Cambridge City Council is the local authority for

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, a

non-metropolitan district Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan counties (colloquially ''shire counties'') in a two-tier arrangement. Non-m ...

with

city status City status is a symbolic and legal designation given by a national or subnational government. A municipality may receive city status because it already has the qualities of a city, or because it has some special purpose. Historically, city status ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

, England. The council has been under

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

majority control since 2014. It meets at

Cambridge Guildhall Cambridge Guildhall is a civic building in the centre of the historic city of Cambridge, England. It includes two halls, ''The Large Hall'' and ''The Small Hall'', and is used for many disparate events such as comedy acts, conferences, craft fai ...

. The council is a member of the

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority is a combined authority covering the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire in the East of England. The authority was established on 3 March 2017. The authority is led by the directly elected May ...

History

Cambridge was an

ancient borough The ancient boroughs were a historic unit of lower-tier local government in England and Wales. The ancient boroughs covered only important towns and were established by charters granted at different times by the monarchy. Their history is large ...

. Its date of being established as a borough is unknown, with its earliest known

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

dating from 1102. A subsequent charter issued by King John in 1207 granted the borough the right to appoint a mayor. The earliest recorded mayor was Harvey FitzEustace, who served in 1213. The borough of Cambridge was reformed to become a

municipal borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...

in 1836 under the

Municipal Corporations Act 1835 The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 (5 & 6 Will 4 c 76), sometimes known as the Municipal Reform Act, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in the incorporated boroughs of England and Wales. The legisl ...

, which standardised how boroughs operated across the country. It was then governed by a body formally called the 'Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of the Borough of Cambridge', generally known as the corporation, town council or borough council. Cambridge was granted city status on 21 March 1951 in recognition of its history, administrative importance, and economic success, allowing the council to call itself Cambridge City Council. The

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

reconstituted Cambridge as a

with effect from 1 April 1974; it kept the same boundaries and its city status, but there were changes to the council's responsibilities. The city of Cambridge is completely encircled by the neighbouring district of

South Cambridgeshire South Cambridgeshire is a local government district of Cambridgeshire, England, with a population of 162,119 at the 2021 census. It was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Chesterton Rural District and South Cambridgeshire Rural District. I ...

. The two authorities work together on some projects, such as the Greater Cambridge Local Plan. Since 2017 the city has been a constituent member of the

, led by the directly-elected

Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough The Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is a combined authority mayor, first elected in May 2017. The mayor is leader of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority. This office was created under the Cities and Local Government D ...

Governance

Cambridge City Council provides district-level services, including parks and open spaces, waste collection, council housing and town planning. The Council also organises numerous events throughout the year, including the

Cambridge Folk Festival The Cambridge Folk Festival is an annual music festival, established in 1965, held on the site of Cherry Hinton Hall in Cherry Hinton, one of the villages subsumed by the city of Cambridge, England. The festival is known for its eclectic mix of ...

and a programme of free summer entertainment entitled ''Summer in the City''. County-level services are provided by

Cambridgeshire County Council Cambridgeshire County Council is the county council of Cambridgeshire, England. The council consists of 61 councillors, representing 59 electoral divisions. The council is based at New Shire Hall at Alconbury Weald, near Huntingdon. It is a mem ...

. There are no

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

es in Cambridge; the entire district is an

unparished area In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish (the lowest level of local government, not to be confused with an ecclesiastical parish). Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparish ...

Political control

The council has been under

majority control since 2014. Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms took effect has been as follows:

Leadership

The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Cambridge. Political leadership is provided by the

leader of the council In England, local authorities are required to adopt one of three types of executive arrangements, having either an "elected mayor and cabinet", a "leader and cabinet", or a "committee system". The type of arrangement used determines how decisions ...

. The leaders since 2000 have been:

Composition

Since the 2024 election, the composition of the council has been: The next election is due in 2026.

Elections

Since the last boundary changes came into effect in 2021, the council has comprised 42

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

s representing 14

wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...

, with each ward electing three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, with a third of the council (one councillor for each ward) elected each time for a four-year term of office.

Cambridgeshire County Council elections Cambridgeshire County Council is elected every four years using the first past the post system of election. As of 2021 the council consists of 61 council seats, representing 60 electoral divisions. The Conservative Party is currently the largest ...

are held in the fourth year of the cycle when there are no city council elections. The wards are: *Abbey *

Arbury Arbury is a district and electoral ward of the city of Cambridge, England. The ward borders the following other wards (from North, proceeding clockwise): Histon, King's Hedges, West Chesterton, Market and Castle. History The area has been occu ...

Castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

Cherry Hinton Cherry Hinton is a suburban area of the city of Cambridge, in Cambridgeshire, England. It is around southeast of Cambridge city centre. History The rectangular parish of Cherry Hinton occupies the western corner of Flendish hundred on the so ...

*Coleridge *

East Chesterton East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sunrise, Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from ...

*King's Hedges *Market (Cambridge electoral ward), Market *Newnham, Cambridgeshire, Newnham *Petersfield *Queen Edith's *Romsey, Cambridgeshire, Romsey *Trumpington *West Chesterton

Premises

The council meets at the Cambridge Guildhall, Guildhall, on the south side of Market Hill, Cambridge, Market Square in the centre of Cambridge. The building was purpose-built for the old borough council and completed in 1939. The council also has offices at Mandela House at 4 Regent Street. Cambridge City Council Flag

Notes

References

Cambridge City Council

Cambridge Mayor's Office

Cambridge City Election Results since 1945

External links

Open data about Cambridge City Council on OpenlyLocalCambridge City Council YouTube channel
{{Authority control Organisations based in Cambridge, City Council Politics of Cambridge, City Council Non-metropolitan district councils of England Billing authorities in England Local authorities in Cambridgeshire