The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
No change in council control
Peterborough City Council remains under no overall control after no party made any major gains in the 2022 local elections.
The Labour Group were expected to make significant gains but only ended the night with one more seat than they started with; taking North ward from the Conservatives with Noreen Bi beating Akim Akim to take the seat of Shazia Bashir, who moved to contest Park ward.
Labour’s gain in North was cancelled out by the Conservatives gaining Ravensthorpe from former Labour general election candidate, but now independent councillor, Ed Murphy, who was beaten into third place in his former ward.
The results means that the Conservatives remain on 28 seats and Labour move up from 16 to 17 seats.
For the Conservatives to remain in control of the council though, they still need the support of the four Peterborough First councillors.
The group remained at four members after the outgoing Mayor Steve Lane held his seat in Werrington by a margin of 878.
Peterborough First’s support is yet to be confirmed though. There has been speculation that their support, that has kept the Conservatives in control of the town hall since 2019, will be withdrawn given the recent fallouts over the closure of both the Werrington Leisure Centre and St George’s Community Hydrotherapy Pool.
Should this support not come, a coalition of Labour,
Liberal Democrats, Greens and Peterborough First could take control of the council.
Green Party leader Julie Howell was the only group leader up for re-election and won with the biggest winning margin of the night, storming to victory in her Orton Waterville ward by a margin of 1314 votes.
The Liberal Democrats held all three of the seats they were defending; with Andrew Bond defeating John Peach in Gunthorpe, Asif Shaheed holding Paston and Walton and Christian Hogg retaining his seat in Fletton and Stanground. Jade Seager was the fourth Lib Dem winner of the night, winning the seat that was left vacant by the resignation of Lib Dem candidate Terri Haynes earlier this year.
This means that the final make up of the council is now Conservatives 28, La
bour/Labour and Co-operative 17, Liberal Democrats 8, Peterborough First 4 and Greens 3.
The overall turnout was 30%, marginally down from 33.97% from the 2021 elections.
Coun Wayne Fitzgerald, who was re-elected unopposed as Conservative Group Leader on Monday, said he was “thrilled” with the outcome of the local elections - but went on to add “we’ve had some real challenges with the national news dominating the news media.”
Mr Fitzgerald said: “While we are back where we started at 28 seats,
I’m disappointed that we didn’t make the gains that I thought we might, but again understandable given the national picture.
“It’s evident that we didn’t make gains in Fletton and Woodston, Fletton and Stanground, Gunthorpe, all Liberal strongholds across the city.
“But the Conservative administration, I hope, continue [to be] the largest party tomorrow as it has been in the past. Whilst it will be difficult and challenging, I’ve managed that challenge myself quite well.
“I will be talking to the opposition parties who already know that I have a more collaborative style, and will be looking to share the responsibility of who does what within the council. But I think this is a great, and positive result for the Conservatives.”