Have a say on Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority’s spending plans
Views are being sought on the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority’s spending plans for the next four years.
These include whether or not people back rise in the Mayoral Precept, introduced last year, of almost 5%.
A public engagement will help shape the 2025-2026 budget and Medium-Term Financial Plan (MTFP) running to 2029, setting out how the Combined Authority’s £309m capital programme and £320m revenue budgets will deliver its strategy and priority projects, including in transport, skills, business support and growth.
The Combined Authority Board agreed to approve the draft budget this week and MTFP to go out to public engagement. This provides a great opportunity for residents, businesses, and others to help inform the Combined Authority Board’s decision in January 2025 to agree on a final budget and MTFP.
The engagement was launched on Monday and runs until Monday, December 23. People can people can participate online, where they can find out more, or via email and online on the CPCA’s website.
The Board was also briefed on the Combined Authority’s Corporate Strategy refresh, which has strategic priorities that guide the draft budget and MTFP. Just some of the Combined Authority programmes budgeted under each corporate strategy priority include:
Improving Connectivity
- Funding for reform to our entire bus system, including the potential of bus franchising. A decision on whether to introduce franchising is planned to be made by Mayor Dr Nik Johnson in early 2025.
- Extension of the Tiger bus pass, giving £1 fares for under 25s, to beyond the original end date of May 2025, into 2025/26 and subject to agreement with bus operators.
- Peterborough Station Quarter - £42 million to deliver improvements in and around Peterborough’s rail station.
- £5.3m of local funding to top up £3.5m already secured from Active Travel England for 2024/25 and 2025/26, resulting in a significant investment ringfenced for active travel projects in the area. This is alongside £4m already allocated to the non-motorised footbridge on the A10 near the BP roundabout.
Achieving Good Growth
- Developing a ten-year Local Growth Plan and working with Government to unlock the potential of our key industrial sectors like life sciences and advanced manufacturing to power the economy.
- Supporting local businesses to grow via a dedicated Growth Hub; creating global business opportunities through our Inward Investment Team; helping link learners and people retraining to local employers in need of new skills through a skills brokerage service, and a £9.5 million Business and Social Investment Fund helping our third sector and social enterprises to grow.
- More than
£20m over the MTFP period to 2029 to support business growth through the development of a Strategic Innovation and Investment Growth Fund.
Ambitious Skills and Employment Opportunities
- Funding for programmes to inspire more young people into careers that can transform their life chances, raising social mobility across the Combined Authority, and especially in Peterborough and Fenland.
- Tackling the inequalities in accessing further (FE) and higher education (HE) that hold back life chances and progress. Building FE and HE capacity to provide more adults, of all ages, with an education which improves their access to better jobs and prosperity.
- Continuing to deliver the Adult Skills Funding agenda (previously called Adult Education Budget), worth an estimated
£52 million over the next 4 years.
Enabling Resilient Communities
- Funding for a Climate Action Plan and Local Nature Recovery Strategy, aiming to support efforts to mitigate climate change and help nature to thrive.
- £14.4m capital over the next three years to deliver interventions to mitigate climate change from low carbon heating in schools, to supporting the electrification of waste vehicles, to a bidding fund for small capital projects.
Mayor’s Precept
- At the Board meeting, the mayor also indicated that he would consult on a possible 4.99% increase in the Mayoral precept as part of the Council Tax bill. This proposed rise for 2025/26 would be equivalent to an extra £1.80 per year (or just over 3p per week) in addition to the existing £36 per year based on a Council Tax Band ‘D’ equivalent charge.
The current precept is being used to fund 30 new or improved bus services across the county as well as helping to safeguard existing routes. The rise is proposed to offset rising costs and continue to protect services.
The Combined Authority is working hard to achieve significant improvements for the region and its residents. It is working collaboratively with its constituent council partners, the Government, and local businesses to leverage support and other funding sources and ensure that the maximum impact and value for money can be delivered.
Mayor Dr Nik Johnson said: “These draft spending proposals reflect the shared ambition we all have in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to build a better future for everyone. Public input at this stage will help ensure our priorities in transport, skills, the environment and economic growth reflect the needs of our communities.”
The draft also seeks to support the recently approved Shared Ambition, working with partners across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough for an equitable, pioneering, connected, and resilient region.
