Decision details

The Cabinet agreed to:

(i)      consent to the Secretary of State making an Order to establish the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (Appendix A);

(ii)     consent to the Council being a constituent member of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority with effect from the commencement date determined by the final Order;

(iii)    authorise the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, to consent to the final draft Order and associated documents, specifically:

-        to agree minor drafting amendments to the Combined Authority Order to be laid before Parliament;

-        to consent to the Council being included within the draft Parliamentary Order thereby reflecting this Council’s decision

(iv)    authorise the Combined Authority to have a power to issue a levy to the constituent Councils in respect of any financial year. (This will be subject to the inclusion of a unanimity clause in the Combined Authority constitution on this specific matter).

(v)     to recommend to the Combined Authority that the costs of establishing the Combined Authority, holding the elections in May 2017 and running the Combined Authority (including Mayoral Office) for 2016/17 and 2017/18 are funded from the gain share grant provided by Government (as outlined in para 12.11)

(vi)    appoint Councillor Holdich to act as Council's appointee to the Shadow Combined Authority and once established, to the Combined Authority;

(vii)   appoint Councillor Fitzgerald as Deputy Leader of the Council, to act as the substitute to the above (ref (vi));

(viii)  note the outcome of the public consultation on the establishment of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority as outlined in paragraph 5.1 and 5.2 and Appendices 2A - 2D;

(ix)    note the timetable for the implementation of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough devolution Order as summarised in paragraph 7.1;

(x)     note the Government's response to the outline business case for Housing capital investment funds secured as part of the devolution deal as set out in Appendix 3.       

(xi)    agree in principle, for a protocol requiring the Council Leader and the representative on the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to report to each meeting of Council setting out the activities and decisions related to their respective roles within the Combined Authority.

(xii)   to request that the Member Officer Working Group develop the protocol through the Audit Committee with a view to inclusion of the protocol in the Council’s constitution.

*The Waive of call-in provision has been invoked on this decision. The reason being that the matter has been publically debated at the Full Council meeting of 17 November 2016.

To consult on a scheme for the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough area with a directly elected Mayor, in order to devolve powers from Government to a Combined Authority.

To bring additional new funding to the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough area with local decision making for these funds.

The Governance Review considered a number of alternative options and concluded that the most appropriate option for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is to establish a Mayoral Combined Authority.

If the Combined Authority is not established the Council will lose the opportunities made available through the devolution agreement, including:

·         Funding for Housing development

·         Funding for Infrastructure growth

·         Additional powers to make decisions locally

·         Government commitment to work with Peterborough to develop a Peterborough University and an Enterprise Zone

None.

Council - 27 June 2016 Agenda Item No. 4 (including Statutory Governance Review, Devolution Proposal and Devolution Scheme)