Agenda item

Councillor S J Conboy, Executive Leader to present on the activities of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.

Councillors M A Hassall and J Neish to provide an update on the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Councillor S J Corney to provide an update on the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority Audit and Governance Committee.

This item provides an opportunity for District Council Members to ask questions and comment on Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority issues.

If Members wish to raise questions or issues requiring a detailed response, it would be helpful if they can provide prior notice so that the necessary information can be obtained in advance of the meeting.

(Decision Summaries for March meetings of the Combined Authority are marked TO FOLLOW).

In conjunction with the decision summaries of the recent meetings of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (copies of which are appended in the Minute Book), the Council received an update on the activities of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority Board (CPCA). Copies of the decision summaries are appended in the Minute Book.

With the assistance of a PowerPoint presentation, Councillor M A Hassall provided an update on the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committee. As part of the presentation, Council Hassall drew attention to the challenges to the Improvement Plan arising from the imposition of a Best Value Notice for a further 6 months. These could be split into 3 categories – Strategic Alignment, Delivery Confidence and Cross-Partnership challenges and Councillor Hassall provided further information on each point in turn.

Council was then advised of the measures that had been put in place to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. These were in the areas of Forward Planning, Agenda Management, Formal Feedback to the Board and Staff Support. Councillor Hassall reiterated the importance of effective Overview and Scrutiny in improving the outcomes for residents and ensuring that issues were accurately represented.

In responding to the presentation, Councillor J A Gray commented on the impression that he had received that the Board was not aligned and questioned whether this was a reflection of ineffective leadership. In response to which, Councillor Hassall explained that his comments concerning the need to look at the strength of the governance arrangements were independent of the mayor and concerned the governance of the Authority as a whole. He made reference to the setting of the Mayoral precept which permitted a situation whereby the mayor could set an increase of 200% provided that a two thirds majority of the Board did not vote against it and the need to establish better links between the CPCA and Constituent Councils. Councillor Gray also commented on the irony of an Authority which was under a Best Value Notice increasing its precept by 200%.

Members were provided with an update on the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Audit and Governance Committee by Councillor S Corney. In doing so, the Council were advised that discussions had centred around the Auditors Annual Report and the Improvement Framework. Members noted that the imposition of the Best Value Notice had resulted in a substantial increase in costs over the course of the past year. However, on a more positive note Councillor Corney went on to report that the Chair of the Improvement Board had met with Board Members and Constituent Council Chief Executives to develop a clear vision and ambition to promote investment and opportunities for the region and it had been reported that relationships had improved with the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities. Arising from Councillor Corney’s presentation and from the previous comments which had been made concerning governance, a suggestion was made by Councillor P Hodgson Jones regarding the potential establishment of a working group involving members of the Audit and Governance Committee, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Board to look further at the Authority’s Governance structure and operation.

The Executive Leader, Councillor S J Conboy then addressed the Council on the activities of the Combined Authority Board. As part of her presentation, Councillor Conboy explained that the Governance review was now in place, however there was an impatience to be getting on and making things work better.  The issues which Councillor Hassall had raised had been shared with the Combined Authorities Monitoring Officer, together with the lead member Councillor E Murphy.

Councillor Conboy reiterated that the Combined Authority had made significant progress within the past twenty months, it now had a stable and secure officer structure and there had also significant changes to the way the Board works politically which had resulted in improved operation and working relationships. Inevitably there would always be disagreements and different interests to be met but that was a fundamental part of democracy, and it would be unreasonable to expect Members of the Board to agree on all matters all of the time.

Councillor Conboy went on to explain that the Board was starting to move forward and agree upon the issues that the Authority could stand behind collectively and the work for the UKREiiF Event was an important driver for that. In terms of the Department of Levelling Up’s requirement for strategic alignment, Councillor Conboy explained that she did not believe it was a reasonable expectation to secure agreement on every occasion and she had fed that back to the DHCLU.  Whilst the Authority still had more to do in terms of improvements, and there would always be new matters to address, there was now more bringing the Board together than ever before and there was a clear direction of travel. She would continue to represent Huntingdonshire to obtain the greatest benefit from the arrangement for the residents of the District.

Arising from the presentation, Councillor L Davenport-Ray commented on the positive and collaborative way in which Constituent Council representatives sitting upon the Combined Authority Committees worked. However, she expressed concerns at the negative and unconstructive way in which some of the members of the Board appeared. Having been asked to give her thoughts on how the Best Value Notice may be moved without the camaraderie and support of all Board Members, the Executive Leader explained that the Board needed to focus upon the issues on which it could unite whilst accepting that they had differences. However, this did require a will on behalf of each individual, she could only take responsibility and control for her own decisions and behaviour.

Councillor S Cawley reported on the discontent of his residents in West Huntingdonshire at the increase in the Mayoral precept, given that they had no bus services within the area. He urged the Executive Leader to continue to press for additional services within the area. In response to which the Executive Leader explained that Huntingdonshire was the beneficiary of future change and undertook to respond directly to Councillor Cawley outside of the meeting. She also took the opportunity to remind all Councillors with an interest in bus related issues to engage with the bus working group and the lead councillors who sat upon the Transport and Infrastructure Community Committee.

With reference to the recent decision summary for the Transport and Infrastructure Committee, Councillor A Jennings sought further information on the proposed boundary change to the existing area for the E-scooter trial. In response to which the Executive Leader undertook to provide further information outside of the meeting.

Having outlined his support for the suggestion made by Councillor P Hodgson-Jones regarding a possible working group to consider governance issues and the comments made by Councillor Davenport-Ray at the constructive manner in which committees work within the Combined Authority, Councillor Hassall took the opportunity to make a further point regarding their governance arrangements. Whilst he recognised that the Executive Leader was reflective of the viewpoints and opinions of the District Council, there was in fact nothing to prevent a leader taking a completely different view if they so wish which reflected a further weakness in the arrangements. He also suggested there was a need to have stronger links between the respective councils and their leaders.

Finally, Councillor J Neish made reference to the concerns of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee which had been expressed during the setting of the Mayoral precept, that there had been limited information as to why the precept was to be set at that level. However, information appeared now to be much more forthcoming on schemes that might be funded.

In concluding the discussion, the Executive Leader thanked Members for their comments and suggested that these might be best directed to the Combined Authority Chief Executive and respective officers and fed into the organisation.