Agenda, decisions and minutes

To provide a Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) progress update for the Peterborough and Cambridgeshire area and, further to Full Council, for Cabinet to agree the draft consultation response to be submitted to government as a part of the statutory consultation on Local Government Reorganisation in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

AGREED to review the feedback from Full Council and FDC’s response to the statutory consultation on Local Government Reorganisation in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough as set out in Appendix 1, and to delegate to the Leader of the Council to make any final amendments prior to the submission date of 26^th March 2026. 

Cabinet considered Fenland District Council’s response to the statutory consultation regarding Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) following the Full Council meeting.

Members commented as follows:

·         Councillor Boden said the discussion at Council had shown a clear majority in favour of making this representation. LGR continues to proceed and Government have now produced a new document outlining the implementation process from the time they decide the boundaries up to vesting day itself. On the assumption that LGR will not be derailed, FDC must get the best deal it can from the bad set of options available. 

·         Councillor Christy said the case for proposal four has been clearly laid out and the points around geography, rural identity and Fenland’s position come across loud and clear. Like many others, he shares concerns about LGR and the impact it will have. He would expect the response to set out concerns for services for vulnerable adults and children, which makes up 65% of Cambridgeshire’s budget, and members must ensure those services do not fail. Referring to the document mentioned by Councillor Boden he thought it ludicrous that Government are recommending voluntary joint committees be set up before the Structural Change Order (SCO) and he wonders how these can be set up without knowing what the structure will be.

·         Councillor Boden agreed that service levels must be maintained for vulnerable adults and children and his view is that having unitary authorities that better reflect the functional and social geographies of an area can achieve far more than disjointed areas joined together artificially and having their different priorities expected to be satisfied by the new unitary authority. He added that it is not being suggested that any committees be established before Government announces the boundaries but that it is expected that the Secretary of State will ask Chief Executives how they believe the voluntary joint committees could be set up. It will be important that all areas get equal representation.

·         Councillor Tierney said he will never vote for this; the Government is choosing to direct the Titanic towards the iceberg. He will go down with it but will not vote to go down with it too.

·         Councillor Hoy said FDC should not be spending any money or wasting time on this process; there is so much work that the authority could be getting on with, and she is extremely frustrated by this. She thought FDC should not rule out potentially taking legal action in the future because this is not a good process in any way, shape or form for Fenland. LGR is regrettable and although it will be a good outcome if Government changes its mind, a great deal of time and money will already have been wasted which this council cannot afford.

·         Councillor Boden said Councillor Hoy is correct; the time and attention afforded LGR means less attention to other matters as officers’ time will be taken up increasingly by the process of transition to the new unitary authority. A host of things will not be  ...  view the full minutes text for item CAB61/25