Government plan to scrap Cambridgeshire’s council structures is ‘bodged job’, claims councillor

Councillors have slammed the government’s plans to change council structures in Cambridgeshire, with one describing it as a “Friday afternoon bodged job”.

One councillor said the plan “really stinks” and likened it to “putting a bomb under the local authority” at a time when it is facing many challenges.

Others said it was a “once in a generation chance” to affect what local government looks like in Cambridgeshire, adding that this opportunity should be ‘seized’.

Last month Jim McMahon, the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution, asked the leaders of the county’s seven councils to work together to create a new ‘simpler’ local government structure.

Currently the area has a two-tier system, with some services delivered by Cambridgeshire County Council, such as social care and highways maintenance, and others by the district councils, such as housing.

The county is also served by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.

The government has said it wants to see a move to unitary councils that provide all the services currently shared between the county and district councils.

Peterborough City Council is already a unitary council, but is included in the reorganisation plans.

The changes could see fewer councils covering a larger area, or a single council covering the whole county.

Council leaders were asked to submit an interim plan by March 21, and to submit a full proposal by November 28.

Cllr Lucy Nethsingha (Lib Dem, Newnham), leader of the county council, said continuing to deliver and improve key services while also “carrying out the task of abolishing” the authority was going to be a “tough challenge”.

She said: “The reorganisation might not be what I or many others here would have chosen, but our primary duty is to our residents and it is with their best interests in mind that I and other leaders across the Cambridgeshire area have been working closely together and I hope we will continue to do so.”

Cllr Ros Hathorn (Lib Dem, Histon and Impington) said she thought the government plans “really stinks”.

She said: “We have so many challenges we face as a council, fixing the roads, adult social care, children’s social care, special educational needs, getting children to school, it is so difficult.

“This is not unique to Cambridgeshire, this is across the entire country.

“And what has the government done? The government’s idea of the best way to fix this is just to put a bomb under local authority, so that all we are going to talk about is ourselves for the next three years, it is just ridiculous.”

Cllr Chris Boden (Con, Whittlesey North) said there was a danger the council could spend so much time on reorganisation that it “ends up dropping the ball on services”.

He said this could not be allowed to happen, adding that keeping capacity going at the council was “really important to do”.

Cllr Lorna Dupré (Lib Dem, Sutton) said there were benefits of a unitary council, but that she was “appalled at Friday afternoon bodged job being made by the government”.

Cllr Dupré said she believed the government had already decided on what they wanted to see in Cambridgeshire and argued all the debates in months to come would be “performative” and “a waste of people’s time”.

Cllr Steve Count (Con, March North and Waldersey) likened the local government reorganisation to ‘shuffling chairs on the Titanic while it sinks’.

He also raised concerns that a lot of the costs of reorganisation could fall on the council if the districts and cities did not have the funds.

The council’s chief executive has previously said that the estimated cost of local government reorganisation across all of the councils is anticipated to be “at least £18.6million”.

However, Cllr Richard Howitt (Lab, Petersfield) said this was a “once in a generation chance” to affect local government in the area, adding that it was important to “get it right”.

He said: “The idea that we live in one of the most centralised states in Europe and that we should try and devolve power locally is a powerful and good idea and therefore we must seize the opportunity in my view in order to do it.”

Cllr Alan Sharp (Con, Woodditton) argued it was not devolution being proposed by the government, but “actually the reverse”.

Cllr Alex Beckett (Lib Dem, Queen Edith’s) echoed this: “This doesn’t feel like devolution, it feels like sucking up power to the mayor.”

Cllr Elisa Meschini (Labour), deputy leader of the county council said she ‘hated’ local government reorganisation as she said it “generally results in far too much time in councillors talking about themselves”.

However, she said there were “particular points in history” where it is necessary and said “this is one of them”.

She said it was becoming “increasingly unsustainable” for areas to have a two-tier local government structure.

Cllr Meschini added that it was “right and proper” that work on this was left to the next council administration after the May county council election.