By Hannah Brown

Copyright cambridge-news

Councillors clashed this week over whether East Cambridgeshire should create a new unitary council with Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire. While some highlighted the links the district has with the city, others raised fears the area could end up getting “overlooked”.

Under local government reorganisation the councils in Cambridgeshire could cease to exist by 2028. Instead they could be replaced by new unitary authorities that would provide all the services currently split between district councils and Cambridgeshire County Council.

The government asked all the councils in the area to come up with a new council structure, in the hope that fewer larger councils would help save money. Three main options for what these new councils could look like have been put forward so far.

The first option (proposal A) could see two unitary councils created, one including Peterborough, Huntingdonshire, and Fenland, and the other including Cambridge, East Cambridgeshire and South Cambridgeshire.

The second option (proposal B) could also see two unitary councils created, one including Peterborough, East Cambridgeshire, Fenland, and Huntingdonshire, and the other including Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire.

The third option put forward (proposal C) could see two unitary councils created, one including Peterborough, East Cambridgeshire, and Fenland, and the other including Cambridge, Huntingdonshire, and South Cambridgeshire. A fourth option to create three unitary councils is being developed by Peterborough City Council.

So far the leaderships at Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council have come out in support of proposal B, and the county council has come out in support of proposal A. Plans for the options will need to be submitted to the government in November, after which point it will decide what changes will be made.

Fears East Cambridgeshire could be ‘overlooked’

A report presented to East Cambridgeshire District Council’s full council meeting this week (September 18) said a survey had found that 78 per cent of people in the district were supportive of change if it simplified council structures and improved services. However, it also found that 81 per cent of people in the area said they were concerned they could be overlooked in the process.

The report said East Cambridgeshire residents had a 50-50 split between internal and external activity with 33 per cent of “activity flows” going to Cambridge. It said: “This strong connection reflects both commuting patterns and the relative accessibility of Cambridge from much of East Cambridgeshire via the A10 and rail links which was supported in the focus groups.”

Councillor Anna Bailey (Conservative), leader of the district council, said she did not welcome local government reorganisation “in any way shape or form” and said she believed it was the “wrong thing to do”.

Addressing the proposals that have been put forward, she said she understood there was a “natural inclination” for the area to “throw in its lot with Greater Cambridge”, as suggested in proposal A, but argued there were “massive pitfalls with this”. Cllr Bailey highlighted the plans for “enormous growth” in the Greater Cambridge area, which she said could include 150,000 new homes.

She said: “If East Cambridgeshire goes in with Greater Cambridge with our cheaper land values I assure you many of those homes are coming our way. What is even worse option A will see us lose control of where those homes go, it would be the government through the Cambridge Growth Company deciding where to place thousands of new homes in East Cambridgeshire.”

Cllr Bailey argued that joining with Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire would also see the “largest increase in council tax” for East Cambridgeshire, and raised fears the area would be “overlooked”. Cllr Bailey said proposal B had the support of “most other councils” and offered the “fairest economic distribution”.

She said: “Our interests are better aligned in a large rural unitary with a strong rural voice, sticking up for rural voices and being in a bigger unitary will require strong local based working.”

‘Huge numbers of people go to Cambridge from East Cambs’

However, Councillor Lorna Dupré (Liberal Democrat) argued the district council would be making a “serious mistake” by only focusing on proposal B. She said “huge numbers” of people in the district go to Cambridge for “jobs, schools, health and leisure”, but said “hardly anybody goes to Peterborough”. Cllr Dupré also claimed it was “ridiculous” to believe there would be a “strong rural voice” at a council “run from Peterborough”.

Councillor Mark Inskip (Liberal Democrat) made a similar argument and said: “Residents in East Cambridgeshire strongly identify with Cambridge, they feel strongly economically and culturally connected to that city, and profoundly oppose any association with Peterborough. We should not just ignore this and plough on regardless.”

However, some Conservative councillors said not everyone in the district felt a strong connection with Cambridge. Councillor Keith Horgan (Conservative) claimed he had been to Cambridge only three times in the past five years, but said he had been to Peterborough “many times” He said: “We won’t be ruled by Peterborough, I do not believe that whoever we join with would rule us, because I think we can stick up for ourselves.”

Cllr Bailey said she was “absolutely open minded to the options”, but that they had to join a business case and argued proposal B had “a lot of support and has some huge merits”. She also claimed the district council had “specifically requested” to be involved with the work to prepare proposal A, which is being led by the county council, but said they never heard back and that the authority had been effectively “shut out”.

At the meeting a majority of councillors agreed to pass a motion for the district council to continue to “actively and directly participate in the development” of the business case for proposal B. The authority also agreed to consider all three business cases at a meeting on November 20, before a final submission is made to the government.

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