Opinion: Championing the city and reaching out to its diverse communities

I am really proud to take on the role and to be the first ever Liberal Democrat mayor of Peterborough, writes councillor Nick Sandford.

I consider the most important part of the role of mayor is chairing of our Full Council meetings. I think what we do each month in the Council chamber is really important. Full Council is maybe not as powerful as it once was but it is still very much the “Parliament of Peterborough” and it has a vital role to play in local democracy.

I also attach great importance to the role of the mayor in championing the city of Peterborough and reaching out to and engaging all of our city’s diverse communities and population. I have met with many different groups as deputy mayor and I want to do more as mayor. Many of Peterborough’s citizens spend much of their time in work for one of our city's many hundreds of companies and other employers and I want to get out to meet with some of them and also with trade unions who represent the interests of people at work.

The third area of a Mayor’s work is raising money for their chosen charities. I am delighted to announce that former PCC chief executive, Gillian Childs, has agreed to be the chair of my charities committee. We have already made a lot of progress in assembling a really powerful and experienced charities committee. To widen the experience available to us, this year I have chosen four charitable causes based around a general theme of promoting health and well being.

Deaf Blind UK is a national charity based not just in Peterborough but actually in my council ward of Paston and Walton. They do fantastic work in providing homes for deaf blind people and supporting the needs of the wider deaf blind community.

Sue Ryder’s hospice at Thorpe Hall provides palliative end of life and respite care to many people from Peterborough and the surrounding region.

PECT is a well known environmental charity based in Peterborough which runs a series of projects which are about protecting and enhancing the environment and its contribution to our health and well being.

We are lucky to have not just one but two air ambulance charities covering Peterborough: East Anglian Air Ambulance and MAGPAS. Both have agreed to be part of my charities committee. Both charities provide vital rapid helicopter transport to get critically injured patients to hospital in the fastest possible time.

The final part of my mayoral role is the ceremonial side. This is also important and I give you a guarantee that as mayor I will continue to prioritise our major civic events such as Remembrance Sunday, Armed Forces Day and Holocaust Memorial Day.

Finally, a big thank you again to my fellow councillors for electing me to this role. I have sworn to do the job to the best of my ability and I will strive hard to live up to that pledge