City Council Update February 2026

In this update:

Licensing:

• Licensing policy renewal
• Limit of 270 hackney carriages
• License applications

Planning

Cabinet

• Community and homelessness Grants
• RECAP Resources and Waste Strategy 2025 – 2031
• RECAP Waste Design Guide

Equality panel

Performance, assets and Strategy Overview and Scrutiny

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Licensing

Licensing policy renewal

The city’s new licensing policy, required to be reviewed every 5 years, was approved for submission to Council. The changes consisted of the need to take the growth of the city into account when making decisions while also strengthening the requirement to make sure environments remain safe.

Limit of 270 hackney carriages

A reduction in the limit of the number taxis for the city from 321 to 270 was approved. This is the current number of licensed vehicles. A limit may be set provided that there is no unmet demand. Wheelchair accessible vehicles may be up to 12 years old which is an extension of one year.

License applications

A license application for King Street Supermarket, 84 King Street was heard. The license was refused on the grounds of the cumulative impact the sale of alcohol would provide in an area of anti-social behaviour.

Planning

The following minor planning applications were considered at committee:

25/02643/FUL Castle End Mission, Pound Hill . This was the application to demolish the metal-clad entrance hall and extend on the first floor. The application was refused on the grounds of ‘less than substantial’ harm to a heritage asset.

25/04141/S73 639 Newmarket Road (McDonalds). This was an application to turn the restaurant into a drive through one and was refused on the basis of harm to the neighbours.

25/02888/FUL Jewish Synagogue, 3 Thompsons Lane. This was an application to rebuild the building and was approved.

The Joint development management committee heard a pre-application presentation of the new building at 4000 Discovery Drive.

Cabinet

Community and homelessness Grants

The latest round of community and homelessness grants was approved together with the principle that multi-year grants are desirable enabling charities to plan ahead on a longer timeframe which also gives more certainty to their staff.

Transformation and re-investment fund update

£3m was put into the transformation and re-investment fund. This is to assist in the councils transformation programme.

RECAP Resources and Waste Strategy 2025 – 2031

This strategy has been created together with other councils in the area and cross party and had been put out for consultation by the County Council. The aim is to:

• Reduce the total amount of waste
• Increase the proportion that is recycled
• All parties agreed the proximity principle, such that the waste is dealt with as close to where it is created as possible, noting that councils further away have different specific requirements
• In principle have a transfer station(s) and a materials recovery facility near Cambridge but that would require special expertise and needed further work is needed to assess the possibilities.

RECAP Waste Design Guide

This is a supplementary planning document which sets out where waste bins should go and how wide new streets need to be so that waste can be managed by residents and collected easily in new developments.

Equality panel

The equality panel heard a review of equality in employment at the council over 2024/25 which covered broad patterns in workforce representation, recruitment activity and staff experience, providing a sense of where there is progress and areas where further work would be beneficial. Also covered were recruitment trends in applicants and selection outcomes, gaps in certain groups etc. The review was forward looking and looked at opportunities in equality charters, career pathways and organisational culture.

The working of the quality panel was also reviewed and plans to align with the new governance model, new terms of reference and a change in structure to better support members.

Performance, assets and Strategy Overview and Scrutiny

The scrutiny committee had only one item on the agenda which was the proposed budget. This warrants a detailed discussion which I will do next month following the budget setting meeting at full council.

The version presented at scrutiny will change as a number of (reasonable) assumptions made by officers and the administration were proved incorrect following an announcement by central government on the final funding the council will receive.

The process is not the easiest one – the draft funding settlement is announced just before Christmas i.e. after all the work by officers and preliminary reports to councillors and just before the holidays, and then the final version is published in early February, shortly before councils have to publish and agree their budgets in time for council tax notices to be sent out to residents on time.