LOCAL GOVERNMENT REORGANISATION
…. my reply to Charlotte Cane, Lib Dem MP for Ely and East Cambs – by Cllr Lucius Vellacott
I love Cambridge, and want to see it thrive, but we’re talking about generations of governance of a rural area.
It’s Option B for me. That’s what I told our MP after she wrote to me on the subject. But whatever option government chooses, I’ll fight to protect local interests.
PS: please respond to the government consultation using the link below.
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Good evening Charlotte
Thank you for sharing your rationale for supporting the Cambridgeshire County Council option for LGR with me.
As you will be aware, I cannot endorse that proposal, and I have five main observations here:
1. The business case is founded on East Cambridgeshire being used for housing to support Greater Cambridge, with one section going so far as to say that Greater Cambridge is insufficient alone for this, and this is not appropriate for the rural character of much of our district
2. My parish in Wicken voted to support ‘Option B’, and Soham did not express an opinion, but did express concern over excessive housing growth
3. The Cambridgeshire County Council option is not cross-party or cross-council. All three councils in the proposed southern unitary of that option have strongly rejected it. The councillors in the part of the constituency closest to Cambridge, the proposed anchor city, rejected the proposal. Those Liberal Democrat councillors in Ely and East Cambridgeshire supported ‘Option B’, one of whom also commendably refused to support Option A at the vote at the County Council.
4. The option ECDC has endorsed is large enough such that localised working will be essential, retaining more of a local say in decision-making in what is currently East Cambridgeshire
5. Option B raises council tax the least for the average and poorest households.
I don’t believe there is any reason why Cambridge shouldn’t remain our anchor city, and rightly so, but governing it like us isn’t appropriate in my view.
Yours
Lucius
https://eastcambs.gov.uk/about-council/local-government-reorganisation-cambridgeshire/option-b
Kind regards
Lucius Vellacott
District Councillor for Soham South and Wicken
Deputy Chairman (Membership) – Ely and East Cambridgeshire Conservative Association
Administrator – Southend East and Rochford Conservative Association
