County Councillor Residents Newsletter
County Councillor Report – September 2026
September 2026 Update from Your County Councillor
LOCAL GOVERNMENT REORGANISATION
Everyone will be aware of the delays to the LGR decision for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. We have a letter drafted to land with ministers before they return from recess to have the best possible opportunity for the new ministers, Angela Rayner and Jim McMahon to understand our position and act on it. This time around the letter will also be signed by councillors and parish councils from South Cambridgeshire, which will hopefully give it some added weight.
As parliament is only operational for 3 weeks when they return from summer recess, we do not expect a resolution until they return again after the party conference recess.
In the meantime, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority has been elevated to a Mayoral Strategic Authority, giving us more opportunities for greater funding and the ability to make more decisions outside of the controls of central government. We will see as Andy Burnham settles in how his desire for more devolution impact this.
ADULTS & HEALTH
Unpaid carers invited to share their experience
Unpaid carers across Cambridgeshire are being invited to share their experiences to help shape the future of support services in the county.
The council is bringing together unpaid carers, people with lived experience, local organisations and others with an interest in supporting carers to design future Adult Carers Support Services. They are keen to hear from people who provide care for family members, friends or neighbours, as well as young adult carers and others with experience of caring. Their insights will help to ensure future services reflect the needs of carers and the people they support.
A series of workshops will take place between September 2026 and March 2027, giving participants the opportunity to help develop future service priorities, shape how services are delivered and continue to wider commissioning plans. There is no expectation that people attend every session, with all involvement welcomed based on individual availability and interests.
The workshops will build on feedback already shared by carers and provide another opportunity for people to influence how support is delivered in future.
Anyone interested in taking part, or who would like more information, can contact [email protected]
Shaping the future of adult social care
People across Cambridgeshire are being encouraged to have their say on the future of adult social care as part of a national public engagement programme launched by Baroness Louise Casey.
The Big Conversation on Care, launched on 29 July, aims to give people across England a direct opportunity to influence the future development of a National Care Service and how care and support will be provided for years to come.
The commission is seeking views from the public on a range of issues, including who should be eligible for support, what role families should play in caring for loved ones, and how care should be funded in a fair and sustainable way.
The programme will run until April 2027 in two phases. The first phase, running from July to November, focuses on the values and principles people expect from the care system and who should receive support. The second phase will look at funding, delivery and long-term reform of adult social care.
Find out more and take part at https://www.caseycommission.co.uk/bigconversation
COMMUNITIES, SOCIAL MOBILITY AND INCLUSION (COSMIC)
Homelessness and temporary accommodation in rural areas
The County Council Network (CCN) has published new analysis on homelessness and temporary accommodation in county and rural areas, showing that it is not just a big city problem.
In March this year 23,186 children in county and rural areas were in temporary accommodation; 74% more than six years ago, almost double the national increase, and five times the increase in London.
In March this year there were 22,230 households in temporary accommodation in county and rural areas, an increase of almost 80% over the last six years. Almost one in five of these households are based in expensive ‘nightly paid’ private accommodation.
Councils and county areas spent £124M on temporary accommodation in 2019/20, rising to £373M in 2024/25. This trebling of spend is a faster rate than anywhere else in England.
Homelessness is also continuing to rise across county and rural areas, with local authority costs soaring in response: in 2019/20 councils in county areas budgeted £161M for homelessness, but this increased to £47M this year.
HIGHWAYS & TRANSPORT
Gully clearances
The council has a cyclical timetable for clearing gullies, but my own observations as well as those of many parish councils note many locations where gullies haven’t been cleared and in some cases are clearly blocked and/or overgrown.
At this point it would be an impossible task to resolve every gully that may be blocked, but it is important that we prioritise those where following the recent heavy rain, localised issues were noted. We expect a wet autumn, and we collectively need to act on observed issues quickly so we do not see a cumulation of issues when conditions are more difficult to resolve them.
If you have observed anything, ideally with photographic evidence and a specific location, please either report this on ReportIt, or email the details to me so I can pass them on accordingly.
Rights of Way improvement plan
The County Council has now begun its review of its Rights of Way improvement plan and is seeking comments from parish councils and other stakeholders.
Comments are now invited to key questions about our local rights of way network, and the priorities residents would like to see in a revised plan. Comments can be made at https://yourvoice.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/place-and-sustainability/95349146/
The deadline for responses is Sunday 11th October. If you have any questions about completing the questionnaire, please contact [email protected]
Local Highways Improvement bids
All bids submitted in January have been assessed. All successful bids will be confirmed by the Highways and Transport Committee in October, following which I will contact all seven of the local applicants regardless of the outcome.
Local Maintenance
The postponed surface treatment on the B1063 from Newmarket to Silverly was hampered again by wet weather. Crazy seeing as how dry the year has been. The contractors did mange to lay the stretch from the Suffolk border in Newmarket through to Cheveley. The stretches not covered will now unfortunately have to be deferred to next year’s programme.
The B1061 outside of Dullingham is still scheduled to be delivered early autumn, obviously weather dependent. The interim patching has improved things in the meantime. I will notify the local parishes when the work is scheduled and confirmed for delivery.
Cllr Jonny Edge, 07974 348141, [email protected]