Full Council today approved Option A being sent to government as one of the options for Local Government Reorganisation.
A majority of Councillors agreed that Option A should be considered by Government. There was a debate reflecting a range of views, with the Leader of the Council clear that in her view Option A would be best for residents, creating two new unitary councils which match the boundaries of local health and care services.
While there was significant criticism of the government process during the debate, councillors agreed Option A would meet the Government’s criteria for LGR through the creation of two new unitary councils which would be more equal, effective and sustainable.
- The two proposed unitary councils under Option A have sensible economic areas with sufficiently robust tax bases to be financially viable and support sustainable public service delivery.
- Option A achieves the Government’s guiding population figure of 500,000 by 2040 for both of the newly proposed councils and aligns with the strong encouragement from Government to use existing city/district council areas as the building blocks for new unitary councils.
- Both proposed unitary councils under Option A create the opportunity to develop better, more integrated public services. For example, the boundaries of both proposed councils under Option A are aligned with the NHS.
- Both proposed unitary councils under Option A respect local identities and patterns of daily life. For example, health, travel to work, shopping and socialising.
- Under Option A the two proposed councils will support the Mayoral Combined Authority and further devolution by providing equal voice and representation for both urban and rural communities.
The Phase Two engagement undertaken by the Council reinforced support for Option A. The engagement received 1,912 responses from residents, town and parish councils, businesses, the community and voluntary sector, other public bodies, elected representatives and council staff.
The results from the survey show clear patterns of support for Option A, with East Cambridgeshire recording strong support for Option A (67%), followed by Cambridge City (62%), South Cambridgeshire (61%) and Peterborough (55%). The lowest levels of support for this option were from Fenland (26%) and Huntingdonshire (20%) – often linked to concerns about their own local identity in a new council area.
65% of the organisational, business, community and voluntary sector, and other stakeholder groups responding to the survey supported the Option A proposals, as did 58% of the elected representatives who responded.
An amendment from County Councillor Sarah Caine was agreed by a majority of councillors, requesting a letter from the County Council stating the Government guidelines for the Local Government Review process did not offer the best opportunity for setting new boundaries for new unitary councils for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
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Cllr Lucy Nethsingha, Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council, said:
“I am very pleased the Council has today agreed that we should support the submission of option A to Government. It is my view that Option A is the best available option for our area, and our engagement shows good support for Option A from across many areas of Cambridgeshire and from key partners. In particular it is important to me that the NHS, Anglia Ruskin University and many town and parish councils responded to say that they believe Option A would be the right outcome for our area. We would have chosen to approach this differently, but the Government’s timescales and criteria did not provide the opportunity to address longstanding issues linked to place and identity – that can be seen through some of the engagement feedback we have received as well. I’d like to thank everyone who shared their views and their feedback and who have helped shape this decision taken by councillors today.
“We will now work to finalise our submission to Government in November, alongside the other options that are likely to be submitted for the area. We will work to secure the best possible outcomes for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, with partners, building upon clear evidence, the views of our residents, stakeholders and staff.”
The County Council will complete a full analysis of the free-text comments provided during October and November 2025 to support the submission of the proposal.
The submission date for final proposals to Government is 28 November 2025 and it is currently anticipated that there will be several proposals submitted by different local authorities on behalf of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
Read the report and its appendices and find out more about LGR in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough on the Council website.
A recording of the Full Council meeting can be viewed on our YouTube channel.
