Poll finds 63% unaware of council merger plans

Cambridgeshire County Council would cease to exist under the new plans

A poll carried out in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough found 63% of people did not know about local government reorganisation.

Cambridgeshire County Council's Quality of Life Survey received responses from about 5,500 residents.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough have been asked to re-organise into larger unitary authorities. Currently Peterborough operates as a smaller unitary authority, with the rest of Cambridgeshire under a two-tier system of county and district councils.

The county council has launched an information campaign and survey. Leader Lucy Nethsingha said she believed public awareness would increase over the next few months.

Peterborough City Council would be merged with other nearby councils if the two council option was progressed

The county council put forward a preferred option of two large councils. One would cover Peterborough, Fenland and Huntingdonshire, while the other would cover Cambridge, South Cambridgeshire and East Cambridgeshire.

The leaders of Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council have said they would prefer a slightly smaller unitary covering their areas.

Peterborough MPs Sam Carling and Andrew Pakes have backed a three-council solution, with one based around Greater Peterborough, another around Greater Cambridge and the third covering rural mid Cambridgeshire.

Nethsingha said she expected public awareness to increase as people "gradually hear more about reorganisation as it happens in other areas".

The council will discuss the issue on 21 October, before making a submission to the government in November.