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Discrimination against Cambridge traffic schemes investigated by Monitoring Officer

by johnwilliams on 15 March, 2018

A decision by Cambridgeshire County Council’s ruling Conservatives to exclude Cambridge from a new £1 million council fund is to be reviewed after legal advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officer. The fund will be used to design road schemes that may subsequently attract external funding for implementation.

I have received confirmation that the decision taken at February’s Economy and Environment Committee meeting will be reconsidered after I asked the Council’s Monitoring Officer to investigate its legality.

This would have seen road schemes in Cambridge automatically excluded by a sifting process, on the grounds that the city benefits from funding by the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP).  There was no similar proposal to exclude South Cambridgeshire, which is also covered by the GCP.

Fellow Lib Dem Cllr Nichola Harrison argued at the meeting that Cambridge residents pay council tax and were entitled to participate in County Council funded schemes. She tabled an amendment to include Cambridge in the scheme, but this was voted down by the Conservative majority.

I sought a ruling about this decision from the Monitoring Officer and am pleased that the decision will now be reviewed. This situation shows that the Conservatives have little regard for due process – we argued strongly that the proposal was irrational, unfair and improper, but they still chose to reject our amendment.

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