Cambridgeshire County Council’s consultation on unitary councils

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You can respond to the consultation survey here. (The Chief Exec of the county council, Stephen Moir got in touch to say this is not a formal consultation, but rather an informal survey and engagement exercise). Before you do, note Your three choices are here, as Cambridgeshire County Council makes a pitch for incorporating East Cambridgeshire District into ‘Greater Cambridge’ that was the preferred choice of Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire District Councils

Above – Option A (which is what Cambridgeshire County Council is recommending) along with Options B and C)

The consultation also asks people to come up with names for the new unitary councils

“We could go with ‘Cambridgeshire’ like in the olden days. Same name, different boundaries”

Some maps even refer to it as ‘Cambridge County’ – these being the boundaries of the first county council 1889-1964 – the map below dating from the early 1910s with the proposed expansion of the then Cambridge Borough.

Above – proposals for an expanded Cambridge Borough within the ‘County of Cambridge’ and the rural districts within it. It also shows that ‘East Cambridgeshire District’ is a fairly recent creation – the merging of Ely Urban District, Ely Rural District, and Newmarket Rural District – the last of the three originally being part of the original Cambridgeshire County Council

Even William Davidge’s first development plan for Cambridgeshire as was, refers to the ‘County of Cambridge’ in his maps – even though the title of his report is the Cambridgeshire Regional Planning Report (published in 1934).

Above – proposed protected green spaces and new roads and bridges as proposed by Davidge’s report. (See here for the accompanying text)

Not everyone was happy about the merging of the old ‘Cambridge County’ with the Isle of Ely back in the 1960s

Above – anti-restructuring protesters outside The Guildhall in Cambridge in 1960, pre-dating the Lion Yard development – via Mike Petty’s digital archive here

Although there were only a handful in the above photograph, 3,000 protesters turned up at the now old Shire Hall on Castle Hill to protest against the proposals. Ministers ignored them and the merging of the two councils to create the short-lived Cambridge and Isle of Ely Council (alongside Huntingdonshire and Peterborough Council next to it).

“What’s likely to happen?”

Given that ministers have insisted that unitary councils are being brought in – the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill having been approved by MPs at Second Reading earlier this week, there is little of substance that opponents can do to block the restructures – eg to maintain the county-district split. All they can do is to try and make the best of the very limited flexibility that ministers have allowed for.

I’m still of the view that the Redcliffe-Maud Report’s recommendations of 1969 should have been the starting point for negotiations.

Above – abandoned proposals for a Cambridge Unitary Council in Redcliffe Maud’s Royal Commission 1966-69. You can see links to the digitised report and appendices here

Once the initial restructure is complete, much will then depend on what the Cambridge Growth Company come up with in terms of the geographical direction of Cambridge’s urban expansion. A westward expansion would strengthen the case for bringing the market towns of Huntingdonshire (St Neots, St Ives, Godmanchester & Huntingdon itself) into a new Cambridge Unitary.

The continued population growth

The CPCA’s papers on the state of the region (Item 7 and all of the appendices) shows that Cambridge’s estimated population is now over 150,000 people – although this is the Built Up Area (BUA) so includes places just outside of the city boundaries where the built up areas spill over the boundary – such as at East Cherry Hinton and Orchard Park. For Peterborough, this should account for the significant difference between the current council estimate for 2023 of nearly 220,000 people and the Built Up Area (which is geographically smaller) below, as the unitary council area covers a wider rural area to the east and west of Peterborough city.

Above – CPCA O&S 09 Sept 2025, App E p6

A quick reminder

Have your say on the three options here. Any further questions, email your local councillors – especially if you’ve never done so before.

If you are interested in the longer term future of Cambridge, and on what happens at the local democracy meetings where decisions are made, feel free to: