In this update:
Full Council and Motions passed
Strategy Resources & Performance
- Business plan and budget
Adults and Health:
- Public Health Strategic Plan
- Smoking cessation
Environment & Green Investment
- Cambridgeshire Digital Inclusion Directory
Highways & Transport
- Winter gritting
- Street Lighting
- National Active Travel Conference
News from the Combined Authority
- Tiger Pass
- Stagecoach Industrial Action
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Full Council
Full council met on Tuesday 16 December, to receive annual reports from the Health & Wellbeing Board and Integrated Care Partnership; the Audit & Accounts Committee; and the Pension Fund Board and Committee.
The council also agreed to
- Appoint a councillor ‘member champion’ to advocate for local care-leavers.
- Work with district and parish councils and the Combined Authority to determine overall management and delivery arrangements for all bus infrastructure, including clarifying responsibility for the management and commissioning of advertising on bus infrastructure assets (bus shelters).
- Ask Cambridgeshire Culture (a delegated Board of the council’s Children & Young People Committee) to develop a culture and arts strategy for the County Council, serving children as well as adults.
- Support the UK rejoining the European Single Market at the earliest practical opportunity; and ask the Combined Authority to assess the ongoing impacts of Brexit on the Cambridgeshire economy, develop a local action plan to seize opportunities from re-engagement with Europe, and explore ways the Council can support those most affected by the challenges arising from Brexit.
- Bring to Highways & Transport Committee a policy for design of new busways which allows for immediate modification during the delivery stage if safety requirements alter during dialogue with the regulator.
Strategy Resources & Performance
Business plan and budget
The Strategy Resources & Performance Committee met in December to consider the development of the Council’s business plan and budget for 2026/27.
The County Council must set a legal budget to deliver public services for Cambridgeshire, including social care, highways, education, Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), waste disposal, public health, child protection, libraries and community services.
The draft business plan and budget discussed at committee sets out the latest financial position for the year ahead (2026/27). Demand for council services is growing as people live longer, often with multiple long-term conditions that need support from health and social care; and more children and young people are being identified with special educational needs and mental health needs.
Nearly two thirds of the County Council’s spending goes toward social care, while other major areas of spending include Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), home to school transport, and highways maintenance.
Since 2019, the council has experienced
- 122 per cent increase in the costs of providing home to school transport
- 76 per cent increase in learning disability related care costs
- 50 per cent increase in the costs of providing care for older people
- 42 per cent increase in the costs of supporting children with SEND
- 99 per cent increase in the costs of supporting children in care.
For the current financial tear (2025/26) these pressures are resulting in a forecast overspend of about £10M and a deficit for SEND costs of nearly £100M.
For 2026/27 insufficient Government funding means that once again difficult decisions will be needed. The Council has had to identify £40M in savings or extra income for the year ahead. At the time the committee met, £6.4M of this gap remained to be found. The gap must be closed completely by the time the Council sets its final business plan and budget in February.
Budget timetable
The draft business plan and budget proposals for 2026-27 will be scrutinised by the council’s committees at their meetings in January. Any feedback will be presented to the Strategy, Resources & Performance Committee on 29 January. At that meeting councillors will also consider the results of the second phase of the council’s budget consultation survey and the detail of the Local Government Finance Settlement from Government announced in December, before making final recommendations to the Full Council on 10 February.
Adults & Health
Public Health Strategic Plan
The council’s Adults and Health Committee has endorsed the key areas of work the councils Public Health team will focus on over the next five years to deliver the priorities set out in the Public Health Strategic Plan 2025-30. The plan outlines how the council will help to improve the health and wellbeing of residents and ensure people receive the support they need – including offering the best start in life, making Cambridgeshire a healthy place to live and work, addressing complex needs, and prioritising the prevention of ill-health. Some of the key areas of work led by Public Health will include:
- Mobilising the Healthy Schools service to deliver health improvement education and interventions for school-aged children and young people.
- Working with partners and planners to improve road safety, increase active travel, and improve access to services for rural communities.
- Equipping professionals and the public with the skills and knowledge to prevent suicide and improve suicide bereavement support services.
- Addressing barriers to employment and developing workplace programmes to engage employers and increase access to work across the county, targeting areas with high levels of low pay and low skilled jobs.
- Developing an alcohol harm prevention strategy and strengthening prevention and early support.
Smoking cessation
In 2024/25, Cambridgeshire met the national ambition to treat five per cent of smokers annually, with 5.02 per cent of smokers setting a quit date in 2024/25. This compares to 4.18 per cent in 2023/24 and 3.38 per cent in 2022/23.
Environment & Green Investment
Cambridgeshire Digital Inclusion Directory
The Cambridgeshire Digital Inclusion Directory is a practical guide designed to help residents get online, access devices, and build essential digital skills. Developed by Cambridge Online, Connecting Cambridgeshire, and Cambridge City Council, the directory features trusted local organisations offering free support with digital access, equipment, and training. Residents are encouraged to pick up a printed copy from libraries or community hubs, or download it at https://www.connectingcambridgeshire.co.uk/about/help-to-get-online/digital-inclusion-directory-2025/
Highways & Transport
Winter gritting
The winter service has been in operation since 1 November 2025, and will continue until 15 April. Several days of continuous low temperatures triggered treatment of secondary gritting routes on Friday 2 January.
I have already published a summary of how this affects Queen Edith’s here:
General gritting information including maps of primary and secondary gritting routes is here: https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/travel-roads-and-parking/roads-and-pathways/gritting-roads-cycleways-and-paths
Street Lighting
The streets which are next on the list for replacement LED street lights and which will be installed from January to March are listed here: https://karenyoung.uk/2025/12/15/led-street-lighting/
The council will be replacing over 47,000 existing street lights with new LED street lights across Cambridgeshire over two years, with approximately 2,000 street lights being replaced each month.
Before the start of the LED programme, energy for street lighting (including illuminated signs and subway lights) made up 53 per cent of the County Council’s entire energy use. Once all LEDs are in place, the energy used for street lighting will reduce to 33 per cent of the County Council’s total energy use.
The new lights are more directional than the old ones, which spilled a lot of light across and upwards. When a previous County Council administration handed over the contract for street lights to Balfour Beatty, one in ten street lights was removed across Cambridgeshire. This was not done evenly, so some locations lost considerably greater numbers of street lights and can give rise to ‘pools’ of darkness when the new lights are installed.
If you find that the level of street lighting is a problem after installation of the new LEDs, please do email the county council’s contractor Balfour Beatty at CCCLED@balfourbeatty.com or contact meto discuss your concerns.
National Active Travel Conference
Cambridgeshire County Council will host the National Active Travel Conference in 2026, on 13-14 July. The Conference was first established in 2015.
The key themes of the conference will be:
- Rural connectivity and integrated networks
- How active travel boosts local businesses
- Public health and well-being
- Supporting new housing and development
- Integrated land use and transport planning
- School journeys
- Enhancing commuter and leisure access
- Communicating the real value of active travel to society
News from the Combined Authority
Tiger Pass
The Combined Authority has had to turn to Cambridgeshire County Council to secure the future of the Tiger Pass until the end of March 2027. The pass is of huge benefit to many families, enabling young people to travel by bus for £1 per journey. The Mayor is calling on cash-strapped Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council to fund the shortfall.
The future of the Tiger Pass beyond March 2027 remains uncertain, however. The Government’s intention is to remove the national fare cap from April 2027, which will increase the cost of the subsidy for each Tiger Pass ticket sold.
It is also important to remember that a Tiger Pass is only useful where there are buses to use it on and many rural areas of Cambridgeshire have few if any buses.
Stagecoach Industrial Action
Several days of strike action by Unite the Union took place in December, with further dates announced for January:
- Monday 5 January
- Saturday 10 January
- Monday 19 January
- Saturday 24 January
On strike days, affected services will operate on a reduced timetable, and a simplified ticket range will be available on board. The full ticket range remains available via the Stagecoach App.
Services affected include the Park & Ride buses from Madingley, Newmarket Road, Trumpington, Babraham, and Milton. A full list and real-time updates are available online at https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/east/industrial-action
A happy and healthy 2026 to all residents of Queen Edith’s division.
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