County Councillor Report for Parishes – February 2026 – Cllr Anna Bradnam

County Councillor Report for Parishes – February 2026 – Cllr Anna Bradnam – PDF Version

County Report 2026-02 – PDF Version

 

Local Council Reorganisation – which Council currently does what?

The District and County Councils submitted their proposals for the new Unitary Authorities at the end of November 2025 and we await a decision from the Secretary of State on which option he decides should be adopted in Cambridgeshire. You will have seen this table in my previous reports, but as we approach Local Government Reorganisation, I thought parish councils might find it a useful reminder. The two-tier cake plate of County and Districts will be dissolved and most of the responsibilities of both authorities will be reconstituted on new geographic Unitary boundaries, based on combinations of the current District boundaries. Parish council responsibilities will remain, broadly as they are, as I understand it.

Function	County	District	Town/Parish
Adult social care	•
Allotments			•
Building regulations		•
Births, deaths and marriages	•
Burials, cremations and cemeteries		•	•
Children’s services	•
Coastal protection		•
Community safety	•	•
Concessionary travel	•		•
Council tax and business rates		•
Consumer protection	•
Economic development	•	•
Education and related services	•
Elections and electoral services		•
Emergency planning	•	•	•
Environmental Health		•
Fly tipping clearance		•
Highways, roads, pavements, footpaths, Public Rights of Way	•
Housing and homelessness		•
Housing benefits		•
Litter, bins, street cleaning		•
Libraries	•
Licensing		•
Local planning		•	[•]
Markets and fairs		•	•
Parking	•	•	•
Parks		•
Public toilets		•	•
Trading standards	•
Trees	•	•	[•]
Waste and recycling collection		•
Waste disposal and public tips	•

[•] – Parish council is a consultee but has no formal powers

Cambridgeshire’s environmental achievement.

Cambridgeshire County Council has achieved its first ever CDP ‘A’ score, placing the county among a select group of global leaders recognised for robust climate action, transparency, and long-term resilience. The CDP, formerly known as the ‘Carbon Disclosure Project’, operates the world’s only independent global environmental reporting system, used by more than 1,200 cities, states and regions worldwide. Cambridgeshire has participated annually since 2021, scored A minus in 2023 and 2024 and in January 2026 was awarded ‘A’ the highest score that can be achieved.

To achieve an ‘A’ rating, entrants must meet stringent leadership criteria, including public disclosure of environmental data, maintaining a comprehensive countywide emissions inventory, publishing an evidence-based climate action plan, and completing a full climate risk and vulnerability assessment.

CDP assesses not only what areas are doing, but how they deliver climate action, ensuring transparency, credibility and integrity.

Cambridgeshire’s high score reflects years of strengthening governance, data transparency and cross sector collaboration. This progress reflects stronger reporting practices, more comprehensive climate risk assessments, and the council’s commitment to transparency and avoiding greenwash.

Department for Transport – road maintenance ratings.

The council welcomes the publication of the Department for Transport’s (DfT) new local road maintenance ratings for 2025–26. This introduces a transparent traffic-light system to show how well councils are maintaining their local roads.

The DfT ratings assess every local highway authority in England against road condition, investment levels and adoption of best practice.

Authorities receive an overall rating of green, amber, or red, supported by detailed scorecards.

For Cambridgeshire, the results are:

• Overall rating: Amber Road condition: Amber
• Investment score: Green Best Practice: Amber

The green rating for investment reflects the Council’s commitment to highways maintenance. In 2025/26, Cambridgeshire is investing £73 million in the highway network, including £36 million from DfT and £24 million of additional funding that has been allocated by the County Council. This builds on similar levels of investment in 24/25 and our draft business plan for 26/27 intends to continue with this level of funding.

This is the largest investment in Cambridgeshire’s roads for a decade, enabling resurfacing, preventative treatments, and upgrades to bridges, footways, and cycle routes.

The Council acknowledges that challenges remain. Around 40% of Cambridgeshire’s roads lie on peatland, which makes them much more expensive and difficult to maintain due to seasonal movement and instability. This geology means higher costs, resurfacing treatments are often ineffective and they require more frequent repairs compared to other areas. However, over the past year alone, 11 km of peat-affected roads were reconstructed or resurfaced at a cost of £5.5 million, and further works are planned for 2026.

The Council has developed a revised asset management approach which includes a planned and preventative approach to highways maintenance which will be maintained in future years.

The Council will continue to press for a fairer funding model that reflects the additional costs of maintaining roads built on peat soil. In the meantime, we remain committed to transparency and efficiency, ensuring every pound spent delivers maximum benefit for residents.

For more information on the DfT ratings and Cambridgeshire’s highways maintenance plans, visit: Local road maintenance ratings 2025 to 2026 – GOV.UK.

County Archives in safe hands

Cambridgeshire Archives has had its accreditation status renewed following an inspection from The National Archives (TNA). Accreditation is the UK quality standard recognising good performance in all areas of archive service delivery. An inspection of the service, which is run by Cambridgeshire County Council, looked at everything from the environmental conditions of the document stores to exhibitions and outreach sessions on offer.

Cambridgeshire Archives, based at Ely and at Huntingdon, holds a wealth of unique historic records and other resources relating to Cambridgeshire, the former counties of Huntingdonshire and the Isle of Ely and their communities. An online catalogue here Home Page contains descriptions of over half a million documents in its care, with more being added all the time. In total, the service holds over 1,000 cubic metres of documents weighing over 900 tons and stored on seven miles of shelving.

County Council – Draft Business Plan and Budget Proposals

Cambridgeshire County Council’s 2026-27 business plan and budget will identify where to spend £1.2billion to deliver services and support for residents and communities across the county. The process of setting priorities and planning expenditure has been under way since the Autumn.

Next year 2026/27, there is a projected significant increase in costs due to a growing population and increasing demands – particularly in children’s and adults’ social care.

Nearly two thirds of our spending is on social care, while other major areas of spending include Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), home to school transport, and highways maintenance.

Over the last few months, each of the committees has been considering the draft business plan and budget proposals have been scrutinised by elected members. Their views and comments will come back to Strategy Resources and Performance Committee on 29 January. This committee will then put forward the final draft business plan and budget for debate and decision at the Full Council meeting on 10 February. I have summarised the main priorities of the committees which met in January.

Communities, Social Mobility and Inclusion committee has a significant role in supporting, protecting and developing community resilience. The Committee seeks to maintain investment in a network of library facilities across the county.

This Committee will deliver anti-poverty initiatives across Cambridgeshire, including rolling out the Government’s new Crisis and Resilience Fund, which is replacing the Household Support Fund.

An ongoing £1.7million investment which continues in 2026/27 will enable income maximisation work delivered through Citizens Advice to continue and to help to provide small grants for community projects. A review of posts will identify savings of £155,000.

Investing £87,000 in the Trading Standards Service will protect consumers by tackling unsafe or illegal practices, such as ensuring product safety enforcement, carrying out food standards checks, animal health and welfare oversight, and licensing for petroleum and explosives.

Children and Young People Committee

…plans to provide continued investment in children’s social care, fostering and adoption as well as education services, were scrutinised and supported by a majority of Children and Young People committee members. The council plans to invest an additional:

• £10.4M for children who become looked after
• £3.8M to support home to school transport services
• £406K to increase direct payment packages for children and young people with disabilities.

Other proposals include:

• Continuing to reduce use of agency social workers. Already down from 38% in January 2024 to 12% in November 2025.
• Supporting families to access their full benefits entitlement and additional help they might need once the Household Support Fund closes
• Delivering a three-year Travel to Learn project to boost independence of learners, improve access to and uptake of safe active travel and public transport routes, and improve efficiency of transport services

In addition I am pleased to report that, amongst other decisions, the council has agreed to enter an Engineering and Construction Contract with Kier Construction for the construction of Deneia Primary Academy at Waterbeach from April 2026 on the condition that the contract value continues to stay within the project budget of £20,413,000. This will include the installation of a bio solar green roof system which incorporates multi-layer waterproofing protection.

Environment and Green Investment

The Committee agreed the draft business plan and budget proposals that would see continued investment in household recycling centres, flood protection systems and the council’s renewable energy schemes were scrutinised and unanimously supported by Environment and Green Investment committee members – who put forward their views for consideration by the Strategy, Resources and Performance committee on 29 January.

The council has included the following in the draft business plan:

1. £4.28m of capital investment is included for the new upgrades for the Household Recycling Centres due to be built at March and Milton during 2026/27.
2. £53.9M of continued investment in services including waste disposal, flood risk management, nature and biodiversity management, management of existing renewable energy schemes, supporting economic growth, alongside the support of the council’s ambitions relating to carbon reduction.
3. The Committee approved the new Climate Change and Environment Strategy 2026-2028.

Highways and Transport

Proposals for an additional £20m of investment in road maintenance, were scrutinised and supported by a majority of Highways and Transport committee. The Highways and Transport committee has a significant role in delivering highways maintenance, road safety, active travel and major infrastructure delivery. This is why, the council plans to prioritise:

• An additional £20m of capital investment for 2026/27. This reflects the Council’s commitment to record levels of spending on highways maintenance and would enable resurfacing, preventative treatments, and upgrades to bridges, footpaths and cycle routes. This would create a total investment of £58m for 26/27 as recommended by the draft asset management strategy. Due to the levels of funding invested in 2024/25 and 2025/26, the condition of the highway network has improved, the council has introduced a revised, evidence-led and prioritisation process for investment into maintenance. To maintain this, an annual investment of £58.2m is required.

Other proposals include:

• The development of a draft lane rental scheme to improve the management and co-ordination of streetworks, this will be subject to a consultation and decision-making process. This would allow us to charge companies for the time that roadworks occupy the highway and help us to reduce disruption on the county’s roads. This is currently planned for implementation in 2027/28.
• Proposed fee increases for streetworks. This would allow us to hold those responsible to account, driving up standards and reduce unnecessary disruption.
• Changes to the enforcement of car parking to include bank holidays, this will be subject to a consultation and decision-making process. This would make our enforcement more aligned and is something residents have been asking for.

1. – The proposed speed limits for the Cottenham 20mph scheme, as advertised, were approved.
3. Adults and Health
4. Draft business plan and budget proposals to continue investment in services for older people and younger adults with care and support needs were scrutinised and supported by a majority of Adults and Health committee members. The committee supported council plans to prioritise:
   0. 0. 0. – An additional £14.7m of funding to help care providers to meet ongoing costs, including inflation and to support them to pay the Real Living Wage.
5. Additional funding of:
6. – £1.9m to meet demand for care and support amongst older people accessing both home and residential care
7. – £4.9m to help meet the rising levels of need amongst people with a learning disability
8. – £2.1m for working age and older people with mental health needs

Upcoming Highways work

Milton

River Cam towpath – (Temporary prohibition of use) – Order 2026-10252 – (4 months!)

Closure of Milton Footpath 1, Milton and Fen Ditton Footpath 6, Fen Ditton (the towpath) as lies between 200m on either side of the A14 flyover.

Purpose: to facilitate bridge maintenance and associated works on A14.

Alternative: The alternative route for pedestrians will be as signed

When: From 4 February 2026 and continue until these works have finished or on the 3 August 2026. It is anticipated that these works will be carried out between 4 February and 5 June 2026.

Waterbeach

Cambridge Road – Multi-way signals – 26 – 27 Jan 2026 – works for road purposes

Cambridge Road – Road Closure – 19 – 23 Jan 2026 – Utility asset Work

Clayhithe Road, Waterbeach – (Temporary Prohibition Of Through Traffic) Order 2026-10206

Order: to stop any vehicle from proceeding along Clayhithe Road, Waterbeach as lies between points 20m either side of the railway level crossing situated there as measured from its gates or barriers.

Purpose: to facilitate essential maintenance and associated works which are being carried out on or near this highway and it will come into operation on 3 February 2026

It is anticipated that these works will be carried out between 00:01hrs and 05:00hrs 3 Feb 2026.

High Street, Landbeach — (Temporary Prohibition Of Through Traffic) – Order 2026-10309

Action: to stop any vehicle from proceeding along High Street, Landbeach between Nos 104 and 112.

Access will be maintained to properties affected by this order.

The alternative route for vehicles is via Waterbeach Road; A10 and vice versa.

Purpose: to facilitate ducting installation and associated works which are being carried out on or near this highway and it will come into operation on 2 March 2026 and continue until these works have finished or on the 1 September 2027 whichever is the earlier.

It is anticipated that these works will be carried out between 2 March 2026 and 4 March 2026.

 

 

 

 

Cllr Anna Bradnam anna.bradnam@cambridgeshire.gov.uk 25/01/2026