Category: Peterborough

UKIP targets Peterborough

10:41 Monday 1st December 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: UKIP have been putting the finishing touches to their list of candidates for the next General Election. The South Cambs branch appointed Deborah Rennie out of a shortlist of four on Saturday night, and in Peterborough Mary Herdman was selected as the candidate to fight for Stewart Jackson’s seat. Peterborough will surely be a target for Nigel Farage’s party. We talked to UKIP last week and we heard Stewart Jackson saying, ‘why stand when my views are almost in line with yours?’. In fact when we spoke to Stewart he was almost begging the party not to field a candidate in Peterborough. Well their candidate joins us now. Mary good morning.
MARY HERDMAN: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: Why stand? Why split the vote?
MARY HERDMAN: We won’t be splitting the vote. If you vote for UKIP you will get UKIP.
PAUL STAINTON: You’ll get Miliband they say if you vote for you.
MARY HERDMAN: No no. Definitely not Paul. If we can get MPs in a lot of seats throughout Britain, if you vote UKIP you will get UKIP. And we need UKIP in the Government.
PAUL STAINTON: Alright. Run through a list of policies then Mary that you’re going to be standing on.
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Council in crisis awards large payrises to top staff

07:45 Friday 21st November 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: Yesterday there was a big meeting of Peterborough City Council’s Employment Committee. They were discussing the wages of senior officers. Some of them earn as much as £140,000 a year, and some top council staff received pay increases of up to 30% earlier this year. They were taking on new roles. The decision to award these increases has now been revisited. Nick Sandford is the Leader of Peterborough’s Liberal Democrats. Nick, what happened at the meeting last night?
NICK SANDFORD: Well just to put the context, earlier this year back in February there was a private meeting of the Employment Committee, at which these very large pay rises of up to 33% were pushed through. When this became public at Full Council there was complete outrage, and it was decided to refer it back to the Employment Committee. I proposed at the Employment Committee not that we try and unpick all these increases, but that we ask each of the senior officers earning over £100,000 to take a small reduction in their salary.
DOTTY MCLEOD: So when we say small, how big?
NICK SANDFORD: I wasn’t really concerned. I quoted a figure of around about 15%, but it could be 10%, it could be only 5%. But that was rejected by the Committee.
DOTTY MCLEOD: OK. Why are you so worried about these wages? Do you just think it’s too much money?
NICK SANDFORD: We’ve currently got a situation where senior officers, some of them earn up to £170,000. And as I said earlier, some of them had increases of 20% and 30%. One actually had the increase backdated for a three year period, so got £30,000 on top of that. That’s at the same time that the Council is cutting its adult social care budget by 16%. People who are receiving council tax benefit are going to have that reduced by about 40%. So I think all that I was saying was these senior officers on these really high salaries, we should ask them to share in just a small amount of the pain that people on the smallest incomes are having to feel.
DOTTY MCLEOD: Let’s bring in councillor Wayne Fitzgerald who is Peterborough City Council’s Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care. Councillor Fitzgerald, why did you reject this idea?
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Council budget proposals make grim reading

07:41 Monday 17th November 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: Conservative councillors in Peterborough have announced how they plan to balance the city’s budget for next year. It makes pretty grim reading. Peterborough City Council face the challenge of bridging a £25 million shortfall in funds, created by reductions in central government funding. The main headlines from the budget proposals include a £7 million reduction from the adult social care budget, a minimum 10% rise in parking charges for city centre council-run car parks, the introduction of a parking charge for blue badge holders, more than £500,000 to be cut from the budget for Amey who run bin collections and street cleaning. And 30 members of staff will compulsorily be made redundant. And this is just the first wave of cuts. There will be more proposals in the new year. Some Opposition councillors have described them as ‘an attack on the city’s most vulnerable‘. Others have hit out at the Coalition Government for not giving the city enough funding. Joining us now is councillor John Holdich. Morning John.
JOHN HOLDICH: Good morning.
CHRIS MANN: The Deputy Leader of Peterborough City Council of course. A leading member of the Cabinet that put this together. You’ve been in the council for 37 years. Is that right?
JOHN HOLDICH: I have indeed Chris. Yes.
CHRIS MANN: Known anything tougher than this?
JOHN HOLDICH: Never, and it really wasn’t what I was elected to do.
CHRIS MANN: So where (how) did you decide where to put the red pen then?
JOHN HOLDICH: Well it is extremely difficult particularly this year. 14% of our Government funding has been cut,, which is equivalent to £44 million over five years. The next financial year as you’ve reported it’s £12.3 million, but we do have pressures of another £12 million because of the extra people coming into the service. And we do need to make £25 million worth of reductions to be able to balance our books.
CHRIS MANN: Some people will have noticed the correlation. You’re a Conservative. The Government is a Conservative-led coalition. Shouldn’t you be telling the Prime Minister and the Chancellor that they need to stop these cuts, and it’s really affecting people in your area?
JOHN HOLDICH: Well I think we’re always making representations across all the services, and one shouldn’t underestimate the task we’ve got here. For some councillors to attack it, this is the first tranche …
CHRIS MANN: Can you just answer that question again. The Government are the ones who are causing this, according to you, because you’ve had your central funding cut. It’s a Conservative government. Are you going to speak out against them?
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Environment Secretary announces new Government pollinator strategy

08:53 Tuesday 4th November 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: The Government is setting out its plans for safeguarding the nation’s bees. The insects play a vital role in pollinating many of our crops and wild plants, so a decline in numbers in recent years has led to warnings by scientists that the UK could face a food security catastrophe. Today the Environment Secretary Liz Truss will unveil a national strategy to help our bees and other pollinators in the future. Joining me is Matt Shardlow from Peterborough-based organisation Buglife. Morning Matt.
MATT SHARDLOW: Good morning.
DOTTY MCLEOD: So what are you expecting from this report today, from this strategy?
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Nick Sandford on senior officer salaries and the financial competence of the local authority

07:39 Wednesday 8th October 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: Now if I offered to increase your salary by nearly 50%, what would you think? I’m guessing you might think it’s a pretty good offer, too good to be true maybe. Well what if you’re the new Director of Public Health at Peterborough City Council? At a meeting this evening, the authority will ask permission to appoint a new Director, but they won’t be given the old salary of £80,000 that the previous Director was paid. Oh no! They will be paid just under £118,000. That’s a rise of nearly £38,000 a year. The City Council says the increase is necessary to compete with other health sectors and other local authorities. Let’s speak to the Leader of the Liberal Democrats in Peterborough, Nick Sandford. What do you make of this new salary that’s being proposed Nick?
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Marco Cereste on the abandoned renewable energy schemes

10:10 Wednesday 8th October 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: There’s concern this morning about the £3 million that’s been invested in the three solar park energy projects in Peterborough. Now two of them have been scrapped. Your comments this morning range from “a victory for Nimbyism” to ” has common sense prevailed over a poorly consulted project?“. Some people have called for a full-scale investigation into the actions of Peterborough City Council, and the way monies have been spent. So, has he been negligent or was he wise? Was he thinking outside of the box? Well let’s speak to the man who trumpeted this venture from the very start. let’s speak to Marco Cereste, Leader of Peterborough City Council. Marco, good morning.
MARCO CERESTE: Hello Paul. How are you doing?
PAUL STAINTON: Thank you for coming on. I’m fine. How are you this morning, and where does this leave Peterborough City Council and this £22 million black hole?
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Peterborough solar energy plans delayed

22:33 Monday 22nd September 2014
BBC Look East West

JANINE MACHIN: For two years they’ve been at the centre of a bitter argument in Peterborough, but tonight it seems the plans for a set of solar energy sites around the city are officially on hold. The City Council wanted to build the wind and solar farms on 900 acres of farmland at Newborough and Thorney. It was predicted to cost up to £300 million, but would generate electricity for the city to both use and to sell. Now the proposals were first put forward back in 2012, but they’ve always been controversial, sparking protests last year and a dispute between the City Council’s Leader and its MP, both Conservatives, but with very different opinions on the issue. The plans were last halted by the need for an archeological dig on the site, and then in March this year a team was put together to review the plans. Today came the decision to delay, as Ben Bland reports.
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Marco Cereste – The Big Conversation with Paul Stainton

10:09 Monday 15th September 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: The big interview on Ask the Boss is with Marco Cereste. Some call him a dictator. Some say he’s a man of the people. He’s the man who leads Peterborough City Council, and has done for a few years now. Contentious; polarises opinion; but who is he? What makes him tick? And what does he really stand for? Well he’s here. Let’s ask him. Morning Marco.
MARCO CERESTE: Hello Paul. How are you?
PAUL STAINTON: Is that a fair intro.?
MARCO CERESTE: Well I don’t know about that. One accepts what it is. (THEY LAUGH)
PAUL STAINTON: Your questions for Marco this morning in what is an interesting time for Peterborough and cities right across the country – if you’ve got something you’d like to ask him, 08459 252000. I suppose let’s start with that, that question. There are those who have been unkind and called you a dictator in the past, and said you don’t listen to people. And yet there are others out there who say actually you’re the most democratic Leader Peterborough City Council has ever had. So who are you?
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