Tycoon reveals radical plan for our city if he is elected mayor

Bins driving themselves to the dump, shuttle buses roaming through the city, councillors stripped of their powers and residents voting on how their money is spent - welcome to the radical world of Peter Dawe, millionaire entrepreneur and mayoral candidate for Peterborough and Cambridgeshire. A successful businessman attempting to take onthe establishment is hardly original in 2016, but Mr Dawe has a CV that even The Donald would be impressed by.

The first person to provide the internet to living rooms in Europe back in the early 1990s, Mr Dawe has also been awarded an OBE for tackling online child porn, believes that the EU is “evil,” andwants to replace the minimumwage with a citizen’s wage - a guaranteed income for all people.

A former UKIP member now standing as an independent, a founder of more than 80 companies, and a campaigner who says he gave homeless people jobs and a roof to sleep under, Mr Dawe is vying to be the county’s first ever elected mayor next May.

He aims to fight off established political figures to head a new combined authority with leaders from all seven Cambridgeshire councils, as well as a representative from the Greater Cambridge-Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership.

Sitting down with the Peterborough Telegraph for more than two hours last week Mr Dawe, who recently sold Cambridge TV, described his vision for a radical overhaul of transport across the county.

“When I look at cities around the world that don’t have regulation, mostof them operate on shuttle mini buses. These are vehicles that take eight to 15 people, and all they do is go between A and B all day,” he said.

“With a mini bus with eight people you get frequency, you get the comfort.

“But let’s go one step further and say why can’t the shuttle mini buses drop you off at your door and pick you up at the door? You have an app. You say ,‘ I’ m going into the city centre ’. The a pp comes back and says, ‘I’m picking up in your area, be outside the door at 11.23’ and bang you’re in. The eventual transition of course is that these minibuses don’t have a driver.”

Mr Dawe admitted he “really dislikes” being on a bus, and he wants to encourage car sharing and the use of electric bikes, which could be funded by the combined authority.

All that would be in the first term. Looking to the next decade, he asks: “Why can’t the bins, when they’re full, drive themselves to the dump? You haven’t got to worry about people stealing the contents have you?”

And then there are dr ones - “When you say you’ re home, or your phone says you’re home, the little three-wheel drone trundles down your street and bleeps you saying ‘I’m outside your front door’.

“You put the code on the drone, open it up, and take your goods out.”

Mr Dawe, of Ely, is now looking for a Peterborough co-mayor to join him if he gets elected. He has previously admitted he is “weak on the special nature of Peterborough” but hopes to rectify that by hiring an on-politician to work alongside him.

“We have a couple of candidates but I’d like more,” he added. l The PT will be interviewing other candidates in the mayoral election as they are chosen by their parties or announce their candidacy.

Peter Dawe