East Cambridgeshire District Council has reaffirmed its opposition to Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) and called on the Government to explain why it believes the changes are necessary.
The Council also wants the Government to consider making East Cambridgeshire a pilot area for greater devolution, testing how more responsibility for local services and decisions could be transferred to the district council.
The call follows the Government’s announcement in September that decisions on LGR in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough had been delayed pending the outcome of a review.
At a meeting of Full Council, members approved a motion expressing disappointment with the way the LGR process has been handled.
The motion states that LGR has been “rushed and poorly managed, creating unnecessary uncertainty for residents, businesses, organisations, staff and councils.”
It also said there was “little evidence that larger authorities automatically deliver better services, lower costs or stronger accountability”.
The motion confirmed that the Council remains opposed to the abolition of East Cambridgeshire District Council and reaffirmed its view that residents are best served by strong local councils that understand their communities.
Councillor Anna Bailey, Leader of East Cambridgeshire District Council, said:
“Although we have consistently opposed Local Government Reorganisation, we engaged fully and in good faith to protect the interests of our residents, committing a significant amount of officer time and resources.
“The process has created significant uncertainty. The Government must now explain clearly why reorganisation is necessary, publish the evidence behind its approach and properly consider the alternatives.”
Councillor Bailey said East Cambridgeshire had consistently shown that a small, financially disciplined council could deliver high-quality services, innovate and keep decision-making close to local people.
She added: “We have a strong record of financial resilience, service delivery and innovation. The Council has no external borrowing, has frozen its share of Council Tax for 13 years and continues to provide services including free car parking, free garden waste collections and face-to-face support for residents.
“Our innovative approach to funding, and our refusal to rely on Government financing, has also seen our trading company return £6.2 million to the Council while supporting the delivery of housing, including affordable homes and community-led schemes such as Community Land Trusts.”
Given this record, and the fact that Cambridgeshire and Peterborough already has a strategic mayoral authority, the Council is asking why structural reorganisation is still considered necessary
Instead, it wants the Government to consider less disruptive alternatives, including stronger collaboration between councils, district-led delivery partnerships and the devolution of services.
Councillor Bailey added: “We want the Government to consider making East Cambridgeshire a pilot area for greater devolution. This would test how the Council could take on responsibility for delivering more local services and making more decisions locally.
“The proposal is supported by the county-wide LGR survey, which showed that East Cambridgeshire consistently outperformed other local councils across a range of measures.
“Our record provides a strong basis for testing how more services could be delivered locally, with clear accountability to the communities they serve.”
As part of the agreed motion, the Council will now invite the Secretary of State and the Minister for Local Government to visit East Cambridgeshire to see how cost-effective local government can be delivered close to residents.