County Council Monthly Report August 2026

In this report:

Full Council

Local Government reorganisation

Adults and Health

• Get Activated!
• Learning disability partnerships rated Good by CQC

Children & Young people

• Significant improvement in children’s services

Communities, Social Mobility and Inclusion

• Libraries

Environment and Green Investment

• Agricultural water resilience grant opens
• Minerals and Waste local plan

Highways & Transport

• £5M investment in winter readiness
• Contract awarded for innovative road repair trial
• Countryside access and Rights of Way
• Cambridgeshire hosts national Active Travel event

_____________________________________________________

FULL COUNCIL

Reform UK held the Ramsey and Bury county council seat on Thursday 16 July. The council’s current composition is therefore:

• Liberal Democrat and Independent 33
• Conservative 10
• Reform UK 9
• Labour 5
• Green 3
• Non-aligned Independent 1

The next meeting of the full county council is on Tuesday 13 October.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT REORGANISATION

On the last day of Parliament before its summer holiday, the [then] Secretary of State for local government announced that he would be delaying a decision on new councils for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. He said a decision would be made ‘by October’. Following the installation of a new Prime Minister, he is no longer Secretary of State.

The Government has said no further information is required from the existing councils in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough before it makes its decision. Before the delay was announced, it had been rumoured that the Government would announce Option D as its preference—splitting Huntingdonshire down the middle. However, Peterborough MP Andrew Pakes, who along with North West Cambridgeshire MP Sam Carling drew up and promoted Option D, said in Parliament in response to the Secretary of State’s announcement that none of the four options was ‘good enough for Peterborough’. Option D is for an enlarged Peterborough, Cambridge City and South Cambs together and the rest, part of Huntingdonshire and Fenland and East Cambs, forming a third unitary.

The Government has said that it expects local elections to the new councils in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to go ahead in May 2027, regardless of the delayed announcement. The Association of Electoral Administrators says that six months is the minimum time needed to prepare for an election, so this timetable puts huge pressure on the councils running the elections next May. It also gives very little time to complete preparations for apportionment of assets and liabilities between the councils, and to set up new services—two or (probably) three services for highways, social services, education, and more.

South Cambridgeshire MP Pippa Heylings  asked the following question in Parliament:

“Residents, local leaders and businesses in South Cambridgeshire have been left in limbo by the last-minute announcement that the Government cannot yet determine the optimal option for Cambridgeshire’s local government reorganisation. Does the Secretary of State understand the chaos that risks causing in one of the fastest-growing places in the country? Will he reassure me and local leaders that he will build on local successes, partnerships and the robustly evidenced proposals put forward, rather than on a proposal that smacks of irrational gerrymandering?”

The Secretary of State said the government was taking the time to get it right and that elections would go ahead in 2027 as planned.

ADULTS & HEALTH

Get Activated!

Cambridgeshire County Council’s Get Activated summer activity campaign is back for 2026—promoting hundreds of free or low-cost activities for children, young people, and families.

At locations across Cambridgeshire, the county council and its partners will be running a variety of fun events and activities to help children and families stay healthy and connected throughout the summer holidays. From sports, arts and crafts, and outdoor adventures, to wellbeing sessions, community events and taking part in the Summer Reading Challenge, families will be able to enjoy a wide range of activities to keep everyone active, entertained, and having fun.

You can share your moments on social media using the hashtag #GetActivated:

https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/campaigns/get-activated

Learning disability partnerships rated Good by CQC

People with learning disabilities across Cambridgeshire are benefiting from high-quality, compassionate and person-centred support, according to four Care Quality Commission (CQC) assessments published in late July.

Following visits in April 2026, the CQC rated the Cambridgeshire Learning Disability Partnership (LDP) services in Fenland, Huntingdonshire, East Cambridgeshire, and City & South Cambridgeshire as Good overall, recognising significant improvements since their previous inspections in 2023.

Services were assessed against the CQC’s key areas of Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led. All four partnerships received ratings of Good in all areas, except Well-led which was rated as ‘requires improvement’. This was due to one standard in relation to statutory notifications not always being submitted to the regulator in line with requirements. All other standards within the Well-led area were rated good or outstanding. Actions have been completed to ensure statutory notifications are submitted in line with CQC requirements in future.

The City and South Cambridgeshire report is at https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-2540660517

CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE

Significant improvement in children’s services

Ofsted carried out a focused visit to Cambridgeshire in June, and has recognised significant improvements in the County Council’s provision of appropriate placements for Cambridgeshire children in care since their last visit in 2024.

The summary also identifies four areas for improvement:

• the sufficiency of accommodation to meet the needs of children in care in Cambridgeshire;
• the quality and consistency of children’s case records to reflect decision-making and children’s journeys through care;
• the quality and effectiveness of supervision in progressing children’s plans; and
• the quality and effectiveness of quality assurance activities to implement learning and develop social work practice.

A comprehensive action plan is developed after each inspection of Cambridgeshire’s children’s services, and the council will continue to work hard to develop a wide range of care options for children who cannot remain at home. Ensuring that children in care live in the best available homes—full of love, care and support—remains an absolute priority.

https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50307019

COMMUNITIES, SOCIAL MOBILITY AND INCLUSION

Libraries

The new Library strategy was implemented. The new strategy identifies four key areas of focus:

• Libraries at the heart of local communities.
• Reviewing the library estate.
• Place-based working responsive to community needs.
• Supporting children and families.

The strategy is intended to ensure a smooth transition to the new unitaries when LGR is implemented. The strategy provides an evidence-based framework for determining the appropriate type and scale of library provision, taking account of population size, usage, proximity to other libraries, future growth, and availability of buildings and land.

Rock Road library has recently been upgraded, so the policy aims to maximise usage and service delivery, so that it remains as a community hub.

ENVIRONMENT AND GREEN INVESTMENT

Agricultural water resilience grant opens

A new grant scheme for farmers and growers has launched to help boost agricultural water resilience across Cambridgeshire. Farmers, growers and horticultural businesses can now apply for grants of between £2,000 and £50,000 from a £1.3M grant scheme designed to improve water efficiency, strengthen resilience to drought, and support sustainable food production.

With funding provided by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the scheme is being delivered by Water Resources East (WRE) in partnership with Cambridgeshire County Council as part of the Cambridge Water Efficiency Programme.

The launch comes as Cambridgeshire’s agricultural sector faces growing pressure on water resources due to climate change, population growth and increasing environmental demands. Improving on-farm water efficiency is key to securing future water supplies, protecting sensitive river environments, and supporting long-term food production.

The first window for applications is now open to agricultural and horticultural businesses operating within Cambridgeshire. Applications will be reviewed at three intervals, based on applications received by 11:59PM on Sunday 27 September 2026, Sunday 29 November 2026, and Sunday 17 January 2027.

Agricultural Water Resilience Grant

Minerals and Waste local plan

Consultation on this stage of the plan opens on 3 August and closes on 10 October.

www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/mwlp-review

HIGHWAYS & TRANSPORT

£5M investment in winter readiness

The County Council’s Highways & Transport Committee has agreed how to spend an additional £5M to help prepare more of the county’s roads for the winter. This comes on top of record levels of highways maintenance funding, with over £78M allocated for highways in 2026-27.

Only £31.3M of the council’s highways maintenance budget comes from the Government—the rest is funded by the council itself.

The new programme will use techniques new to Cambridgeshire such as large-scale mastic screed repairs, and structural patching as well as crack sealing to protect roads before defects form. The programme will run from August 2026 to March 2027, with a strong focus on delivering as much preventative work as possible before winter.

The council will also run a pothole innovation trial in October. This will test new equipment and materials under real-world conditions to identify the most effective approaches for future highway maintenance.

Contract awarded for innovative road repair trial

Cambridgeshire County Council has appointed Winvic Construction Ltd to deliver an innovative trial aimed at tackling the long-standing challenges of maintaining roads built on peat soils.

The soil affected roads innovation trial will test new and more resilient ways of repairing highways affected by peat and weak soils—an issue that impacts a significant proportion of the county’s road network, including 97 per cent of roads in Fenland.

The trial will take place on the B1099, Upwell Road in March. A section of the road towards its junction with the B1098 (Sixteen Foot Bank) will provide an ideal location to trial a range of new engineering approaches in real-world conditions.

Construction will be followed by a twelve-month monitoring period to assess the performance of each treatment.

https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/travel-roads-and-parking/highway-projects/soil-affected-roads-innovation-trial

Countryside access and Rights of Way

The County Council is reviewing its Rights of Way Improvement Plan and will soon be seeking comments from parish councils and county councillors.

The Plan outlines what the county council intends to do to protect and enhance our public rights of way network over the next ten years. The council would welcome feedback on this important policy which affects rural communities and people who do not use a car to travel around our county.

This is your opportunity to help shape Cambridgeshire’s approach to public rights of way and countryside access into the future. I will publicise this when it comes.

Cambridgeshire hosts national Active Travel event

Cambridgeshire recently hosted the UK’s national active travel event, Active County Cambridgeshire, welcoming up to 800 industry professionals from as far afield as Heidelberg and Utrecht along with senior representatives from the Department for Transport, Welsh Government, Transport Scotland and Active Travel England.