The vetoing of the Combined Authority’s Local Transport and Connectivity Plan by the Conservative Leader of Peterborough City Council means the CPCA Board and council leaders must refer the issue to ministers – and ask them to change the governance structures of the county.
(Blogpost Image is from Hutton and Lewis’s book How to be a minister, from 2014)
See the announcement by the Local Democracy Reporter for Peterborough, Joanna Taylor.
You can also watch the summing up by the Mayor of the Combined Authority, Dr Nik Johnson here.
The Offices of the Leader of Peterborough City Council, and the Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council both hold veto powers for the Local Transport and Connectivity Plan – something written into the constitution of the Combined Authority by ministers.
The fact that the Conservative Party holds *a minority* of seats on the CPCA Board, and *does not hold the Mayoralty* means that we are now at an impasse – one that is purely party-political.
Ironically it was a Conservative Government that established the Combined Authority instead of creating unitary councils. It was one of the earliest to have a majority of its geographical area as rural rather than urban/metropolitan. Prior to that, it was the large cities/city regions such as Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region being the first two, followed by a number of the northern former industrial powerhouses of England.
I opposed the formation of the Combined Authority for Cambridgeshire & Peterborough at the time, and called for its abolition (along with that of the GCP) at the Cambridge City Council Elections last May. Since then, former Conservative Councillor for Coleridge, Chris Howell, along with Phil Rodgers and former Green Party Candidate from ***ages ago***, Martin Lucas-Smith formed a cross-party campaign to create two new unitary councils – similar in principle to the Redcliffe-Maud proposals in 1969. See https://www.cambsunitaries.org.uk/
‘Vote of confidence likely to see Peterborough city council leader removed’
This was from a couple of days ago in John Elworthy’s new venture, Cambs News – Mr Elworthy being the longstanding editor of the Ely Standard and Wisbech Times before the new owners wielded the axe on local newspapers in northern Cambridgeshire.
There will be a huge incentive for Mayor Nik Johnson to reconvene the CPCA Board if councillors do oust the incumbent leader of Peterborough City Council – even more so if they can form a non-Tory joint administration.
A joint administration won’t solve Peterborough’s longstanding problems, nor will it solve the design failures of the Combined Authority.
Ultimately the economies of Greater Cambridge and that of Peterborough and Fenland are noticeably different to each other. This was reflected both in the EU referendum results and in the 2021 Cambridgeshire County Council election results.
Above – the election map after the Cambridgeshire County Council elections 2021
Above – the proposed boundaries for two unitary councils as part of a national overhaul of local government from Redcliffe-Maud’s Royal Commission Report 1969.
Whatever the case, the current system has demonstrably not worked. It cannot function any longer. It’s now up to ministers to decide what to do. Enough money, resources, officers’ and councillors’ time has been used up on this. Cut the losses.
“What will Labour’s shadow ministerial team propose?
They can either wait for ministers to act, or they can come up with their own proposals now or in the very near future. It’s up to them. The same goes for the Greens and Liberal Democrats. All the parties have their conferences coming up where nominally they have open policy debates. Will the structure and funding of local government come up?
We’ll have to wait and see!
In the meantime have a look at https://www.cambsunitaries.org.uk/
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