Consultation to change scheme of elections

Peterborough City Council considered holding ‘all-out’ city council elections every four years.

Currently, residents in most wards vote for one new city councillor in three out of every four years. In the fourth year, there is a fallow period with no elections held.

The proposal to move to ‘all-out’ elections would have seen all 60 council seats up for election every four years.

The consultation came following a recommendation by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) during an external review of our finance and governance in 2021. They recommended that we formally consider moving to 'all-out' city council elections every four years. This was to encourage stable decision making and tackle long-term challenges.

We ran a public consultation on the proposal between 25 July and 26 September 2022. We sought views from residents on how often we should hold elections and when to begin such elections.

After the consultation, we held a specially convened council meeting to finalise a decision.

You can view the outcome of the consultation and meeting on our consultation on changes to electoral cycle page.