the Council’s coffers, although as I said half of this will have to be spent on adult social care. At the moment these are all still proposals. The final decision will be made on 9th march following a public consultation.
CHRIS MANN: Hannah Olsson there with that special report. Well let’s bring in the Leader of Peterborough City Council, John Holdich. Evening John.
JOHN HOLDICH: (DELAY) … believe me after an introduction like that. She’s really understood it.
CHRIS MANN: Good. (LAUGHS) Well glad that we’re presenting the facts.
JOHN HOLDICH: Good.
CHRIS MANN: But you’re caught between a rock and a hard place, because you say that you’re not cutting any services, but you have to save money. Are you sure nothing is going to be cut?
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Selective landlord licensing – the devil in the detail

07:21 Thursday 21st January 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: Peterborough has been reviewing the results of a consultation on whether to charge landlords in parts of the city hundreds of pounds to license their properties. It was an attempt to crack down on anti-social behaviour and unscrupulous landlords, but it proved controversial and provoked allegations of racism when the Council carried out a consultation on the scheme back in 2013. The scheme was deferred again in September last year, only a week after it was put back on the table, and then re-introduced again a month later in October 2015. My producer Dave Webster joins me now. So Dave, how was this scheme actually going to work?
DAVE WEBSTER: Well it’s called selective landlord licensing, and initially it was only going to apply, or it wasn’t going to apply to all landlords in Peterborough, just the ones that have problems in the Gladstone, Millfield, New England and Eastfield areas. Now landlords would have to fill out a form registering the property, that’s for an initial five year period. There was going to be a fee, around about £600, but after consultation with various associations and letting agents, that was dropped to £50. Detractors claimed it was racist, unfairly targeting Asian landlords, who are prevalent in the target area. It would mean additional costs would be passed on to tenants.
DOTTY MCLEOD: And so why was it thought that a scheme like this was needed?
DAVE WEBSTER: Well in short it was designed to try to improve areas of the city to deal with anti-social behaviour, poor quality rental homes and criminal landlords. They’ve been introduced by other councils already. The Government gave the local authorities the power to introduce these licences back in 2006. For example, they’ve had a scheme running in Margate for the last five years. They’ve prosecuted twenty landlords who hadn’t applied for a licence, the maximum fine being £20,000.
DOTTY MCLEOD: And since 2013, this has been a bit of an hokey cokey of a Council policy in that it’s been in, it’s been out, it’s been suggested, it’s been deferred. What’s happened now?
DAVE WEBSTER: Yes. A highly controversial policy. For example landlords queried why the scheme was only proposed for one part of the city, and not make it pan-city wide. back in September last year we reported that councillor Peter Hiller made the decision to defer the scheme. He’s the Council’s Cabinet member for Growth, Planning, Housing and Economic Development. Now in a statement he said that a change to Government legislation in April meant that the Council now required approval from the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to introduce selective licensing into the target area. So the story is not over yet Dotty. It needs to be signed off by the Secretary of State if the target area contains more than 20% of privately rented homes in the entire area controlled by the Council, which in this case it did. So then a month later in October last year it was put back on the table would you believe it. The aspiration is it will change the quality of life for private tenants. .. Lisa Forbes is the Chair of the Peterborough City Council’s Scrutiny Committee, which met last night to talk about these plans. Morning Lisa.
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Cambridgeshire councils freeze council tax

East Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire District Councils pledge no rate rise..

09:23 Thursday 7th January 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: In town halls right across the county councillors will be putting the finishing touches to their budgets for the next year, including having to make a decision on whether or not they should increase their council tax too. Many are predicting that record numbers of councils will increase their tax, because the Government has withdrawn the incentive to freeze council tax. So they could put it up by up to 4%, just under 4%. So add that to the other two bits (police and fire precepts) and your bill could go up by over 6%. I’m pleased to say that councils are ringing us left right and centre this morning to tell us exactly what they’re doing. Bill Hunt the Conservative councillor in East Cambridgeshire, morning Bill.
BILL HUNT: Good morning to you.
PAUL STAINTON: What’s going on in East Cambs Bill?
BILL HUNT: Well we listened to the people. We’re cutting bureaucracy and we’re retaining our free car parking. And we’re not putting council tax up this year.
PAUL STAINTON: That’s a definite.
BILL HUNT: It’s the East Cambs element of course as you say. Other people might, the County Council and the fire services. But East Cambs will not. We’re confirmed. We didn’t do it last year. We think that people who go to work are paying more than enough tax already. And we’re looking at slimming down our council and having a can-do attitude, and delivering what the people want.
PAUL STAINTON: Yes. How are you making ends meet though?
BILL HUNT: Well cutting out bureaucracy.
PAUL STAINTON: People say that. That’s a trite phrase, isn’t it? What does that mean?
BILL HUNT: We’ve done away with one tier of management, and we’ve encouraged youngsters to come up, with their new enthusiasm. And we’ve changed the management structure.
PAUL STAINTON: Yes but no good if the County Council stick 4% on, eh?
BILL HUNT: Well, you know, we in East Cambs., we’re doing our bit for East Cambs.
PAUL STAINTON: Yes. You’re doing what you can do Bill is what you’re saying, isn’t it?
BILL HUNT: Yes. And we’re the only city in East Anglia without car parking charges in the centre.
PAUL STAINTON: Yes. Apart from Fenland of course.
BILL HUNT: Pardon?
PAUL STAINTON: Fenland is free as well.
BILL HUNT: Yes I’m talking about a city. Ely is a city.
PAUL STAINTON: Oh. No. Apologies. I’m there. I’m there Bill. I’m there Bill.
BILL HUNT: The only city in East Anglia without charges.
PAUL STAINTON: You’ve planted that flag for East Cambs. this morning Bill I think. You really have.
BILL HUNT: Well we’re doing the job. We’re asking the people what they want. We’re doing the best we can to do what they want, and we think they’re paying enough council tax as it is.
PAUL STAINTON: Well Bill, thank you for that. That’s Bill Hunt. He’s county councillor. There’ll be no increase from them on your council tax bills in and around Ely in that part of Cambridgeshire. But of course the County Council could still add their bit. Let’s move over to Huntingdon. Jason Ablewhite is the Leader of Hunts District Council of course. Morning Jason.
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Peterborough park and ride plans quietly forgotten

City’s Environment Capital costume looking increasingly threadbare.

07:17 Thursday 7th January 2016
BBC radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: When you say park and ride in Cambridge everyone knows what you’re talking about. They’ve been huge successes these car parks based around the city centre in a kind of ring with then buses into town, huge success, thousands of people using them every day. Now there have been tentative plans for something similar in Peterborough for years now, but that could all change. Instead of progress being made on the plans, they could be removed. There was a special meeting of the City Council last night to look at the Draft Local Transport Plan for Peterborough. It was proposed that the year-round park and ride scheme proposals be dropped. Nick Sandford is LibDem Leader on the City Council and chaired that meeting. Morning Nick.
NICK SANDFORD: Morning Dotty.
DOTTY MCLEOD: So can you just outline for us first of all what a Draft Local Transport Plan is? What are we talking about here?
NICK SANDFORD: Well it basically sets out the transport vision that the Council has. They’re trying to project a long term vision forward to about 2030. But it also talks about some of the short term projects that they’re going to implement in order to take that forward.
DOTTY MCLEOD: Now it might be news to some people that there have even been plans for a park and ride scheme in Peterborough as part of this Local Plan for the past few years, but that’s the case isn’t it?

It is a proper tale of two cities this.

NICK SANDFORD: Yes it is. The Council’s been drawing up these Local Transport Plans since about the year 2000 and there’s always been a long term commitment to have a park and ride scheme. In fact the Council traditionally for a number of years had a park and ride scheme in the period running up to Christmas, but it only ran for quite a short period. The population of Peterborough is projected to grow by about 25%, so if we don’t actually do something fairly quickly there’s going to be an awful lot of congestion in the city centre.
DOTTY MCLEOD: So what happened at this meeting last night?
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Bloated bureaucracy bogus democracy

A veteran Independent councillor states plainly what he feels is wrong with our local government.

10:39 Monday 4th January 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: On the subject of this idea that’s on the front of the Peterborough Telegraph this morning, a new Eastern super-council, apparently talks are going to get underway soon which will encompass Peterborough and Cambridgeshire and Norfolk and Suffolk and Fenland and bring all that together. On the subject of that Pete says “I’m in favour of it all in consolidation Paul. Less management, an economy of scale for procurement. It can only be a good thing. Besides, living in Fenland we are ignored. Everything goes to Cambridge, so we have nothing to lose here.” says Peter. Do we need a revamp as to how our county, and Fenland of course as well, and Peterborough are governed? Council bosses in Cambridgeshire have been told that the county is too small to be given devolved powers from the Government. So it’s no good Peterborough and Fenland and Cambridgeshire county councils teaming up. Too small. It could mean that we have to buddy up with Norfolk or Essex or Suffolk, and get all those extra powers. Well the news has left one councillor, a former County Council Leader Martin Curtis, to call for a complete review of how councils are drawn up, and how we’re all governed. Well with me now is Peterborough councillor Charlie Swift. He’s seen it all and more in his years on Peterborough City Council. Morning Charlie.
CHARLES SWIFT: Morning young man.
PAUL STAINTON: Is this the Emperor’s new clothes, or a brand new idea?
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Homeless people empty dwellings – a natural result of market forces

09:40 Wednesday 16th December 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: A few weeks ago on this show we revealed that Syrian refugees were being re-homed in so-called empty houses in Cambridge. Now an empty home is classified as one that has been left empty by the owner for more than six months. Well many of you were surprised to hear that given the current housing crisis, there were so many of these houses just sat empty. So we though we’d investigate if the amount of empty homes was going up or going down. According to figures given to us by local authorities, the amount of empty houses is actually coming down in most areas. But there’s still thousands of empty properties across the county that are just sat there, not being used. In Cambridge for instance, one in seventeen homes are empty. In Peterborough there are over 400 empty houses. Fenland has 250 with nobody in them. Huntingdon over 1,000, some of which have only just become empty. In South Cambs and East Cambs, councils claim they don[‘t have any empty houses. Well joining is now is a man in the know about the problem when it comes to empty homes, Adam Cliff is the Empty Homes Officer at Peterborough City Council. He won the Empty Homes Practitioner of the Year award in 2014 no less. Congratulations.
ADAM CLIFF: Thank you very much Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: I think we talked about it at the time didn’t we?
ADAM CLIFF: We have, yes.
PAUL STAINTON: You came in. So a house becomes empty. When does it become an ’empty home’, and when does it come on your radar in Peterborough?
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Council squad to target aggressive beggars and rogue cyclists

11:23 Wednesday 9th December 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Yesterday on the show we were asking whether the targeting of cyclists on Bridge Street in Peterborough or beggars in the city centre was the best way to tackle anti-social behaviour. Peterborough City Council is starting a scheme which involves council workers being given law enforcement powers from April next year. They’ll have staff on the streets tasked with cracking down on many types of bad behaviour. Well after the show yesterday I spoke to Robin Sissons, the Chief Inspector for the Safer Peterborough Partnership. He’s in charge of this new safety enforcement team. And I started by asking why the city needed to tackle beggars and cyclists. This is what he had to say.
ROBIN SISSONS: If the community feel that an issue is really really important to them then we, as a service, should be tackling those issues that make them feel unsafe.
PAUL STAINTON: Well the police say it’s unenforceable, this ban, and that nobody has ever been injured in the last five years because of a cyclist, so what’s the point?
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