Unitary council update

The plans for a unitary council are proceeding and so this is an update of where we are.

1. The plans were announced in December 2024 in a Devolution White Paper which I have written about already.
2. Since then statutory letters have been written to councils setting out the requirements. The letters requires councils to work together and ideally to come up with one agreed solution. In our case here in Cambridge it is a question of which District level councils come together. I think the options are Cambridge City and South Cambs only or also together with East Cambridgeshire.
3. Some elections have been delayed – not ours here in Cambridge.
4. Interim plans are to be submitted to central government by 21 March 2025 with final proposals due in November this year.
5. Requirements against which the proposals will be assessed are:
   1. The number of people in the new area should be about 500,000 which I have said before I think is very large.
   1. The views of other institutions
      1. The Mayor
      1. The integrated Care Board
      1. Police and Crime Commissioner
      1. Fire and Rescue Authority
      1. Higher Education providers
      1. National Park Authorities
      1. Voluntary and Third Sector
      1. Local MPs
      1. Town and parish Councillors
6. Go-live is due in May 2028.