Houses Unicameral Labour 26 / 42 | Seats 42 | |
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Type Non-metropolitan district council of the Cambridge | ||
Cambridge City Council is a district council in the county of Cambridgeshire, based in the city of Cambridge.
Contents
History
Cambridge was granted a Royal Charter by King John in 1207, which permitted the appointment of a Mayor, although the first recorded Mayor, Harvey FitzEustace, served in 1213. Cambridge was granted its city charter in 1951 in recognition of its history, administrative importance and economic success. Responsible for services including school education, social care and highways, since 2013 the County Council has had No Overall Control. There are a number of ceremonial items used by the Council which date to different periods of history.
Activities
The council provides various facilities and services within the city. These include parks and open spaces, waste collection, council housing and local planning.
The Council also organises numerous events throughout the year, including the Cambridge Folk Festival and a program of free summer entertainment entitled Summer in the City. It runs the Cambridge Guildhall, on the south side of the Market Square in the centre of Cambridge, where various events are held.
Funding
The council funds its activities through a combination of money from Central Government, Council Tax, parking fines, charges from services like sports centres and through sale of housing stock. In common with other local councils, Cambridge City Council does not succeed in collecting all its Council Tax, requiring use of Courts, Enforcement Officers, subcontracted Bailiffs (currently employing the company Phoenix) and use of prison to attempt to obtain funds from 'customers'/residents.
Councillors
For electoral purposes the city is divided into 14 wards: Abbey, Arbury, Castle, Cherry Hinton, Coleridge, East Chesterton, King's Hedges, Market, Newnham, Petersfield, Queen Edith's, Romsey, Trumpington, and West Chesterton. There are forty two city councillors with three assigned to each ward. The party composition of the council is: 26 Labour; 13 Liberal Democrat; 2 independent; and 1 Green.
The current (2016) Mayor is Councillor Jeremy Benstead and the Deputy Mayor is Councillor Jeremy Benstead. The Mayor's duties are almost entirely ceremonial, although they do chair meetings of the full Council.
The Leader of the Council is Councillor Lewis Herbert (Labour), and the Deputy Leader is Councillor Kevin Price (Labour). The highest non-elected official is the Chief Executive, Antoinette Jackson.
Elections for a third of the seats take place 3 out of every 4 years. Cambridgeshire County Council elections take place in the 4th year. The County elections last took place in 2013.