Cambridge City Council is one of the five district councils in Cambridgeshire. It is composed of 14 wards, with three councillors elected in each ward; making 42 city councillors in total.
The current composition of the City Council is Liberal Democrat 28 seats, Labour 11 seats, Conservative 1 seat, Green 1 seat and Independent 1 seat. A mayor and a deputy mayor are chosen each year from among the 42 councillors. All 42 members of the City Council meet formally at least five times a year. Their main responsibilities are setting the budget and policy framework for decision making.
The executive
The executive comprises the leader of the council and six executive councillors. The executive councillors make decisions relating to the major service areas.
These councillors can make decisions individually, usually at a meeting of a scrutiny committee relevant to their executive area. They also meet once a year to determine the council's budget.
The executive consists of:
• the leader of the council
• an executive councillor for arts and recreation
• an executive councillor for climate change and growth
• an executive councillor for community development and health
• an executive councillor for customer services and resources
• an executive councillor for environmental and waste services
• an executive councillor for housing
Council meetings and committees
All council meetings are open to the public, although you may be asked to leave when members discuss sensitive information.
The council has three different types of committees: regulatory, scrutiny, and area.
Regulatory committees
Regulatory committees make decisions that, by law, are not allowed to be made by executive councillors. These include civic affairs, licensing, planning, and standards.
Scrutiny committees
Scrutiny committees receive reports with background information and guidance on issues. The committee comments on the content and makes recommendations to the relevant executive councillor, who then considers these views before making their decision.
Area committees
Area committees were set up in September 2003. They cover four geographical areas – north, south, east and west/central. Their purpose is to move decision making out into the community and to make it easier for people to have a say about decisions that affect them locally. At the the begining of each meeting there is a 30-minute open forum where local people can put questions to members about matters of concern in their areas.