Strategic Framework

It is also through this engagement that we can stay alert to the struggles that residents are encountering and areas where we can help or further improve as a council, whether that is highways maintenance, the cost of living challenge or the isolation and loneliness felt by young people in the county. We know that times remain tough for families, and we are determined to do what we can to improve lives and opportunities for people across Cambridgeshire.

Whilst we are seeking to improve outcomes and deliver stronger services for the residents of the county, we are also having to navigate and respond to a range of national policy and legislative changes being implemented by the Government. These national changes include: the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, national reforms to local government funding and SEND services and the Families First and Best Start in Life programmes. In Cambridgeshire all these national changes are impacting on us locally and are creating a series of complex public sector reforms, many of which are happening at the same time. That includes reforms to the National Health Service, proposed reforms to Policing and the drive for greater powers for Mayoral Combined Authorities, like our partners in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA).

As a county of significant growth, and as one of the few county areas which generates national economic return, we are also seeing increasing Government attention. With the advent of the Cambridge Growth Company and the potential for a Government controlled Development Corporation leading the growth of Greater Cambridge, as well as the reinvigoration of the Oxford-Cambridge Corridor, we continue to operate in a highly complex local system. Navigating these reforms and changes to maximise opportunities and to ensure the best possible outcomes is both complex and time consuming.

While this places pressure on our existing structures, we remain determined to work collaboratively with all our partners in the best interest of Cambridgeshire residents. As the need for our services continues to grow, the cost of essential services such as children’s services and adult social care continues to skyrocket.

There are very constrained public finances to support these essential services which remain under acute pressure, and council budgets have become even harder to balance. We are committed to enhancing both the effectiveness and efficiency of our service delivery, ensuring we meet our statutory obligations while maximizing the positive impact we can achieve with the finite resources available to us.

I remain both grateful and impressed by the people who work for Cambridgeshire County Council and who deliver services for our residents 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, whatever the weather or circumstance. Whether it is our drivers who take gritters out on the dark winter nights, or our social care workers who are always on-call for a young person in trouble, or the many others who go above and beyond, I am endlessly impressed by the stories of their amazing work. It is thanks to their hard work that we have been able to improve, and it is through them that we will keep improving the way we serve our residents and achieve our vision for the beautiful county we are lucky to live in.

From this research we know that people are happy in Cambridgeshire, they feel safe and well connected to their local communities. Importantly, we also know that residents think Cambridgeshire is a good place to bring up their children. However, these findings were not equally true for everyone. Younger people, people with disabilities and people struggling economically all rate themselves lower in these areas.

People also told us they feel lonely or isolated, and mental health concerns remain high amongst our younger residents. These incredibly rich insights have been used to inform the development of the refreshed vision, ambitions and priorities for Cambridgeshire County Council, which form the core of our business plan and budget.

Even with these clear ambitions, as a taxpayer-funded public body, we must still live within our means. Achieving best value for our residents and continuing to drive sustainable improvements to services, whilst ensuring we are a well-led council, which consistently gets ‘the basics’ right, must come before we can progress further investments. As a council we have a range of statutory duties to meet, but we have no statutory services that we must deliver. As we move forward, we will continue to review everything we do, including our work with partner agencies such as the Combined Authority, the NHS, Police, Fire and other local authorities, to make positive changes and become more efficient and effective. As a part of this, we will continue to evolve as a council, accelerating our use of new and emergent technologies and bringing more of our teams closer to and based in our communities.

At the same time, we will advance our preparations to deliver the Government’s requirement for Local Government Reorganisation in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. This once in a generation change to the form and function of local government will require both detailed planning and bold innovation. Over the coming years, we will work hard to ensure that our organisation, our people and Cambridgeshire’s residents are prepared for and supported through these large-scale changes ahead. Providing reassurance and stability to our workforce as we navigate this major change will be vital in ensuring we can still recruit, retain and develop the right people, with the right skills and values to deliver both our services for today and for our future councils of tomorrow.

Working together, I believe that residents will see the county council continue to make progress with our refreshed vision to create a healthy, fair and sustainable Cambridgeshire, as we continue to address the dual challenges of being a rapidly growing county and needing to tackle the deep-rooted inequalities that still exist in our communities. How we achieve this will be very much driven by our values: Collaborative, Accountable, Respectful and Excellence, known as CARE, and by working as One Team and One Council.