The Combined Authority for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is now an official body, after the Secretary of State, Sajid Javid, signed the Order to formally constitute it on Monday 6th March.
The Order was signed after having being debated and agreed in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords and passed without amendment. The official Order can be viewed here.
The powers which have been devolved from central Government to the Combined Authority include:
The first meeting of the new official Combined Authority will take place on Monday 20th March at The Boathouse in Wisbech from 3pm-4pm. The publicity campaign around the election of a Mayor to head up the new Authority has also been launched by the Department for Communities and Local Government today (6th March)
Powers which have been devolved to the new Mayor as part of the devolution plan include:
Councillor Robin Howe, Chair of the Combined Authority said:
“This is a major milestone in the future of our region and we are thrilled to have been formally constituted by the Secretary of State. The members and officers of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) are committed and determined to bring real change to the people of this area and we are looking ahead to our first meeting on 20th March, and the Mayoral election on 4th May.”
The first tranche of funding is being made available to the CPCA at the end of March.
The creation of this body was an important part of the deal which was agreed by all seven involved Local Authorities. This serves to ensure that democratically elected representatives of local communities and the Greater Cambridgeshire and Greater Peterborough Local Enterprise Partnership (GCGP LEP) are making decisions about how and where the money is spent.