Station Quarter funding vote unable to go ahead after Peterborough councillors fail to show up

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) was due to agree on a timetable for releasing the £48 million granted for the Station Quarter project to Peterborough City Council (PCC) at a transport meeting this week.

But the decision – and in fact all of the decisions due at the meeting – couldn’t be made because no PCC representatives showed up.

CPCA policy means that votes cannot officially be taken without members of all constituent councils in attendance.

Cllr Marco Cereste (Conservatives), is PCC’s usual representative, but explained that a family emergency meant he couldn’t be there.

Cllr Cereste said he informed the CPCA of the situation on Monday ahead of the meeting on Wednesday and “did everything that was possible” to ensure his absence didn’t affect it going ahead.

Ordinarily, that would mean that his substitute, Cllr Graham Casey (Conservatives), would go instead. But Cllr Casey says he wasn't aware he was needed until 10 minutes after the meeting was supposed to start at which point it was impractical for him to attend.

One PCC councillor who was at the meeting, albeit in a different capacity, was Cllr Nick Sandford (Liberal Democrats) who said he was “really concerned” no Peterborough committee members were there.

Similarly, the meeting’s chair Cllr Anna Smith (Labour) said that the committee should note the “difficulty that has been caused today by not having the appropriate members in the room”, while Cllr Katie Thornburrow (Labour) suggested that CPCA officers should write to those who didn’t attend to explain “how important this is”.

Station Quarter funding likely to be delivered in £5m instalments

Despite their inability to take official votes, the CPCA committee still discussed each item on the meeting's agenda including the Station Quarter funding timetable.

The recommendation in front of them was that, once it’s been fully approved, the £47,850,000 funding from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), should be delivered to PCC in £5 million instalments and that the council should deliver an update to the CPCA each time one of these has been spent.

The project, which will entail new east and west station entrances and a new footbridge, will also need funding from PCC and partners to bring the total to around £65 million.

A new gateway station, extended platform canopies and better walking and cycling links are also in the plans.

Building work to start in 2025

A timetable laid out in CPCA documents suggests that planning permission and design works will be undertaken this year and next, with building work completed between 2025 and 2026.

Beyond this, commercial residential developments are expected, although these won’t be funded by DLUHC.

The CPCA members in attendance at the meeting voted unanimously to approve the Station Quarter plans, although it won’t officially hold any weight until a formal vote can be taken.

A spokesperson for the authority said: "We can confirm that at the Transport and Infrastructure Committee meeting on Wednesday 15th March, the committee member for Peterborough City Council was unable to attend.

"We completely understand that sometimes members cannot attend at short notice for important and unavoidable reasons, which is why Committee members have nominated substitutes. Unfortunately, on this occasion the substitute member was also unable to attend which meant the Committee was unable to take formal decisions."