Cambridge residents could find they live in a different part of the city

Councillors have voted unanimously to push ward boundary changes forward.

People could soon find they technically live in a completely different part of the city, as new electoral boundaries could see the city’s largest wards, Trumpington and Castle shrink.

Yesterday (July 11) Cambridge City Council’s civic affairs committee agreed to proposals set out for new boundaries for the 14 wards in Cambridge city.

Cambridge City Council is responsible for many every-day services and aspects of city life – from picking up the bins to deciding planning applications and running the local car parks. For many people, the local ward councillor is the first point of contact if they have a problem.

But now ward boundaries look set to change as the council looks to make all the wards a more uniform and manageable size.

Trumpington – the city’s biggest ward – will be shrinking from 10,091 voters to 7,066. Trumpington has seen huge expansion recently, with the Clay Farm development, and the nearby Trumpington Meadows swelling the electorate. The revised boundaries, which will see the ward losing the Botanical Gardens and the surrounding areas to Petersfield and Market wards, will bring the ward more in-line with others in Cambridge.

Under the new proposals, the size of Castle electoral ward will also shrink from 8,625 voters to 6,720. The new Darwin development will remain in the ward.

Petersfield will gain from Trumpington. In addition, St Matthew’s Gardens and the properties in that corner (112-118 New Street and 150-178 York Street) will move to Abbey. In addition, the boundary will be adjusted such that The Beehive is moved to Abbey ward.

The boundary Romsey ward will be adjusted, such that the entire of Brickyard industrial estate on Coldhams Lane is moved within Romsey ward.

There will be no changes to Queen Edith’s ward, Cherry Hinton, or East Chesterton. Newnham, Arbury, and West Chesterton will see minor changes.

The proposals were approved unanimously by the committee, but they will still need to be voted on by the full council before they can be submitted to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE).