Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority has approved
its spending plans from 2025/26, funding improvements to
transport, skills and business growth.
Separate to this, the Mayor's budget was also approved and
confirmed that the Mayoral precept portion of council tax bills
will be frozen for 2025/26.
At yesterday's Combined Authority Board meeting (Jan 22), the
Mayor's Budget, including the precept for 2025/26, was presented
by Mayor Dr , with the precept remaining at £36 per year for a
Band D household.
The precept is used to fund 53 bus routes across Cambridgeshire
and Peterborough, around 80% of which are up and running, with
the remainder planned to follow this Spring.
The Board then considered and approved the Combined Authority's
main 2025/26 Budget, Corporate Strategy, and the Medium-Term
Financial Plan (MTFP) outlining spending from 2025 to 2029.
The Budget and MTFP set out how the Combined Authority's
£328m capital programme
and £333m revenue budgets over the period 2025-2029 will
deliver its strategy and priority projects, including in
transport, skills, business support and growth.
Included in the approved budget is the extension of the £2 bus
fare cap to 30 June 2025, moving to a £2.50 fare cap from July to
December 2025. This aims to maintain affordable and accessible
travel, reduce road congestion, and ease cost-of-living
pressures.
The Budget and MTFP will support the delivery of the ambitions
and priorities of the Mayor and the Combined Authority's guiding
Corporate Strategy. An update to the Corporate Strategy was
also approved by the Board at the meeting.
It will ensure spending focuses on initiatives that directly
benefit residents and businesses, and balancing affordability
with ambition.
Those spending plans also support the wider role of the Combined
Authority to drive growth in the region in support of the
Government's plans for national economic renewal. The Combined
Authority's investments and initiatives aim to further the
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough region's globally competitive
innovation economy and further cement its status as a net
contributor to the Exchequer.
Mayor Dr said: “Whether it's keeping the £2 bus fare
cap to make travel affordable, equipping people with skills for
tomorrow's jobs, or investing in a future that helps lessen the
impact of climate change, our spending plans are about supporting
our communities and ensuring they thrive.”
The Budget and MTFP were initially presented to the Board in
November 2024, followed by a consultation period. The feedback
from the consultation has been incorporated into the final plan.
Key areas of spending aligned to Corporate Strategy priorities
include:
Improving Connectivity
– Funding to reform the entire bus system, with the Mayor to make
a decision on whether to introduce franchising early next month.
The Combined Authority also received £10.2m Bus Service
Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding from Government to support better
services.
– Extension of the Tiger bus pass giving £1 fares for under-25s
beyond May 2025, subject to bus operator agreements.
– Peterborough Station Quarter – £42 million to deliver
improvements in and around Peterborough's rail station, using
Government funds.
– £5.3m in local funding to top up £3.5m from Active Travel
England for active travel initiatives.
Achieving Good Growth
– Developing a ten-year Local Growth Plan, in partnership with
Government, to drive forward key industrial sectors like life
sciences and advanced manufacturing to power the economy.
– Supporting local businesses to grow via a dedicated Growth Hub;
creating global business opportunities through our Inward
Investment Team; helping link learners and people retraining to
local employers in need of new skills through a skills brokerage
service, and a £9.5 million Business and Social Investment Fund
helping our third sector and social enterprises to grow.
– Investment of about £26m across the MTFP period to 2029
to support business growth and inward investment through the
development of a Strategic Innovation and Investment Growth Fund.
Ambitious Skills and Employment Opportunities
– Funding for programmes to inspire more young people into
careers that can transform their life chances, including £5m
funding from Government for the Youth Guarantee trailblazer
project for 16-21-year-olds.
– Tackling the inequalities in accessing further (FE) and higher
education (HE) that hold back life chances and progress.
– Continuing to deliver the Adult Skills Funding agenda
(previously called Adult Education Budget), worth an estimated
£52 million over the next four years.
Enabling Resilient Communities
– Funding for a Climate Action Plan and Local Nature Recovery
Strategy, aiming to support efforts to mitigate climate change
and help nature to thrive.
– £11.9m capital
over the next three years to deliver interventions to mitigate
climate change from low carbon heating in schools, to supporting
the electrification of waste vehicles, to a bidding fund for
small capital projects.
An amendment to the transport part of the budget was approved
during the Combined Authority Board meeting, enabling an additional
£313,000 to be invested to further support road maintenance
and improve local roads across the region.
Notes to editors
- To read the report to the Board and the appendices setting
out the Budget, MTFP and Corporate Strategy, see item 11 on the
agenda. The Mayor's Budget is a separate item 10. https://democracy.cambridgeshirepeterborough-ca.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=141&MId=148
