Cambridgeshire County Council monthly report – August 2025

Cllr Luis Navarro

Dear Residents,
I hope that you’ve all had a fantastic summer and have been able to take a well-earned break.  There has been lots going on at the County Council.  The following is an edited version of my report to the Parish Council.

Local Government Reorganisation

Councils are spending considerable time and resources on the Government’s local government reorganisation, developing three formal business cases. Although two MPs have proposed a fourth option for Peterborough, only three options may be submitted. Surveys and focus groups are underway in Cambridgeshire districts.

The Government has announced that the committee system in Cambridgeshire will be replaced by a ‘leader and cabinet’ model in new unitary authorities. Councils have been cautioned not to make major decisions—like restructures, company creation, or reserve spending—that might restrict future councils. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will require successor councils’ written approval for land disposals over £100,000 and capital contracts over £1,000,000, as well as non-capital contracts over £100,000.

Recently, East Cambridgeshire District Council approved £13 million for a crematorium and offered The Maltings, Maltings Cottage, and Oliver Cromwell’s House to the City of Ely Council for £1 each.

Adults & Health

CQC “Good” Rating

Cambridgeshire County Council’s adult social care services have been rated ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), with early support and flexible options helping people remain independent.

The CQC report, published 20 August after assessments from November 2024 to April 2025, found that service users felt supported and involved in coordinated care reflecting their interests. Key strengths included:

• Quick assessments and goal-driven care enabling people to stay at home.
• Staff offering tailored packages backed by strong provider relationships and quality controls.
• Stable leadership focused on cultural change and staff morale.
• Supportive working environment with flexible schedules and wellbeing initiatives.

Areas for improvement were also noted:

• Increase direct payments to give people more choice.
• Improve demographic data use to better address equity and inclusion.
• Enhance support for unpaid carers through the All-Age Carers Strategy.
• Strengthen transitions from childrens’ to adults’ services for young people.

Pharmacy consultation

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough residents are invited to share feedback on local pharmacy services to help improve and assess community needs. Responses will inform updates to the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment. The consultation closes on Saturday, 20 September.
https://www.peterborough.gov.uk/pna

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Trust ‘requires improvement’

The Care Quality Commission downgraded Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Trust from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’ after a February assessment. The report noted instability in executive leadership and specified areas for improvement but also praised the new chief executive’s reception and openness, staff willingness to raise concerns, and highlighted some of the Trust’s research and innovative services as ‘inspirational’ and high performing.

New scrutiny committee

The full council agreed to set up a separate Health Scrutiny committee. The intention is to increase the focus of the council’s scrutiny of our health partners, while the Adults & Health Committee continues to make decisions on public health and social care commissioning.

Measles vaccine reminder

The UK Health Security Agency is reminding parents that measles can be a serious illness. An estimated 5000 children in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough will start primary school without their MMR vaccination, and more than 8000 without their pre-school booster. Doses are usually given at one year, and at three years four months, but missed doses can be caught up later.

Environment & Green Investment

Local Nature Recovery Strategy

A reminder that the consultation on the new Local Nature Recovery Strategy is open until Thursday 11 September. https://naturalcambridgeshire.org.uk/

Anglian Water £62.8M payout over sewage breaches

Water regulator Ofwat has agreed a £62.8M redress package with Anglian Water after finding a ‘serious breach’ in how Anglian Water manages some sewage infrastructure. Ofwat has proposed improvements Anglian Water must make to its wastewater treatment works and network after discovering excessive spills from storm overflows.

Ofwat to be scrapped

Meanwhile, Ofwat itself is being replaced by a tougher water regulator. It is excellent news that the Government has finally seen the need for tougher action against sewage pollution, soaring bills, and bloated bonuses for water bosses.

Help to get online

Connecting Cambridgeshire is offering small grants (up to £4200) to community groups and organisations in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to support Digital Hubs. These funds can be used for connectivity solutions, digital devices, and boosting local digital skills. Interested groups should review eligibility and apply at
https://www.connectingcambridgeshire.co.uk/about/help-to-get-online/digital-hubs/

Highways & Transport

Highways transparency report

Cambridgeshire County Council has prepared detailed highways maintenance reports as mandated by the Department for Transport. To receive a portion of the £500M government funding for 2025-26, councils must publish these reports by June 2025, showing compliance with best practice criteria. Required details include five-year spending comparisons, network condition data, pothole repair estimates, and planned activities. Additional information is due by October 2025.

Key highlights from the report

• Since 2023-24, the amount of capital funding the County Council spends each year on highway maintenance has increased by £35M, from £24M to £59M.

• The County Council has allocated more than £73M for highways maintenance in 2025/26, inclusive of revenue funding.

• Over the last five years, we have repaired an average of 55,400 individual potholes each year.

In 2024/25 the County Council has:

• Invested over £30M to improve 145 km of roads countywide.
• Reconstructed or resurfaced 166 roads.
• Spent £4.5M repairing 52,229 potholes from 16,371 resident reports.
• Invested £5M to enhance 120 km of main walking and cycling routes.
• Repaired or rebuilt 241 footpaths.
• Cleaned 35,000+ drains.
• Upgraded 31 traffic signals.
• Recycled 41,000 tonnes of material, saving more than 735 tonnes of CO₂ through sustainability efforts.

In 2025-26, the County Council has planned:

• 259 road repair schemes covering 135 km, mostly preventative work

• 253 upgrades for walking and cycling routes across the county

• Five bridge upgrades

• 20 traffic signals replaced or improved

More information is available online at https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/highways-transparency

Autonomous bus trials

At the end of last month, I took a trip on the pilot autonomous bus service from Madingley Park & Ride to West Cambridge. Current legislation means there still has to be a driver in the seat, but their role is to monitor the bus and oversee what’s happening on the route, overriding the automatic system as necessary—which was surprisingly seldom. Great to see this huge technological step forward on the streets of Cambridge, and to experience the future in the here and now.

The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) has secured an additional £1M from the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles to expand this project.

Greater Cambridge Partnership

Executive Board

On 10 July I attended my first meeting as a member of the Executive Board of the GCP. We agreed the full business case for the new Waterbeach railway station, and noted that Network Rail would be managing the closure of the existing station.

At my request, we also agreed to review the element of the plans for the Barton Greenway which is proposed to run along the Baulk Path in Grantchester. The business case indicated that this piece of Greenway would cost £2.5 million, and attract only one more pedestrian and one more cyclist a day as a result.

Combined Authority

Members of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) board agreed to revise the local bus fare cap scheme and extend it to the end of October 2025; and to extend the temporary Tiger Pass scheme for young people to the end of March 2026. The Mayor’s proposal to prevent the Tiger Pass being used for cross-boundary journeys was defeated, as this would have seriously affected young people in places such as the villages around Newmarket. A wider set of options for a permanent Tiger Pass will be developed over the summer.

Routes 9 (Littleport to Cambridge) and 31 (Ramsey to Whittlesey) have been saved, but the Mayor’s proposals to cease three bus services including the 8A (March to Cottenham) in order to pay for this were defeated. A number of high-cost routes will be subject to ongoing review, but public transport should not be a zero-sum game where one route can only survive at the expense of another.