Big changes are coming to councils in Cambridgeshire, and we want to find out what is important to you.

The Government wants to reduce the number of councils and simplify the way you can access and receive your services. New ‘unitary authorities’, which will provide all council services in the areas they serve, will replace the seven existing county, city and district councils across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, although this will not affect Town and Parish Councils. This process of change is known as Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) and the Government has set a number of key criteria or tests for LGR, against which we have to develop our proposals.

There are currently three different preferred options being developed by councils across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to respond to the Government’s requirements. Each of these three preferred options proposes the replacement of the seven current councils with two new unitary councils covering the whole of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough between them.

We recognise that the ambitious timetable that the Government has set out in which to achieve these changes means that we are not able to consider properly all the alternatives we may have wanted to. We know that many towns, villages and communities feel a strong sense of affinity and alignment to different parts of the geographic county. For example, parts of Huntingdonshire such as St Ives and St Neots more strongly identify with the south of the county and Cambridge, whilst parts of the north of the district, in areas like Yaxley and Norman Cross may feel more aligned to Peterborough. We also know that if the Government had given us the time and flexibility, there are other issues we may have wanted to address. These include the current council boundaries between Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, especially around Newmarket, or between parts of Peterborough and Fenland and parts of South Lincolnshire and Rutland. Equally, we may have chosen to remodel our councils around our parliamentary constituency boundaries for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

However, the Government has provided guidance that encourages us to use the current council boundaries or ‘footprints’ as the building blocks for the new unitary councils. Any alteration from this approach needs to be clearly explained and justified. We do not believe we can do this within the timescales required and meet the Government’s tests for LGR. That means we have to choose the most sensible and suitable option from the three that are currently being developed.

On that basis, we’re keen to seek your views on the preferred option of the political administration of Cambridgeshire County Council, known as Option A, which we are currently developing. We recognise that all three of the preferred options have their own strengths and areas for further consideration. However, we believe that for the future of our county, two new authorities, covering the North and South, broadly equal in size and scale is the best option.