Council votes on preferred option in reorganisation

City councillors have said they would prefer to combine with parts of neighbouring Huntingdonshire when local government is re-organised.

The government has told all councils in England that they want them to combine into larger unitary authorities, with at least 500,000 residents each.

A majority of city councillors in Peterborough voted for "Option D", which would see the city join with western Huntingdonshire, creating two other councils - Greater Cambridge and Mid Cambridgeshire.

The council's ruling cabinet will make a final decision in the coming days before submitting the preferred choice to central government, which will have the final decision on which option to implement.

Five options are being considered by the seven councils that make up Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Option A would mean the first unitary council would include Peterborough City Council, Huntingdonshire District Council, and Fenland District Council. The second unitary council would include Cambridge City Council, East Cambridgeshire District Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council.

Option B would see Peterborough City Council, East Cambridgeshire District Council, Fenland District Council and Huntingdonshire District Councils working as a unitary authority. Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council would form the other.

Option C would comprise Peterborough City Council, East Cambridgeshire District Council and Fenland District Council as a combined council. This would leave Cambridge City Council, Huntingdonshire District Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council together.

Option D would include Peterborough and parts of western Huntingdonshire as one authority, Eastern Huntingdonshire, Fenland and East Cambridgeshire in another and Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire in a third.

Option E would see Huntingdonshire as a single authority, Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire in another council - and Peterborough, Fenland and East Cambridgeshire in another.

At the meeting on 12 November, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green Party groups - as well as some members of Peterborough First and independents - supported Option D, highlighting its potential to maintain Peterborough's identity.

Meanwhile, the Conservative group, as well as some Peterborough First members and independents, felt Option A was the best and brought greater financial benefits.

Wayne Fitzgerald, leader of the Conservative group, labelled the whole LGR process a "farce" and claimed that Option D, which was put forward by two local Labour MPs Andrew Pakes and Sam Carling, was being done for "political purposes".

Peterborough First councillor Gavin Elsey, who supported Option A, said: "It's really disappointing that when we have this opportunity to restructure.. we've only looked inside Cambridgeshire."

Labour council leader Shabina Qayyum said the claims that Option D was being proposed for political purposes were "insulting".

The local authority's final submission of a preferred option for LGR must be made to the government by 28 November.

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