FULL COUNCIL
Business plan and budget
The full council met on Tuesday 10 February to vote on the budget and business plan for 2026/27 to 2028/29. The proposals for a ‘healthy, fair and sustainable Cambridgeshire’, approved by a majority of councillors, include record spending on roads, thousands of extra school places, and support for vulnerable residents.
The nearly £1.3 billion business plan and budget includes a number of investments aligned with the council’s three new ambitions.
Supporting a green and sustainable county
• An additional £20 million for highway maintenance.
• Delivery of the council’s Climate Change and Environment Strategy.
• £11 million to upgrade Household Recycling Centres at Milton and March.
Enabling full and healthy lives for all
• £14.7 million of additional funding for adult social care providers to help them manage rising costs and ensure care workers are paid the Real Living Wage, improving stability and quality for those who depend on care workers for their support.
Ensuring fairness and opportunity
• Continuing holiday meal vouchers until the end of summer 2026 for children most in need, despite the Government withdrawing the Household Support Fund; the council will also use the new £5 million Crisis and Resilience Fund to provide a wider range of anti-poverty measures, offering practical support to households facing financial challenges.
• 3,500 new primary school places, and £72 million over five years to increase secondary school places.
• £780,000 a year to run a children’s residential home in South Cambridgeshire, along with continued funding for the Families First early intervention programme that helps keep more families together.
• More than £1.2 million will be invested in libraries and archives over the next two years.
Rising costs in social care and special educational needs are putting enormous pressure on council finances, and these statutory services for our most vulnerable residents now account for by far the largest part of our budget. Despite these national pressures we are still managing to invest in key priorities.
Thousands of people depend on our roads and paths every day and residents tell us repeatedly that highways are their top concern. We are continuing record levels of investment in maintenance, alongside additional support for overstretched social care, and continued funding for free school meal vouchers.
We will continue to challenge Government to recognise they are short-changing the communities of Cambridgeshire and to provide the right level of funding for services our residents deserve.
The plans include an increase of council tax by 4.99 per cent, the maximum permitted by Government for county councils, as is the case in nearly all councils across England and the level assumed by Government in setting its grant allocations. This will generate around £21 million in additional funding and help the council continue providing the essential services people rely on.
STRATEGY, RESOURCES & PERFORMANCE
Local Government Reorganisation
The Government’s consultation on the options for local government reorganisation in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is live until Friday 26 March.
The Government has chosen to consult on all four options submitted. These would replace the current county and district arrangements with new unitary authorities — a single council responsible for delivering all local government services in an area, rather than services being split across different councils.
Cambridgeshire County Council has submitted Option A (Two Councils. One Fairer Future.), which joins East Cambridgeshire with Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire, and enables local residents to share in decision-making over the places where we work, study, shop, receive health care, and spend leisure time.
Residents can view the options and submit their views online. Free use of computers, Wi-Fi and internet access is available at Cambridgeshire libraries, along with printed versions of the consultation.
The Government is expected to announce its final choice of option in the summer.
ASSETS AND PROCUREMENT
Cambridge Biomedical Campus
The County Council’s Assets & Procurement Committee has agreed a partnership with developer Prologis to support the future expansion of Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
67 acres of land owned by the council is being put forward to allow the campus’s next phase of growth. This will deliver space for life science research, development and innovation, co-working laboratories, learning spaces, a skills and training centre, key worker serviced apartments and offices for life science support companies.
Proposals include investment in transport infrastructure, green spaces and a community fund. The project will give the council a future commercial return, subject to planning permission, that will be used to help deliver key services and support the council’s ambitions.
CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE
Two new special schools for Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire County Council has asked the Department for Education to continue with the delivery of two new special schools in Gamlingay and March.
Greensands Academy Gamlingay and Lime Academy March had been approved for delivery by the DfE under the previous government and are expected to provide 270 new special school places in Cambridgeshire.
COMMUNITIES, SOCIAL MOBILITY & INCLUSION COMMITTEE
New system to combat poverty across Cambridgeshire
The council has agreed to procure a data-led system that will allow more targeted support for low-income families to address and prevent poverty.
In May 2025, the final report of the Cambridgeshire Poverty Strategy Commission recommended helping low-income individuals and households ensure they are receiving all the money they are legally entitled to and reduce avoidable financial outgoings. This process, known as ‘income maximisation’, aims to prevent crisis, stabilise household budgets and support residents to become more financially resilient.
A new data-led system would allow more systematic and earlier identification of those who would benefit from income maximisation — one of the best ways of tackling poverty over the longer term.
South Cambridgeshire District Council has already adopted such a system and in the last twelve months has secured nearly 1,000 additional claims worth over £500,000 to residents in their first year alone, with a lifetime value of nearly £4 million.
Data-led systems used elsewhere have shown a return on investment of over £400 for each £1 spent.
ENVIRONMENT AND GREEN INVESTMENT
Safe disposal of batteries
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Waste Partnership RECAP is urging residents to recycle batteries and battery-powered electricals safely following an increase in fires caused by incorrectly disposed lithium-ion batteries.
Recent incidents include a fire at Thalia’s Alconbury waste transfer station at New Year and thirteen bin lorry fires across Cambridgeshire in the last twelve months.
In 2023, more than 1.6 billion batteries were thrown away in the UK, with over 1.1 billion hidden inside everyday household items such as phones, tablets, e-cigarettes, toothbrushes and power tools.
Across the UK, over 1,200 waste-related fires were recorded in the past year — a 71% rise since 2022. Lithium-ion batteries are especially dangerous when crushed in lorries, and even small button or toy batteries can spark fires once compacted.
Residents are urged never to place batteries in the bin, to use designated recycling points, tape over damaged terminals and check for local collection schemes.
All types of batteries can be recycled free of charge at Household Recycling Centres, supermarkets and DIY stores.
HIGHWAYS & TRANSPORT
Potholes
The council is continuing to address the large number of road defects that have appeared in the last two months. Wet weather, high demand for repair crews and limited road space availability have all affected response times and repair success rates.
The council continues to increase its own investment where Government funding falls short.
NEWS FROM THE COMBINED AUTHORITY
Bus franchising
An independent review has issued a draft report. An update will go to the Combined Authority’s Transport Committee in June.
Electric vehicles
The Combined Authority has been granted £361,780 from the Government’s Electric Vehicle pavement channels fund.
Transport funding
A four-year package of local transport funding allocations was confirmed in December 2025. A Local Transport Delivery Plan for 2026/27 must be submitted to Government.
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