Issue - meetings

To seek Council approval to create a Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) reserve.

AGREED to:

·         Recommend that Full Council approves the creation of LGR reserve

·         Delegate to the S151 Officer in consultation with the Leader a full review of all reserves to present to Full Council as part of the budget setting process for 2026/27.

Members considered the Creation of a Local Government Reorganisation Reserve report presented by Councillor Boden.

Councillor Seaton asked if the May elections and current disarray within Government could possibly influence the timing and inevitability of LGR happening. Councillor Boden responded that he does not know, but the longer the process goes on the less likely it is that Government will back down. However, a budget has been prepared for presentation to Council next month based primarily on the assumption that LGR will not go ahead as the council must allow for the worst scenario in financial terms. A budget that assumes FDC will cease to exist in two or three years would cause great difficulty if LGR is cancelled. Only when he sees the structural change order will he believe that it is going ahead but he is sorry not to be able to give a more definite answer in the meantime.

Councillor Mrs Laws asked if there is any word from the first tranche of councils that will become unitary authorities in April 2027. For example, is there a process and does anyone know how much they have spent on LGR, or whether they have received any updates from Government? Councillor Boden said it can be seen what is happening in Surrey who have advanced over and above any area, but they were going ahead with LGR anyway before Government made its announcement in December 2024. There are processes to go through in preparation that may be reflected in the structural change order FDC receives but Government has announced that at least as a first instalment Surrey will receive half a billion pounds towards their new structure for various reasons, but he would warn against expectation that anything like that will be seen in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. There is no guarantee of consistency from one tranche to the next.

Councillor Christy said the idea of a reserve sounds prudent, but he would like to know if a record is being kept of what FDC is spending on LGR. Councillor Boden responded that time keeping records will be changed from 1^st April to provide a more formal record for FDC’s auditors, meanwhile there will be an estimate of what has been spent up to 31^st March 2026.  

Proposed by Councillor Boden, seconded by Councillor Mrs French and AGREED to:

·         Recommend that Full Council approves the creation of LGR reserve

·         Delegate to the S151 Officer in consultation with the Leader a full review of all reserves to present to Full Council as part of the budget setting process for 2026/27.